I've got a few classic cars and even more daily drivers than I really need and I keep them plugged in to keep them at the ready. I started my hobby with cheap Diehard units from Sears and I've had some of the cheapest Battery Tender Juniors too. I've had some really close calls, which I've posted about in other threads (I always try to respond to these questions to prevent others from going through what I learned the hard way). Now ALL my cars are on CTEK units because they have circuitry that's supposed to detect a whole range of charging problems and shut the unit down. I was lucky not to have burned down the whole garage with unattended bargain priced battery maintainers gone wild or to have gotten injured in the battery explosion one caused (that's when I switched). I don't know for sure that the CTEKs aren't going to fail spectacularly someday too (or that our OP hasn't got a defective unit), but now I figure if you need to leave your largest consumer purchase plugged into the wall of your largest investment, then it doesn't make much sense to run that power through one of the cheapest alternatives. Electricity run amok can do a lot of damage.

 

You will see black box when you pull out the tub next to battery. Are you using an AGM compatible charger/maintainer? I use a BatteryMinder 2012-AGM.

 

I bought a Hulkman Sigma 5 from Amazon for about $70. It was well reviewed, works on AGM, and my car starts every time I need it to, regardless of how long it’s been sitting. What else can I ask for?

 

Hi,
Usually when I use my CTEK, I leave it on the floor of the garage by the car. However, I know it's just a matter of time before my wife or someone accidently kicks it and it knocks off one or both of the clamps. I was thinking of hanging the CTEK on the stud of the garage so it's up and out of the way. Anyone think it's a fire risk or another reason not to do that?

As always, THANKS for your input.

 

I leave mine in the trunk when I charge my car and trailing the power cable out the trunk lid. No issues with overheating that I've noticed, though I do put the CTEK on the metal trunk floor - I remove the cubby when charging.

 

I've had mine mounted to a stud on the garage wall since 2020 without an issue. It never gets hot enough to be a concern.

 

I only drive my Jaguar about once every couple of weeks so I leave it on the CTEK all the time. When I installed the pigtail to the bus bar on the floor of my couple I used a spade bit of the proper diameter to bore a hole in the bottom of the removable storage tray just large enough for the connector to pass through and with enough slack that the cover for the storage area can then be closed leaving the connector exposed. I bought the mounting bracket from CTEK and a couple of rope cleats from the hardware store and have the unit installed on the wall next to the car. Then all I have to do is unwrap the cord, open the hatch, plug into the connector and plug the CTEK into the electrical outlet. Nice and tidy that way.

 

It's not that I would question whether a tech writer would voluntarily include information not specifically given to them by the engineers - humph... from first-hand experience, I KNOW they do - but... well, the last bullet point of the "Important Safety Information!" section of my CTEK MXS 5.0 manual specifically states (page 8 in English) that the charger should be placed with the 'bottom down when installing and charging". And it also provides a pair of 'do-this' vs. 'don't-do-this' placement images.

And, unfortunately, your (nice & clean!) installation seems akin to the 'don't-do-this' image.

I know little about Sweden (except for being the birthplace of Saab's and Polestar's - and that it may be hard to sell blond hair dye), but this got my attention.

So if - in fact - the CTEK Swedish engineers do truly stress this caveat about installation and use of the charger (I agree, it seems rather silly), I decided to skip the CTEK mounting bracket and make my own from scrap wood and a mylar mirror set at an angle. Not pretty, but it does satisfy this apparent issue, yet still provide the ability to easily read the status lamps... which otherwise seems difficult to do when installed using the 'do this' image.

Plus, it's easy to read from across the garage (the lights not the text).

 

Is that a mirror over the charger?

 

Yeah, sorta. It's a piece of scrap mylar plastic. I bought this on Amazon for a separate project.

Look up "mirror adhesive craft mirror shatterproof sheet' and you'll see all kinds of options. I just cut some 3/4 ply into angles, mounted them on the backboard, then used the peel-and-stick adhesive on the plastic to place them on the ply above the charger.

 

I may be a pessimist, but I keep my CTEK out of the car. If it every malfunctioned it COULD become a source of ignition, right? Exceedingly rare situation, I know, but why take the risk.

