CTEK just killed my Battery

[ol' boy]

Taking the Battery and the CTEK unit into the Area Rep tomorrow morning.
I'm sure they will test my Battery and just tell me its stuffed.... Bit of a useless test, now that it IS stuffed

Oh well, lets see what they have to say.

Yes irwazza, it was an interesting conversation with that Female Rep.
When i heard the female voice answer the phone, i just figured i had Office girl, and asked to speak to someone about the CTEK chargers, i got a very stern and firm "I know everything about the CTEK Chargers, what is wrong"......... Hmmmmm ok i thought.

[ol' boy]

Just stepped out of Battery World.

My Motobatt AGM is now too high resistance ... aka Stuffed.

The Battery World owner also told me he doesn't use CTEK.. because he has had 6+ units die on him.
A 25amp CTEK that died after 2months.
7 Amp, 10Amp and 15Amp units also died with in 2 years...
He said they charge ok, they just don't last.

He only sells them because he has too.

He uses Oz Chargers... loves them and never had one fail.
They also turn themselves off when a battery is charged, unlike the CTEK.
Then monitor it...
They are the same price and have the same settings.




Next .. RECON mode... he rarely suggests using it, period.
Unless your battery has sat for 12 Months.

So... he has confirmed my Battery has failed, but can not say why... it could be coincidence.

He also was not aware that BIKE + AGM + RECON mode could be selected similtaniously
Apparently the older units you could not do this.

So there you have it.

[LeroyPatrol]

many bike mates use ctek chargers and I've not heard of a single failure.

..........Leroy

[peteramjet]

.Next .. RECON mode... he rarely suggests using it, period.
Unless your battery has sat for 12 Months.

This would surely depend largely on the battery type and usage. I have a calcium based battery that, because of its usage, requires a recon every 3 or so months. Doing so significantly improves the battery performance and it hasn't had any detrimental effect on its life (been doing the process since 2012).

Edit: I don't use c-tek chargers however!

[loanrangiel]

I just make sure i start my bike and let it idle up to temp for 10mins once a fortnight, the mottobatt AGM is 4yo with no issues so far.

[LeroyPatrol]

I just make sure i start my bike and let it idle up to temp for 10mins once a fortnight, the mottobatt AGM is 4yo with no issues so far.

Ride it man....you might not be getting the volts up on the alternator enough to keep it fully charged.
Also better to get all parts moving in the gbox and the those brake pistons moving in and out....

...........Leroy

[Tom Mix]

Another failure mode of calcium/lead grids is known by batt makers as open circuit syndrome where an oxide layer insulates the grid from plates giving much same symptoms as sulphation. I use desulphator to help remove oxide. Many have bought new batts thinking their batt is stuffed.

[ol' boy]

This would surely depend largely on the battery type and usage. I have a calcium based battery that, because of its usage, requires a recon every 3 or so months. Doing so significantly improves the battery performance and it hasn't had any detrimental effect on its life (been doing the process since 2012).

Edit: I don't use c-tek chargers however!

Can i ask the size your Calcium Battery and the type of usage requires RECOND every 3 months?

[loanrangiel]

Ride it man....you might not be getting the volts up on the alternator enough to keep it fully charged.
Also better to get all parts moving in the gbox and the those brake pistons moving in and out....

...........Leroy

I do but during winter when its not ideal weather i at least start it every fortnight if i dont take it out for a quick blast.

[peteramjet]

Can i ask the size your Calcium Battery and the type of usage requires RECOND every 3 months?

It's a 760CCA dual starter/deep cycle that runs as a second battery in the 4wd. It powers a fridge and some other gizmos constantly, and frequently gets down around 11v mark, which isn't good. It'll then get a bit of a charge during a short drive before getting fully discharged again

After a number of months of getting poor charges and frequent excessive discharging the condition window on the battery shows red (ie stuffed). Normal charging with the car dual battery system (a good DC-DC system) won't bring it back, but a recon with the external charger will bring it back to great working order.

[ol' boy]

I think i have the same type of Battery
It has this strange clear window, you look in with a torch and its either Green, Red of something else, cheap shit Battery it is too.

[peteramjet]

The battery I'm talking about is a Supercharge MRV70. Normally around the $270 mark. Not the most expensive, but one if the better lasting and hard wearing batteries I've used.

