Keep your battery healthy too

[Fairynuff]

I have had my battery on charge now (CTEK 5) for a full 3 days and it is still on 6 and unless it got up to 8 and then went back down to 6 it has never got past 6!
I have disconnected and re-connected and will give it another 24 hours and if it still has not moved beyond 6 I will try it on the wife's car to see if that gets beyond 6.

Now 6 days on the Macan and it never got past LED no.6. I've just connected to the wife's SLC which is just one month old (arrived the week before lockdown!).

I sent a query email to support@Ctek and have no reply (maybe their too busy making new charges to supply demand)

[pmg]

I have had my battery on charge now (CTEK 5) for a full 3 days and it is still on 6 and unless it got up to 8 and then went back down to 6 it has never got past 6!
I have disconnected and re-connected and will give it another 24 hours and if it still has not moved beyond 6 I will try it on the wife's car to see if that gets beyond 6.

Now 6 days on the Macan and it never got past LED no.6. I've just connected to the wife's SLC which is just one month old (arrived the week before lockdown!).

I sent a query email to support@Ctek and have no reply (maybe their too busy making new charges to supply demand)

My experience was on first charge it took nearly a full week to get to 7. not got to 8 yet and a more experienced user bennachie said earlier in thread " 7 is good. 8 is only if it has been left for ages and has begun to lose charge and has to be topped up"

[robbie]

As recommended earlier in this post I also purchased one of these CTEK MXS 5.0 from Smart Chargers, they use DPD and it arrived next day. Have now charged my Macan, my wife's Fiat500 and our Motorhome batteries, all 3 got to step '7' within a day each.
As others have noted, the light for step '7' is a very pale green and hard to actually see if the charger is outside whereas the first 6 steps light up brightly. Unless you keep looking at the charger I do not think you are going to see the Step '8' light unless you just happen to be looking at it when it gives your now fully charged battery a pulse to keep it fully charged. Plus the '8' light appears to be the same colour as '7' so not that easy to see. A nifty bit of kit for keeping our batteries fully charged and I would certainly highly recommend for those who are still deciding

[CharlesElliott]

The battery in the Macan is at the top end of what the MXS 5.0 is recommended for - the charge rate is pretty slow so it can take a long time to get up to the later stages.

[RGS]

The CTEC MXS 5.0 worked perfectly 1st time on my 2020 Turbo via an extension lead through the boot and connected to the 12v socket. Just under 12 hours to achieve LED 7

[nsm3]

Slightly off topic, but battery related, so may gain a response from someone in the know?

Daughters A1 (1.6D) wouldn't turn over yesterday. Tried to jump start off Cooper S, but no luck. They have the same or similar (duty wise) battery. Thought maybe I'd have more luck with Macan (bigger battery)?

Do I need to leave the connected cars "soaking" for a period before trying to start the A1? My only experience of jump starting is way back in the day, with lead-acid batteries (not AGM), coils and HT leads, with none of the fancy electronics systems we now have. Rev the donor car and away they went back then.

Problem is it is parked inn awkward spot re: communal parking access road, so just connecting and wandering off for a cuppa, isn't really on!

[CharlesElliott]

Yes, you will probably need to leave it connected for a while before you try to start it.

[Paul]

As Charles confirms, also just before you try again put something electrical on in the “flat” car (headlight main beam for example) for 30 seconds - just gets the battery current flowing. (Goes without saying to let the glow plugs warm up - possibly twice before cranking over)

[MikeM]

You could invest in one of these, they are not cheap and the GB40 is personally the smallest version I would suggest, Halfords have them £100, you can get them cheaper, £90. Although I would go for the GB70 but it is £170! Why buy one? If you are in the position that once you manage to start your car unless you are able to put it on charge? With no or limited run use you may find the need to jump start all over again.

[nsm3]

Cheers chaps. Bought a proper set of jump leads for 3.5L petrol and diesel engines. Much thicker than yesterdays ones. Left the cars connected for 5 mins, then started the Macan, ran for another 2 mins and the A1 started a dream. Got it on charge now, hoping the battery isn't totally defunked while this lockdown is on?