Connecting charger to battery

[JohnSyn]

For those that connect their battery charger, or conditioner, direct to the battery how do you connect to the battery itself?

[Greenman]

You can connect the + directly to the battery terminal, but the negative should not be connected directly (due to interfering with some switching ) , there is a labelled '- ' connect point about a foot to the right of the battery in the 981, check your manual for 991.2  equivalent. Of course if you are just connecting a trickle charger of the ctek (or equivalent) variety you should be fine just connecting directly to the terminals.

For trickle duties many seem to use the cigarette lighter attachement to prevent having to flip the bonnet, if you go doepwn this route you may find you have to use a specific lighter point as some may detect the charger and not auto disconnect whilst others many not.

[JohnSyn]

25 minutes ago, Greenman said:

You can connect the + directly to the battery terminal, but the negative should not be connected directly (due to interfering with some switching ) , there is a labelled '- ' connect point about a foot to the right of the battery in the 981, check your manual for 991.2  equivalent. Of course if you are just connecting a trickle charger of the ctek (or equivalent) variety you should be fine just connecting directly to the terminals.

For trickle duties many seem to use the cigarette lighter attachement to prevent having to flip the bonnet, if you go doepwn this route you may find you have to use a specific lighter point as some may detect the charger and not auto disconnect whilst others many not.

Thanks for this. On my 991.2, and apparently later 981s (which is why I posted here), the cigarette or 12v sockets turn off after about 15-20 minutes meaning you cannot charge through them, particularly with a battery conditioner which of course is connected continuously.  

What I was interested in was whether, in connecting to the battery as you say, you or others have left the lead connected ( the battery connector on the CTEC has a plug to attach it to the lead from the charger) and just plug in the charger afterwards as opposed to exposing the battery etc each time.

[Greenman]

14 minutes ago, JohnSyn said:

What I was interested in was whether, in connecting to the battery as you say, you or others have left the lead connected ( the battery connector on the CTEC has a plug to attach it to the lead from the charger) and just plug in the charger afterwards as opposed to exposing the battery etc each time

I haven't done this myself, but I know some on the planet9 forum have done this and zip tied so the connector is just under the windscreen edge of the bonnet so can be accessed without opening etc.  However .....

 

16 minutes ago, JohnSyn said:

Thanks for this. On my 991.2, and apparently later 981s (which is why I posted here), the cigarette or 12v sockets turn off after about 15-20 minutes meaning you cannot charge through them, particularly with a battery conditioner which of course is connected continuously

It's more sophisticated than this, if it detects a reverse current (charger connected) it does not turn off the cigarette socket,  check manual which tells you which socket to connect trickle charger to. Again various people of planet9 have tested this and proved it does work like this, I assume 991.2 will work in a similar manor. I would think you shouldn't really need this though unless you are leaving you car for several weeks without driving, in your case you need to get out driving 

[JohnSyn]

2 minutes ago, Greenman said:

I would think you shouldn't really need this though unless you are leaving you car for several weeks without driving, in your case you need to get out driving 

Thanks for your helpful reply. I was told with the latest cars the charging and batteries are better so I shouldn't need to trickle charge so much.

However, I am a bit prone to a holiday or two so the car may well be left for periods of 10-14 days which is why I'm keen on using a trickle charger.

[JohnSyn]

Oh er...I've just read the manual.

You can only charge the battery via connecting direct to the battery terminal and ground point. Additionally I must use a charger which is compatible with absorbent glass mat batteries! Off to see whether my current CTEC charger is!  

[Greenman]

2 hours ago, JohnSyn said:

Oh er...I've just read the manual.

You can only charge the battery via connecting direct to the battery terminal and ground point. Additionally I must use a charger which is compatible with absorbent glass mat batteries! Off to see whether my current CTEC charger is!  

If it's a newer ctek then it will have an AGM mode.   If an older ctek with a cold weather setting then you can use this instead, basically AGM require a higher voltage to fully charge, the cold weather setting does just that. Even in the standard mode you won't have any major issues it's just it will only charge to 95% capacity.   

Does it specifically warn against charging any other way or is it just that it tells you to charge battery by connecting to terminals, because the 981 manual similarly just tells you to connect to battery directly dispite the cigarette charger options.

[JohnSyn]

31 minutes ago, Greenman said:

If it's a newer ctek then it will have an AGM mode.   If an older ctek with a cold weather setting then you can use this instead, basically AGM require a higher voltage to fully charge, the cold weather setting does just that. Even in the standard mode you won't have any major issues it's just it will only charge to 95% capacity.   

