Club 80-90 Forums

Wondered if anyone can explain to me why the CTEK manual for my new Mxs25 charger states when battery wired in vehicle to put the red Croc clip on red terminal of battery but must not put black Croc on battery must put it on chassis.

Just wondering as when I clipped onto the red pole the black wire won't reach the chassis. Is the recommended way of putting black clip to chassis essential or is it to make it idiot proof when removing charger etc

It's to avoid the remote possibility of a spark when you connect or especially disconnect the -ve igniting hydrogen which the battery outgasses whilst charging. Not really a problem if the charger is turned off at the time.

Ah thanks that's good because I've got it set up thus. Does an AGM battery pose such a risk?

wolfbus.uk wrote: Does an AGM battery pose such a risk?

Any type of lead acid battery has the potential.

bigherb wrote: Any type of lead acid battery has the potential.

Nice pun

But on the plus side.....

i must have crossed wires

Best not to go charging in with these things.

Another question on this CTEK MXS 25 amp charger is how best to use it. At the moment it's just sitting in the middle of the van floor charging direct to the battery using the croc clips and the unit is being powered off an extension lead to the garage mains.

If I want to permanently install it, should I cut the leads and replace with ring terminals and connect direct to battery terminals and just bolt the charge on the battery box. Then I am guessing the best thing to do is to get a hook up box installed and just put that somewhere near the CTEK to just plug it in when needed, which can be most of the time when it's at home as I use the van a lot in the evenings to chill out as an auxillary man cave!

Any other suggestions on a more versatile way of using this rather expensive box of tricks would be most helpful.

Oh and cheers for all the puns

As you say, but with a 2-way connector in the wiring between charger and battery and a similar connector on the croc clips, so if you want to use the charger on another battery you can unplug it from the leisure battery and reconnect the croc clips easily.

I have fitted a cigar lighter socket fitted to my lez bat which is handy for Phone charge etc. my charger has a cigar plug on.
You can plug it in the car bat or lez bat for charging, and you still have the crock clips if you need them.

marlinowner wrote:As you say, but with a 2-way connector in the wiring between charger and battery and a similar connector on the croc clips, so if you want to use the charger on another battery you can unplug it from the leisure battery and reconnect the croc clips easily.

Yes I think I get you. So cut existing charger cable and terminate cut ends each with a type of two way connector (Anderson for instance) T

Then get another suitably rated dual cable and make that Anderson to ring terminal. Then fit these second cables to the Leisure battery and secure..

That's how i'm understanding it anyway!

nicq wrote:I have fitted a cigar lighter socket fitted to my lez bat which is handy for Phone charge etc. my charger has a cigar plug on.
You can plug it in the car bat or lez bat for charging, and you still have the crock clips if you need them.

Cheers but I worry about using charger sockets as it'll be wired into a 25 A rated battery charger.

I fitted my CTEK behind the driver's seat. It came with a quick connector to switch either croc clips or ring terminals. The ring terminals are on the battery terminals but I don't leave the quick connector connected as there is a bit of a drain back to the charger when its not on mains. I wired the mains lead direct to an extra MCB on the consumer unit in the cupboard.

thanks for this BOXY, I cannot see what your smart charger is rated at but I am guessing it is a very light duty one. The add ons for the CTEK MXS 25 amp which I have appear to be none. So looks like no quick connect for me sadly perhaps they didn't feel these were right for the heavy duty chargers. Oh well in time I will try to make something suitable for it so it works as versatile as yours seems to do.

Thanks for all the help folks!