I bought one of those CTEK Comfort Extensions for my car and it is also attached to the bus bar on the floor of my 2021 Coupe. But what I also did was used a spade bit to bore a hole in the lower left corner of the storage tray just large enough for the connector end to pass through and then I can pull the storage tray cover and cargo mat back over the storage tray and the connector wire is tucked back just below the hatch opening with enough slack that I can easily grab it and connect it to the wire coming off of the CTEK unit.

Sov211 has a good idea too but I'm too much of a Nervous Nellie to leave the connector outside of the hatch when not in use.

 

Dwight: I have to ask why you are nervous about having the capped connector on the outside…? It is waterproof once capped…in 5 years of using this arrangement I have not had any problem at all, and the ease of connection, plus the much reduced wear and tear on the hatch latch/solenoid assembly makes this a no-brainer for me. As I have said before, it makes the connection and disconnection process a matter of 3 seconds or so.

 

I can't explain it, I'm just uncomfortable with having the connector exposed, capped or not. And the only time my Jag has ever been exposed to water is when I wash it !
Another member has shown his set up where the CTEK wiring is connected to the battery charging posts under the hood and the capped connector is tucked up in the wheel well and accessible without opening the hood but I'm not comfortable with that method either.

But as long as those methods work and no one has had any issues yet, they certainly are options.

 

Sorry, don't quite understand. You have the wire leading out of the boot (trunk?)(as do I) so why not just leave the connector cap inside the trunk? Nothing is exposed then, you just have the wire leading out, and all you have to do to connect/disconnect is open the trunk. Am I missing something? Apologies if so.

 

The photos I posted above (#40) explain everything, I think. The “connector” cap that I refer to is the small black plug to protect the connector end, and which is attached to the connector end. It therefore cannot be left inside the trunk separate from the connector end.
The entire purpose, my purpose, in leaving the connector end outside the hatch lid is to obviate opening and closing the lid with its electronic latch frequently and unnecessarily, and also to speed the connecting and disconnecting process. How many openings and closings are built into the electronic latch? I don’t know, but it seems to me that the fewer times I use it unnecessarily, the better. My CTEK unit is connected and disconnected every time the car goes into or out of the garage.
If you do not have the automatic latch option (which is what I have and my comments are based on that) then this may be irrelevant to you.

 

My Ctek arrived today and I connected it as show above to the buss panel and the ground wire. The issue is the terminal connector section of the Ctek is so short it doesn't extend really enough to even put the panels back into the trunk. So I have all the panels current out while the battery is charging. Did everyone but the longer wires that connect to the battery terminals and not use the one that came with the actual unit? I see they sell a longer version separately.

And I will say my personal experience with my driving habits, I needed a charger. I bought a new Interstate 11 months ago and already needed to replace it. I didn't have a charger until today and drive very short distances with my car. It averages less than 3,000 miles per year. I have the Ctek plugged in and charging and it shows only a 3 on the display. This Interstate battery I just installed about 3-4 weeks ago. I also didn't realize that it appears the battery works harder if the car is not locked and my car is never locked in the garage. I am now changing that as well.

 

It is good that you now have the CTEK. First, you now have proof that your new battery was not anywhere near fully charged - and with your driving pattern it likely would never get fully charged…and that is not good either in terms of the longevity of the battery or in freedom from electronic gremlins.

Second, your CTEK unit is doing its job. It can take quite a long time for the battery to reach full charge - do not be concerned. You will find that once it has been fully charged the process will be much shorter subsequently but be aware that the CTEK goes through the entire charging cycle each time it is connected. Just let it do what it does very well -and plug it in whenever the car is not in frequent use.

Third, if you look at the photos in #40 above you will see that on my car the “comfort extension” is connected very close to the battery monitor bar (the connector is just to the right). If you do not have this extension then I assume you have the CTEK inside the trunk area - and if you do, you have to be aware that every time you open the trunk to inspect it, the lights on the CTEK unit will tell you that the battery is not fully charged…and that is because by opening the trunk you have drawn current from the battery. The comfort extension permits you to have the unit outside the car and thus enables you to monitor the battery condition more accurately.

And yes, it is good to lock the car because that shuts down all the modules more quickly (but not immediately); you can leave it unlocked but then it will take the CTEK longer to bring the battery to full charge.

 

I had to buy one of the CTEK extensions in order to have enough slack for the wire to come up from the bus bar & ground connections on the floor of my coupe, through a hole in the storage tray and then sit on top of the cargo mat at the rear of the hatch area and just below the latch. When the car is all locked up and the the CTEK unit connected and operating, I can peek through the hatch glass and see the colored lights on the connector. Typically the green LED is blinking showing all is well.