[ol' boy]

Mine is a SuperCharge also
Sounds like mine suffers the same as yours, hence why its on the bench, not in the car.
Interesting to know. I have given it a RECOND Charge, must see how it preforms now.
Cheers

[peteramjet]

Mine is a SuperCharge also
Sounds like mine suffers the same as yours, hence why its on the bench, not in the car.
Interesting to know. I have given it a RECOND Charge, must see how it preforms now.
Cheers

It has to do with calcium batteries requiring far higher voltages, over longer periods, to charge fully. It's unlikely a normal car alternator will ever get close to fully charging one of these batteries. Using a normal charger also won't work properly, hence way a recon charger (one with stages) is required to get these batteries back to new.

[ol' boy]

It has to do with calcium batteries requiring far higher voltages, over longer periods, to charge fully. It's unlikely a normal car alternator will ever get close to fully charging one of these batteries. Using a normal charger also won't work properly, hence way a recon charger (one with stages) is required to get these batteries back to new.

See, that is where i don't understand
As the Charge Program for Calcium is the same as Wet LA on the CTEK

14.4volts for WET and Calcium
14.7 volts for AGM

14.4 is nothing spectacular, even my work van outputs that voltage

Also, our Vehicle comes OEM with a Calcium Battery, so you would think it is set up to Charge it correctly
First Battery lasted 7 years

Super Charge last 12months

This is interesting, people claiming the SuperCharge calcium needs to be charged at 16.2 volts


Hmmmmm maybe that is why RECOND mode works with that particular battery so well, as it does need such a high voltage.
Hard to find Charging info for that Battery:

My ARKPAK charges Calcium at 14.9 volts



This article says 16.25 volts for Calcium (Ca/Ca)



The more you read, the more the lines are greyed, as anywhere from 14.4 to 14.7 to 14.9 to 15.8 to 16.2volts is quoted for Calcium charging??

[peteramjet]

Calcium will need 16v, and the same can be used in wet.

Thee intelligent charger I use, when set to 'calcium', will go through 7 individual stages, one calcium specific stage of called 'equalisation' which says it removes acid stratification of the electrolytes.

From what you've posted the c-tek gear seems to be nothing more than an expensive regular charger that doesn't work correctly on any battery!

[ol' boy]

Well the CTEK will produce 15.8volts when you manually selected "Equalisation" which is the same as RECOND.
But it is not part of the "Normal" charge cycle, its meant for Batteries that are really flat according to them.

Yuasa state their Silver Calcium Batteries have a tolerance of 14.8 volts, increased from 14.4volts to suit the UK market.
Nothing about 16volts though.
And Yuasa sell a rebagged CTEK MXS 5.0 as their recommended charger



Redarc have a completely different range of preset charging voltages too
Calcium being 15.3volts, and AGM being their lowest at 14.5volts



Century seems to think you need nothing special to charger them



But i agree with you peter, i'm not really sold on these modern digital chargers.
They are like the change from Ironcore Transformers to Electric Circuit Transformers, which are cheap and come with additional issues like harmonic noise, and random failures.
But their form factor, weight and cost wins out.

[ol' boy]

Calcium will need 16v, and the same can be used in wet.

Thee intelligent charger I use, when set to 'calcium', will go through 7 individual stages, one calcium specific stage of called 'equalisation' which says it removes acid stratification of the electrolytes.

From what you've posted the c-tek gear seems to be nothing more than an expensive regular charger that doesn't work correctly on any battery!

This is a reply from SuperCharge in relation to charging the MRV70

Thanks for your enquiry
Recommended constant voltage setting is at 14.4-14.8V while float voltage is at 13.5 to 13.8V @ 25degC
Fyi
Regards,

Would seem most chargers and vehicles can provide that level of charge

[Hedgehodge]

Glad i did some digging on this. I found it odd that you could select AGM+RECON MODES. They still havent corrected that RECON can be selected with AGM simultaneously. I did read it said it was only for WET and Ca batteries but assumed that it left out AGM.

Thanks for the heads up. My Optima YellowTop is around 330 USD to replace....normal batteries are around 200 USD if AGM.

I ran outside and turned off RECON mode, i was on step 3.

Whew

2018 and still not fixed in the mx5.0

....

Cheers mate I had to make an account just to thank you. It may be dead already anyways but at least i didnt cause it and I'll know it was just a 10 year old battery haha. Whenever Optima used to only give 1 year warranty on their batteries (shrug, thats how old mine is) I bought it with it already in the car back in 2008 lol, worth a shot

[ol' boy]

I've actually found a lot of AGM batteries shouldn't be charged on CTEKs AGM setting (or other chargers for that matter)

If your AGM battery stipulates max voltage of 14.5v
Then the standard setting is required.

I now no longer use any AGM settings or recond.