Triumph Jerry

Problem? ...No Problem.
A few months ago I posted my Ctek was charging and battery was dead.
I installed a new battery and "IT APPEARED" the Ctek wouldn't shut
off, so I put my wife's Ctek on my C6.

It was "low voltage" on the new battery and there was no problem
with the Ctek, as it goes through about 8 levels of charge.

Nothing wrong with my 3 year old Ctek, it's on my C6 now.

Patsgarage

A lot of people make the same mistake. Those small units are battery "maintainers" not chargers. They only work to keep a fully charged battery that way, not revive a dead one.

cuspid

I got the cigarette lighter attachment and it completely discharged the battery, now I'm afraid to try using it again

tennblkc6

I used the battery terminal lugs connection method and ran the cord up to the front grill. the plug is zip tied out of sight so I only have to plug the female end of the ctek charger to this plug when I exit the car. no fuss..no muss.

jwf

I've used a CTEK 3300 with the cigarette lighter attachment in the center console for three years and haven't had any problems.
Twice I thought I had a problem but it turned out not to be a fault of the CTEK. First time turned out to be a loose piece on the cigarette lighter plug that was apparently made to work in two different sizes of socket. There is a little red piece that actually tightens onto the plug. Mine had the piece on, but not twisted tightly into place, causing the plug to not seat properly. The other time the wall socket ground fault had popped so the charger was not receiving any power. Neither of those was the fault of the CTEK.

AORoads

It can happen, but may not be the fault of either the cig plug, or the unit. First, when you plug it in, there's a big round button on the left. And a smaller yellow light on the lower row that lights up---all that tells you is power is on to the unit. There are two rows of three smaller lights to the right of the big button.

Next, you have to press the big button twice so that amber lights up for the car symbol and the battery symbol in each row. One will turn green when the battery is charged, then amber later on when the level sinks. It will then trigger the maintainer to apply charge to the battery until the green comes on.

Finally, every time you disconnect the maintainer and turn it off, it needs to be reset. Otherwise, all you have is a maintainer that's doing nothing, but the power is on.

I learned all this by doing and expecting for it to "just work after I plugged it in" (that's the way my Schumacher had been) and as well after the GFI was tripped by lightning and it sat there with power but doing nothing.

tennblkc6

hmmm...maybe I missed something but I have not had to reset my ctek since I first installed it. I just plug it up and it does its thing.

AORoads

different models, different power to car source, even different basics of same model. even the 3300 fr. gm is different from the "store bought." I know you're right because others have said that theirs is just plug and play, but not all are the same way. for instance, both jwf and I have experienced the infrequent turning off of power via a tripped GFI, and the subsequent power-on-but-no-charging of the 3300.

tennblkc6

thanks...now i'm in the know as i thought they were created equal.

ATC399

Also remember there is a fuse in the CTEK cigarret attachment

Triumph Jerry

Yeah a lot of tenders are maintainers, but not the Ctek 3300.
It IS a charger as well as a maintainer as well as a de-sulfate and
will charge up to 4.5 amps.

pickleseimer

I've used it to bring back several batteries from the dead that a regular charger couldn't do anything with. Seems that after a battery moderately sulfates, it is pretty much written off. The Ctek 3300 can bring these back to life - it may take a day or two though.

Dutch08

I have a 05 and use a Ctek 3300. I just replaced the battery. The AC Delco lasted 5 years. The problems started last year when I would occasionally get a "Service Traction .." message. I would simply restart the car and all was fine, until Ctek finally could not fully charge the battery after three days.

mikeCsix

Not true. They just take longer to charge a low automotive battery ranging to a couple of days. It took 2.5 days to charge a group 24 battery using Deltran's battery tender...the wall transformer type.

Patsgarage

Just because you can does not mean you should. Use the right tool for the job.

mikeCsix

Interesting comment, I don't see the validity of the statement, if you have the time and it's the only tool available, it will work just fine and won't harm the charger. I did this about 10 years ago and the same charger is on the Corvette in Arizona where heat is a significant factor.

Patsgarage

If you have three days to charge a battery then have at it. I have better things to do with my time.

pickleseimer

To each their own I guess. Looking at the documentation, CTek calls their 3300 product a 'Charger'. Their troubleshooting section says that the product will not function unless the battery is at 2 (two) v minimum - now that seems like an extremely dead battery to me, and the absence of a statement cautioning the use of the product in those conditions indicates to me the product is designed to attempt to revive and charge such a battery. I know I've revived a battery that started at 4.7 v - not that it was much good at subsequently holding the charge for an extended period, but it did charge up to above 12.5 v. The 3300 gets a little warm when aggressively charging, but I've never had the built-in internal overheat protect kick in.

mikeCsix

Bully for you Pat...

Patsgarage

"If all you have is a hammer then everything looks like a nail". Mark Twain
Personally I try to have more than one tool in my toolbox.