Scuderia/430 OEM battery charger question...

Ferrari got smart with their battery chargers, i think. My scud has a charger that looks like it was OEMd for them by CTEK; it plugs into a sleeve/insert in the passenger side footwell area, just below the passenger side air bag, below the dash. pops in nice, easy to get out. me likey....except....i have yet to ever never ever see the thing go from active charging to passive charging....that is there are 3 lights on charger...i think the first is a Fault/Off, the second is Active charging (its topping up the battery) and the third is a maintenance/float..... basically, mine stays always on the middle light. always.

with my regular ctek on the other cars, there is acharge lamp and it turns green when the battery is full and the charger switchs to float/maintenance. seems like this ferrari charger kind of wants to do that, but doesnt.

anyone else experience the same thing? anyone else note that it doesnt go from the middle light to the third light even if left connected for days on end?

im thinking of just connecting the ctek hardwire to the battery terminals right there in the footwell battery area like in the older 430s and just use the ctek charger. not worth the aggravation if that thing isnt charging right.

not sure if the new 430s have this also, but i would imagine they might.

thoughts, ideas?

 

yeah, thats the CTEK. CTEK oem's them for Porsche was well. I m about certain my ferrari one is a ctek since the shape etc. looks identical.

i dont thin im going to take any chances. its about a 4 minute drill to attach the ctek hardwire cable to the battery studs, and then its clips on, clips off in about 10seconds. it could be the connection, that snap in port, that is causing issues and keeping it charging at all times.

hopefully someone else has some ideas as well. but ima bout 90% committed to going with the better ctek, non-oem. i use them on like every other car. they are awsome.

 

eh, for the $50.00 that CTEK 3300 's cost, i just tossed one in there. that battery compartment is about as easy to access as anything. the hardwire kits that ctek includes has ring connectors that fit perfectamundo on that battery terminals. probably took me about 10minutes. total. and i think teh ctek 3300 is just a more advanced charger than whatever product ferrari oem'd from them. actually i checked teh unit and could not find any ctek markings on the ferrari charger, though it has the same shape, etc. my porsche definately only shows ctek on the back a bit in the legal wording area. but definately shows ctek. so maybe its not.

but dude, i had that car on the charger for 7 days straight, didnt budge from the active charging once. the last 430 i had which was a 2006 had that totally crazy charger system that went in the front hood/bonnet area....i mean that was as antiquated and useless a system as i've ever seen. so yeah, step int eh right direction with the nice footwell easy-snap port. now you gotta just geta charger that functions right.
im on the ctek 3300 direct leads to the battery. ferrari oem ctek in the hood in a ziploc for 'collectability sake'<G>. hopefully tommorrow i have a nice green lite, actively charged and set.
else, yeah, could be just a constant draw on the battery with all that electric mumbo jumbo that infects these cars these days.

 

100percent closed. i tried checking anything that could have had an open circuit. like th eother who posted the same, that charger is a new piece for them. well atleast they didnt have it on the 2007 430s . and the plug in port is new as well. i dont know much about electronics in that car, but everything seemed buttoned up tight.
i put the 3300 on the battery with the pigtail, same as you, yesterday.
if she has a green all set light this morning, then its the charger. if not its either a open circuit somewhere.
we shall see.

 

ill probably get over to my warehouse around 1ish to check out if the ctek 3300 went "green". as i mentioned, i could not despite trying many things, ever get the OEM ferrari charger (which someone identifies as a ckek 800 branded with ferrari, BUT , with that custom clipin charging port in the footwell vs. pigtails connected right to the battery leads) to turn green. i have a few cars and all have ctek 3300s for a whopping 60bucks, all tied to the batteries, or in the case of the porsches cigarrette lighter connections....they all work perfect.

they will absolutely fluctuate from charging to green throughout a given day, if i open the door, click a remote, etc. but ultimately they return the to maintenance mode (green).

