I need the lead between my battery & Ctek socket to be just a little longer, the price of the Ctek extension lead seem to be excessive at about £16 for 2.5 mtrs; has anyone on here just cut the original cable & added a section?
Ctek Charger lead (extending)
- Thread starter Dave Richardson
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I haven't, but definitely would.
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If the Cabling as I suspect, is Copper, as have just ascertained mine is, there should be no problems in Extending, but I would suggest that you Source some Descent Male to Female Joining Sockets!
Juts the sort of thing Maplins used to be very good at Supplying!
D
Deleted member 126251
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If the Cabling as I suspect, is Copper, as have just ascertained mine is, there should be no problems in Extending, but I would suggest that you Source some Descent Male to Female Joining Sockets!
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And quality wire with the right cross section.
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I have on the E55, have the charger in the garage, the lead extended with red & black cable just crimped on with butt connectors.
This goes out the garage and i have some heavy sleeving over the bit under the garage door, easy enough to do.
A mate is doing same for his R8 but cable has to colour match his garage so he is waiting on it being delivered.
This goes out the garage and i have some heavy sleeving over the bit under the garage door, easy enough to do.
A mate is doing same for his R8 but cable has to colour match his garage so he is waiting on it being delivered.
D
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If the Cabling as I suspect, is Copper, as have just ascertained mine is, there should be no problems in Extending, but I would suggest that you Source some Descent Male to Female Joining Sockets!
Juts the sort of thing Maplins used to be very good at Supplying!
If you are bad at soldering then these look interesting, however by the time you have purchased all the bits the Ctek extension might be the best option.
100PC Solder Sleeve Seal Heat Shrink Electrical Butt Wire Terminal Connector Kit | eBay
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I was thinking exactly this yesterday .. but in the end I stumped up the £16.50 and ordered one off eBay.
Current set include Ctek in old sandwich box with bucket over to keep it weatherproof!
Current set include Ctek in old sandwich box with bucket over to keep it weatherproof!
Surely for the convenience £16 isnt much for the lead and @daveenty has found it for only £11.99.
D
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Or a 220v extension reel and leave the charger at the car?
Paul... I found the CTEK charger extension lead would cause intermittent errors on charging. So I ended up extending the wire on the 3 pin plug side, which gave no further errors. On the plus side, I was able to extend to whatever length I needed. I used the same gauge of wire for the extension.
I too also use a sandwich box like you haha, but mine can placed under my car to keep away from the rain.
I too also use a sandwich box like you haha, but mine can placed under my car to keep away from the rain.
I don't think that's a good idea at all.
The charger will probably emit some heat, so having it in a sealed box is likely to cause problems. Even if the charger itself doesn't eventually get damaged, it's likely to have temperature compensation logic (to adjust the charge rate in line with ambient temperature), which will be screwed if the charger gets warmer than expected in use.
I understand the concern but I think the outside UK temperatures will keep the box sufficiently cool. I have been using my set up for about 2/3 years to date, the charging is still working fine.
Mine is not sealed... there are gaps where the wires go in and out of the box.
Mine is not sealed... there are gaps where the wires go in and out of the box.
'Smart' chargers can vary the way they work based on an assessment of the battery's internal resistance. So extending the output cable can cause issues - it's important to minimise resistance in the extra wiring and connections.
Well, I wouldn't do it. From a quick Google:
https://www.ctek.com/storage/ma/b34...DD0977E78AAA02291FDD/MXS_5.0-manual-UK-EN.pdf
D
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Isn't the CTEK unit small enough to sit inside the engine bay / boot (delete as appropriate)?
It is on a relative's MX5...
It is on a relative's MX5...
wongl
MB Enthusiast
Well done! £11.99 from Amazon is a brilliant find - if you have prime membership the shipping is free!A bit cheaper for a genuine item than the OP implies.
A 2.5M one on Amazon HERE for £11.99. As suggested above, probably cheaper than making your own and it just plugs in.
I managed to find them for US$9.99 and ordered a whole bunch last year as I was ordering other car accessories from the USA. The total shipping only came to US$8.08, so still a little cheaper than the £11.99 from Amazon UK.
wongl
MB Enthusiast
I too have found the extension lead to cause errors when I used more than one extension leads. To be fair to CTEK their instructions do state not to use more than one extension lead.
I just built an extra long (4m) extension lead using twin core wires so that I can run the mains to the engine bay - my CTEK simply sit in the engine bay (in the water drainage tray immediately above the battery).
D
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That was also my thought, wrong gauge wire, crimped connectors / poorly soldered joints etc will increase the resistance and possible give the charger inaccurate feedback......but I'm not expert in these things.
esscee
Active Member
As mentioned earlier, why not use a mains extension lead and put the CTEK closer to or in the car.