As sov211 mentions, the CTEK unit is constantly monitoring the condition of the battery and then goes into whatever mode is necessary to keep things at an optimum level. I can also see the CTEK unit as it is mounted on the wall next to the car with the wire leading to the hatch connector.

 

FWIW, I originally purchased my CTEK as a kit, both because the kit was on sale and because it included a 20" connector with a 'Charger Indicator" instead of the standard 12" connector cable w/o indicator. I also purchased the 8 foot extension cable. I've since found that: a) the 20" connector cable is still too short, and b) the Charger indicator is pretty useless, as it just annoyingly blinks red all the time unless actively charging through the CTEK unit.

For reasons mentioned, I was uncomfortable both with normally having the connecting cable exposed outside the vehicle and with regularly needing to open the trunk to connect or disconnect the cable to the charger.

My solution was to cut the 20" connector cable in half, and swapped/spliced it to the similarly cut 8 foot extension, using crimp connectors. As such, I now have an 8' connecting cable (w/eyelets) and a short (12") extension with the charging indicator. The CTEK is installed on the wall adjacent to the driver door, powered by the 110v outlet used for the garage door opener. Normally, I run the long connector cable forward out through the slightly-cracked driver-door window, and plug it into the 12" extension, which is constantly connected to the cable from the CTEK.

The long extension cable is normally kept readily available tucked behind the driver seat, which works well when the car regularly garaged. For long trips, I'll coil it and 'hide' the whole cable back into the lower trunk storage cubby next to the battery.

In retrospect, the CTEK kit wasn't necessary for me. I could have just bought the charger with the 12" connector cable, plus the 8 foot extension.

 

One other thing to consider is that you can order the CTEK Comfort Connect Indicator accessory with either M6 (Part Number:56-629) or M8 (Part Number:56-382) size ring connectors. The smaller M6 size was a closer fit around the grounding stud and screw on the bus bar if you are connecting at those points although both will work.

 

Is it at all possible to connect the CTEK using the alligator clips rather than using the eyelets? Also, is the extension required if I intend to hang it out of the trunk? Thanks for all the great info!

 

Others can chime in but I don't see why you cannot use the alligator clips but still they are not long enough to hang out of the trunk. I didn' think I even needed a charger but my driving habits appear to be the worst for this car. I drive extremely short distances, less than 10 miles which drains the battery. I just received the comfort extension cable to extend the connection to reach out of the trunk. It has only been about 3 days since I unplugged the charger and again it is down to a 3 once the charger is plugged back in.

 

The alligator clips are for temporary connection. The use of the CTEK unit should not be temporary! Alligator clips are not secure, certainly nowhere near as secure as the eyelet connectors. But more importantly perhaps, the alligator clips offer no advantage whatsoever over the eyelets.
you perhaps do not understand how the CTEK unit works (but you have the manual which came with it?). Every time the unit is plugged in it goes through the entire sequence of analysing, desulphating and charging. The fact that your charger shows three yellow lights indicates that it has gone to the third step and is now slowly and safely charging the battery. Your battery, because of the short runs, requires “topping up”….just leave the CTEK unit connected. It WILL reach the last stage with the green light on. The length of time that it remains at any of the stages varies with the charge status of the battery. Some days one of the stages will take longer than it did the day before or the day after! Perfectly normal. Let the unit do its work. But please connect it permanently so that the charging flow is not interrupted.

 

Thanks, sov. I just purchased a CTEK mxs 5.0, extension and a socket wrench set. Now just to need to make sure my will is updated.

- Dustin

 

Dustin: it’s easy and safe…just look at the photos in post #40 above. You will connect the red lead to anywhere on the battery monitoring bar in the trunk. The black lead goes to any stud on the trunk floor. You do not touch the battery itself. Jusy make those connections secure and you are done. It is a 5 minute job.

 

Member Ms. Stabenow posted a good tip regarding making connections to the + and - terminals. She suggested having a helper use something non conductive like a paint stirring stick to hold the negative connector on the cable from the battery down tight against the floor & stud when you remove the nut from the grounding stud to connect the ring connector from the CTEK unit. That way the connection from the battery is never broken during the few seconds needed to connect the CTEK ground and you won't have to worry about having to reset the power windows or power hatch (if you have one).

When I connected my CTEK thankfully I didn't need to reprogram any of my Favorites on Sirius XM and the auto up/down functions for my windows still worked, but I needed to reset the power hatch.
I suppose if the battery was disconnected for a long time you may lose some of the settings.

One other thing, whenever you disconnect the battery for any reason you should always make sure the windows are down first. Damage could occur if you slammed a door shut when the window was in the fully raised position, you will notice how the window drops slightly when you open the door and then raises and seals when you close it. That function is non-existent without battery power.

 

It is just a battery!! Jaguar does not want you to damage any of the electronics . Avoid this by disconnecting.