Thread: How long could I leave my D4 without driving it

Originally Posted by wbowner

Hi put this on another post I raised on CTEK charging options. The threads seemed to be merging a bit so thought I would put here as well, hope that is OK.
May be the other one could be locked.

An update.

There seemed to be some confusion or difference of opinion over where to connect the negative lead of the CTEK comfort lead with the eyelets.

So I went to the local Battery World and asked them.

The guy there offered and set up for nothing another option for me. He connected the positive lead to the charging battery and the negative lead to the negative post on my aux battery which should work OK I believe.

Richard

Thanks Richard

what about if we dont have a dual battery set up, eg normal battery?

Positive to positive, negative to earth on car?

Thanks

Originally Posted by JayBee75

Thanks Richard

what about if we dont have a dual battery set up, eg normal battery?

Positive to positive, negative to earth on car?

Thanks

Initially that is what he was going to do, both on the charging battery, but the provided ctek comfort lead with the eyelets was not long enough and once he saw the dual battery set up he reckoned this option was just as good

Richard

Originally Posted by JayBee75

Thanks Richard

what about if we dont have a dual battery set up, eg normal battery?

Positive to positive, negative to earth on car?

Thanks

That's the way to do it,dual battery or not,same as jump start,NEVER use the negative terminal on the main battery,duel battery or no dual battery.

Actually, you can jump the main battery by just joining the main and auxillary battery positive terminals,leave negatives as they are.

Originally Posted by scarry

That's the way to do it,dual battery or not,same as jump start,NEVER use the negative terminal on the main battery,duel battery or no dual battery.

Actually, you can jump the main battery by just joining the main and auxillary battery positive terminals,leave negatives as they are.

Paul
This confuses me.
Are you just saying for jump starting. The above refers to just charging the battery via a charger.

In my set up, as advised and set up by the guy at Battery World

The positive charger lead is connected to the positive terminal of the main battery and the negative lead is connected to the negative terminal on the dual battery.
The teads I am talking about are the ctek comfort leads with the eyelets.

Are you saying this is wrong for charging your battery , not jump starting.

The following YouTube shows the connect or am referring to but in my case the negative lead is connect to the dual battery

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czAnCA8aXMs"]CTEK Comfort Connect Battery Cable Review - etrailer.com - YouTube[/ame]

Richard

Hi folks and some conflicting info above.

In theory, using the Comfort leads for charging or if you wanted to permanently set up a jump start lead using an Anderson plug on the end of a short length cable coming from your terminals on your cranking battery, you could.

The reason for not connecting to your negative terminal, in either the cranking battery or the AUXILIARY battery when using jumper leads to jump start a motor, is to reduce the chance of a spark igniting hydrogen gas that MIGHT be escaping from EITHER battery.

Permanent fitted ( fitted prier to actual use ) leads reduce the chances of causing a spark near the batteries.

I personally still prefer to fit the negative connection somewhere other then the negative terminal of cranking battery, because there are so many different systems now monitoring the cranking battery’s negative terminal and/or negative lead, you might cause problems with some vehicles.

One more tip. Jump starting from the auxiliary battery is only possible if the cranking battery is FLAT.

If the cranking battery has dropped a cell, then it will be likely that you will only be able to start the motor by jump starting from a donor vehicle, with it’s motor running.

BTW as Paul has posted, with a properly set up dual battery system, you can jump start by using a single jumper lead connecting the positive terminals of both batteries but again, to reduce the chance of a spark igniting any escaping hydrogen gas from the cranking battery, get into the habit of connecting the positive jumper lead to the cranking battery’s positive terminal FIRST, then connect the other end of the jumper lead to the auxiliary battery LAST.

Originally Posted by drivesafe

Hi folks and some conflicting info above.

In theory, using the Comfort leads for charging or if you wanted to permanently set up a jump start lead using an Anderson plug on the end of a short length cable coming from your terminals on your cranking battery, you could.

The reason for not connecting to your negative terminal, in either the cranking battery or the AUXILIARY battery when using jumper leads to jump start a motor, is to reduce the chance of a spark igniting hydrogen gas that MIGHT be escaping from EITHER battery.

Permanent fitted ( fitted prier to actual use ) leads reduce the chances of causing a spark near the batteries.

I personally still prefer to fit the negative connection somewhere other then the negative terminal of cranking battery, because there are so many different systems now monitoring the cranking battery’s negative terminal and/or negative lead, you might cause problems with some vehicles.

One more tip. Jump starting from the auxiliary battery is only possible if the cranking battery is FLAT.

If the cranking battery has dropped a cell, then it will be likely that you will only be able to start the motor by jump starting from a donor vehicle, with it’s motor running.

Drivesafe
There seems to be two scenarios jump starting and charging.

The information I provided above and what I have had set up is purely for charging the battery via my Ctek charger and a Ctek comfort connector as shown in the youtube above.

Do you see any problem with the way the comfort connector has been set up - positive on the main battery and negative on the negative of the aux battery.

Like wise if you do not have a dual battery set up is there a problem connecting the ctek comfort connector to the main battery terminals for charging it with a ctek charger.

I understand jump stating may have different connections.

Richard

Hi again Richard and as I posted, the Comfort connector is designed to make the connection of a battery charger to a specific battery an easy chore.

I also posted, and this is based on my OPINION only but with the different ways modern vehicles now use the cranking battery’s negative terminal and/or cranking battery’s negative lead, it would be prudent to use a negative point away from the battery.

This will not effect the charging of the battery but it may prevent erroneous info being gathered by the vehicles BMS.

These two earth studs are just in front of the cranking battery compartment and are far easier to access so there is no need to touch the cranking battery’s negative terminal in the first place.

Originally Posted by drivesafe

Hi again Richard and as I posted, the Comfort connector is designed to make the connection of a battery charger to a specific battery an easy chore.

I also posted, and this is based on my OPINION only but with the different ways modern vehicles now use the cranking battery’s negative terminal and/or cranking battery’s negative lead, it would be prudent to use a negative point away from the battery.

This will not effect the charging of the battery but it may prevent erroneous info being gathered by the vehicles BMS.

These two earth studs are just in front of the cranking battery compartment and are far easier to access so there is no need to touch the cranking battery’s negative terminal in the first place.

Thanks mate. I am out of my league with this stuff.
Unfortunately the gap in front my battery box is occupied by the dual battery and those studs are not as easy to access as in your pic. I will paste a pic tomorrow.

As said my negative lead is connected to the negative post on the dual battery not the main one. Do you think doing it this way has the same issues as if the negative post on the main battery was used?

Richard

PS - forgot to add - the reason I posted here was to get yours and others opinions from people who deal with LRs. The guy who did this was an auto electrician but does not know the set up I have as well as the people on here . So once again thanks. I am not trying to dispute your opinion duct making sure I have it correct and verified.

Richard