this ferrari OEM one does not. that bothers me. to me, thats faulty battery, faultery wiring internally, something like the car computer drawing battery, or a faulty charger, or a faulty clip. or faulty design.

what i do know is that i never had a problem with my previous 430 with the battery pigtails right to the battery leads. so thats what i hooked up last night. hopefully i gotz green when i get there later.

messing around with a charger setup that might be faulty is not idea. super good guy, a really good friend of mine, who sold me two of the 964 Flatnose Turbo S's, a pretty extraordinary car, suffered a terrible garage fire at his house. he lost a gorgeous 67' vette and a few other cars, but the biggest loss was 288GTO he just cherished. great guy. he was just fine, family perfect. main house ok, but the garage and all the cars gone. fire and police say it was a trickle charger that went faulty and started the fire. wehther he had it in the car, out of the car, etc. i have no idea. but dont mess around if that charger is faulty.... and always makesure you leave the charger itself outside the car with ample room incase it does burst into flames.

see image.
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ok, with the 3300 CTEK charger, pigtails to the battery leads in that footwell area behind that plate right on the battery...thing is green. solid. same as my other cars.
it was cahrging actively all day yesterday and then when i got here, was green, in passive/top-up mode.

i opened the door, instantly goes to Charging actively since i guess it senses the drop in volts with the internal lights and other computer stuff getting activated upon door open.

shut the door, waited 5 minutes, back to green.

so, that ctek 3300 work sperfectly tied into the battery. the new ctek3300s which you acn buy from ctek.com are about 60bucks, or on ebay maybe cheaper. they have a great connection piece so you squeeze and it comes apart nicely. i zip tied the table to that metal bracket to which the foot plate screws in, so just about 3 inches hangs down near where the passengers' toes would be. nice and secure and it works great.

be careful with those OEM chargers. no idea what gives. maybe a bad mix of load/voltage, amps, battery and the oEM. mabye just mine is flawed. but if you dont see it go to passive charging/top up , it could be overcharging, charging endlessly which could cause a failure in the battery or the charger, both of which could be disasterous, per previous post/photos.

anyway, thats where im at. any questions, please ask. not suggesting it could be anyone else's...but it was definately on mine and atleast 1 other poster, and 2 dudes who emailed me.

regards,
sg

 

no shot. im done. thing is working perfect and frankly, the CTEK 3300 pigtail connector is really easy to do. one finger, grab squeeze pull. its in there, perfectly setup.
i think that the root of the problem could be that connection, perhaps too much connection stuff going on, snapping in, etc. and maybe its not getting a good signal or reading.
but ultimately, as much as i'd like the stock, oem, factory plug and charger to work...it doesnt, and the thing of it is that the CTEK pigtail connection is far more convenient and easy to snap lose. and the charger is more advance, fi that matters.
im done for the moment.
i dont hold it against ferrari. engines and trannies..they rules. chargers, they suc k.

 

i'll try but not sure i'll have my camera at the warehouse for a few days. its really really simpel the ctek charger comes with a cable which has a RED hole at one end, black at the other. your 430/430s down there in the footwell area, has some carpeting at the top of the footrest. pull that back and you'll see 2 bolts. uncsrew them. Dont unscrew the 4 bolts on the foot plate that just attaches the diamong plate footplate piece to the carpet . after you unscrew those two bolts, that whole footrest place tilts foward and you can see the battery. the battery leads each have 3 bolts with little nuts on them . no tsure size but get a open wrench and wrap the entire thing in electrical tape just incase you touch the wrong thing, no sparky sparky. all my ferraris use the same size bolt so i just dedicated a simple box wrench to full electrical tape. unscrew a nut from one of the bolts, and slide on the red or black connectors. tighten it up. fasten the tail to one of the metal pieces with a zip tie so it hangs over the footrest place piece once back in position, and done. i'd say 10 minutes. 20 if its the first time in that battery compartment. just go slow and get it right. pretty easy DIY.