Does it specifically warn against charging any other way or is it just that it tells you to charge battery by connecting to terminals, because the 981 manual similarly just tells you to connect to battery directly dispite the cigarette charger options.

No it doesn't warn against it, just explains how to connect charger to battery. It seems only to have one 12v/cigarette lighter socket. The one that was in the central box on both my 981s isn't on the 991.2. And the OPC said that one turns off after 15-20 minutes

Nope...just read the manual again! There is a second 12v socket in the passenger footwell (!). However that turns off after 30 minutes!

[Greenman]

If you already have a cigarette connector I would try it. I would be suprised if it hadn't got the same logic as the 981 and you will find it detects the connection and prevents shutdown.

[Araf]

Slightly different in my car John but my lead is connected directly to the battery terminals and then exits under the front of the plastic battery cover and the socket for the lead sits just behind the front boot seal.  When I plug the car in, the lead then follows the outside of the seal to the front of the car and is shut in the bonnet shut line in the front nearside corner.  You can't do it further up as the bonnet has sharp edges on the sides.

[Toeside]

On 5/19/2017 at 11:39 AM, JohnSyn said:

Thanks for this. On my 991.2, and apparently later 981s (which is why I posted here), the cigarette or 12v sockets turn off after about 15-20 minutes meaning you cannot charge through them, particularly with a battery conditioner which of course is connected continuously.  

What I was interested in was whether, in connecting to the battery as you say, you or others have left the lead connected ( the battery connector on the CTEC has a plug to attach it to the lead from the charger) and just plug in the charger afterwards as opposed to exposing the battery etc each time.

As long as you connect the trickle charger when the ignition is switched on and it see's (detects) a current flow the cigarette lighter will not switch off. You can charge through cig socket. I went through a similar debacle last winter 

[JohnSyn]

20 hours ago, Araf said:

Slightly different in my car John but my lead is connected directly to the battery terminals and then exits under the front of the plastic battery cover and the socket for the lead sits just behind the front boot seal.  When I plug the car in, the lead then follows the outside of the seal to the front of the car and is shut in the bonnet shut line in the front nearside corner.  You can't do it further up as the bonnet has sharp edges on the sides.

Thanks Araf...that's what I'm looking at if I do connect to the battery

[JohnSyn]

6 hours ago, Toeside said:

As long as you connect the trickle charger when the ignition is switched on and it see's (detects) a current flow the cigarette lighter will not switch off. You can charge through cig socket. I went through a similar debacle last winter 

So that's the trick is it...with the ignition on. I'll try that, thanks

[Toeside]

Worked for me . Very confusing as depending on the age of the car the auxiliary sockets appear to work differently

 

[S999sws]

The reason you have to connect to the earthing point and not the negative of the battery, is that there is a small black plastic box which goes straight on to the battery. This is the gizmo which tells the battery to take more charge when breaking, and is VERY susceptible to any static discharge, if for example you accidentally cause a small spark, or have a static charge on your body, then just touching it could blow it.

cheers

steve WS 

[JohnSyn]

36 minutes ago, S999sws said:

The reason you have to connect to the earthing point and not the negative of the battery, is that there is a small black plastic box which goes straight on to the battery. This is the gizmo which tells the battery to take more charge when breaking, and is VERY susceptible to any static discharge, if for example you accidentally cause a small spark, or have a static charge on your body, then just touching it could blow it.

cheers

steve WS 

Thanks for this, makes sense but I certainly had no idea that was the reason

[Mushroom3]

When I collected my 2014 981 from the OPC last month I asked which socket to connect my CTEK conditioner. The passenger footwell was the answer - and it works if plugged in after the ignition is off. Well it does for me anyway.

[martyn]

I use a ctek charger with the agm setting for hours on end via the cigarette lighter in the arm rest/storage tray has Never disconnected itself. The Ignition is switched off.

[JohnSyn]

18 hours ago, martyn said:

I use a ctek charger with the agm setting for hours on end via the cigarette lighter in the arm rest/storage tray has Never disconnected itself. The Ignition is switched off.

that's exactly what I did with my 981 Spyder. The 991.2 doesn't have a 12v socket in the storage tray though so I'm hoping, as in Mushroom 3's case, that the socket in the passenger footwell will work