fuse box, a la ms santos.

 

cool

 

I recently picked up a CTEK MULTI US 3300:


http://www.ctek.com/EN-US/buy-US-charger.aspx


Seems to be doing the job. It's more of a maintenance charger, can be left on indefinitely if you like. It charges in a multi-stage process, and also assesses your battery state-of-charge, at the outset. It's quite compact, comes with a bag, and can stow in the spare wheel well, for example. You can download a pdf of the manual, and there are a few reviews on the net.

It comes with a couple of quick-connect options, either alligator clips or pig tail style (for permanent install). I found the alligator clips most expedient. They recommend to connect the neg. clamp last, to a ground, not directly to neg. post on battery. I usually just go to the neg post though. I do make a point of blowing the air across top of battery, in case there's a bit of hydrogen lurking.

My (just replaced, near-new) battery was reading around 12.59 volts prior to trying this out. Used it, and then after a day or two of driving (to dispel "surface charge" that can falsely inflate voltage readings just after charging) got a reading of 12.75 volts. Air temperature about the same for both readings (it can make a difference).

 

Would it not be better to use the solar charger so it is care free. Just install and forget about it. I intend to install the solar charger as soon as it warms up here in Toronto because it is too cold now for me to work on cars. Although i do like the small form factor of your charger. Do you have to plug it into wall outlet?

 

Yes, it is 110 volt. After an intitial assesment of battery strength, and if warranted, it goes into a charging cycle. Step 1 is referred to as "desulfaction" (I may have slightly mispelled), the objection being to strip off sulphur compound that might be building up on the battery plates. It then bulk charges, then tapers off, and finally goes into maintenance pulses. This is explained in detail in the online available pdf. It's maybe midway between a trickle charger and a regular, I believe the amperage is 3~.

First time around, it ran for about 3~4 hours before switching to maintenance mode, with indication the battery was fully charged. I tried it again about a week later, and this time it took about 1 hour.

 

cool...thanks for the explanation

 

I have been redaing this thread with interest as my dealer recently replaced my battery after just 25k miles. I didn't have a problem that I know of and because we have a three year warranty here in Scotland I didn't bother questioning the reason behind the change of battery. Does anyone know why the batteries are so small. It sounds like they just aren't beefy enough to last the pace...

 

For one thing they don't do much? My 2006 HCH has never used this battery to start my car. And I believe that is the largest draw on a battery?Hal

 

well in winter the draw is a lot especially when the heater is going and head lights come on a lot earlier and of course the music. i noticed that if i occasionally take the head lights off when not needed the IMA battery stays at 5 to 6 bars but will go down to 4 bars if head lights are on so quite a current draw on the 12v battery

 

Yes linx, but your talking about the IMA pack that drives the electric mtr. He was talking about the little 12V battery. The only indicator on this is the eye you look into! Blue eye with red dot is good! Hal