 

Because I charge mine outside on my drive and I don't want to leave the CTEK exposed to the elements. The power cable can take a bit of rain, I don't want to test if the CTEK can.

 

Hi, I finally got the courage to hook it up to the block. However, as I was loosening the bolt that holds the ground cable from the batter to the floor of the trunk, it started sparking, the horn started honking, and lights were flashing. I quickly tightened it back up and everything seems fine. That was just loosening the ground. What did I do wrong? Thanks.

 

I didn't catch the caveat about mounting the CTEK unit bottom down. And I'm usually pretty good about reading owners manuals. I wonder why they would sell a mounting bracket for wall mounting ?
I have had it installed that way for over a year with no problems. So far anyway.....
Now you have me thinking about mounting a small shelf and installing the CTEK bottom down. I'll have to see what I can find at the home center. I could always use the shelf space for other items if all I can find is a 24" shelf for example.

 

I looked through the entire English CTEK MXS 5.0 manual online and I didn't see any mention of orientation warnings in any of the safety precautions.

 

FWIW, I don't see the need to change your installation. Again, I fail to see the point of this caveat. But it's got me curious enough to want to pose the question to CTEK.

But if you do, might I suggest an option I found after a bit of duck-duck-going?? (I've had a bit of time on my hands indoors due to the hazardous smoky skies around here lately,) There a shelf I found on Amazon (look for 'Louis Felt shelf') that would fit around your outlet plate and seems to fit in visually with your clean installation and white walls. The only real problem is that it's plastic.

Which segues back into this thread's OP concern about his hot CTEK. (IMHO, if it would normally run hot, it should have some cooling fins... but mine doesn't) I do wonder why this happened.

I have a MY21 coupe, so the battery and the busbar may be in a different place than his convertible. Still, the CTEK install should be the same/similar to sov11 posted pic. I would like to pose a couple of other questions to him, though.

What model of CTEK is this? (and what does the manual say about it's setup for normal charging)
If the MXS 5.0, was/is it set for the AGM option?
What was/is the condition of the battery... normal, fully discharged, or??
What is the length of the cable between the charger and the battery? (I bought a single 8' extension cord, as a chat with a CTEK tech warned me about using more than one)

And, lastly, is it still a problem, or has a solution been found?

Fortunately, it finally rained today. The AQI index dropped from 233 Wednesday to 12 today <yay!>. I'm going to unplug my CTEK, uncage the Jag, and go out.

 

I found this shelf at Home Depot. It measures 16" x 5" and cost $13.47. That should do it for me. I like the idea of the Louis Felt shelf that fits over the outlet plate but am concerned that it is plastic and also would like something a bit wider.

Thunder Dump, the precaution regarding placement of the CTEK is on page 6 of the online manual. Here's a screen shot. Pic of the shelf is below.

 

Dwight, Rob, Matt, Sam, and others...

Matt (Thunder Dump) and I have been messaging offline. It seems that he was reviewing the online manual specific to the UK market. I did some further checking. The the Australian market online manual matches that of the UK. Only the North America manual has that caveat about placement/orientation of the CTEK unit.

So, I posted a query to CTEK support about the apparent inconsistency. Here's their response:

"Hello,That statement in the User Manual is a bit misleading. It's just a warning that if placed on it's edge it could be unstable and could fall.

Using the mounting bracket clips the charger in place, is safe and does not cause the charger to work any differently than if placed bottom down on a work bench."

So, it appears that this "Safety Information" warning in the (North American) CTEK manual does not, repeat NOT need to be taken literally. I apologize if my prior post may have caused any grief, it was never my intention. My suspicion is, as I told Matt, that somebody felt the need to add this unnecessary text, not realizing the potential impact.

 

Nice detective work. It should also say 'do not use in the bathtub or while hang gliding.' And the note about using a single 8' extension cord - that could only be to warn about a tripping hazard; these things use so little power that a longer extension cord simply woudn't matter.

 

Good following up! As a final step, you may want to edit your original post above (if you still can) just in case someone does a search later on and finds the original post but doesn't read the whole thread.