XC70: Electrical XC70 2014 Fitting of CTEK Conditioner

[Quentin]

Having just taken delivery of my XC70 I am trying to find out where to attach the leads of my CTEK Battery Conditioner. There don't appear to be any charger posts, either positive or ground, just the main battery. The drivers handbook doesn't help other than to emphasise not connecting direct to the battery posts!
Anyone else faced this problem? I am used to hardwiring my CTEK leads to the cars, but also can use the clips if necessary.
Quentin

[al dm]

Originally Posted by Quentin

Having just taken delivery of my XC70 I am trying to find out where to attach the leads of my CTEK Battery Conditioner. There don't appear to be any charger posts, either positive or ground, just the main battery. The drivers handbook doesn't help other than to emphasise not connecting direct to the battery posts!
Anyone else faced this problem? I am used to hardwiring my CTEK leads to the cars, but also can use the clips if necessary.
Quentin

I don't see any reason not to just hardwire it to the battery terminals.

[hal9000f]

Originally Posted by al dm

I don't see any reason not to just hardwire it to the battery terminals.

Not correct!

Those cars have BMS - Battery Monitoring System which must know that you are charging the battery in order to calculate correct Battery SoC - State of Charge.

So, you must connect positive charging to the battery positive and negative to the car body. Google for some examples.

Also there are some examples somewhere on this forum on how and where people attached the leads of the CTEK Battery Conditioner for quick connection.

I connect negative to the front upper strut bolt.

And, yes it would be nice if they made some dedicated charger posts, at least negative

[al dm]

Originally Posted by hal9000f

Not correct!

Those cars have BMS - Battery Monitoring System which must know that you are charging the battery in order to calculate correct Battery SoC - State of Charge.

So, you must connect positive charging to the battery positive and negative to the car body. Google for some examples.

Also there are some examples somewhere on this forum on how and where people attached the leads of the CTEK Battery Conditioner for quick connection.

I connect negative to the front upper strut bolt.

And, yes it would be nice if they made some dedicated charger posts, at least negative

My BMS is useless! Even with fully charged battery it reads really low - 40-50% or so most of the time. I don't really see any need for it. Have thought about just removing it, but it would just throw codes.

I drove over 400 miles today, and after letting the car sit for about 2 minutes with the engine off, it was giving low battery errors on the dashboard. The battery was fully charged....

[Tatsfield]

Originally Posted by al dm

I don't see any reason not to just hardwire it to the battery terminals.

I permanently wired the connector lead from my CTech with the positive lead to a connection on the positive terminal post connector and the negative to a bolt near the battery tray. For that matter I keep the CTech secured inside the engine compartment so that I can connect it to the battery connector lead and the power input to the mains.

[hal9000f]

Originally Posted by al dm

My BMS is useless! Even with fully charged battery it reads really low - 40-50% or so most of the time. I don't really see any need for it. Have thought about just removing it, but it would just throw codes.

I drove over 400 miles today, and after letting the car sit for about 2 minutes with the engine off, it was giving low battery errors on the dashboard. The battery was fully charged....

Well, I would be happier without BMS too :-)

You may have a problem because BMS was never reset in your car when new battery was installed.

When was the new battery installed? Can you check if BMS was reset?

I had a similar issue because the previous owner installed a new battery and never reset the BMS. I was getting Battery Low message very often.

Car was 9 years old and probably got a first new battery a year ago. But, as the BMS was not reset, it was thinking the new battery was 9 years old and treated it as such. Assuming it had lowered capacity, higher resistance due to age and so on...

You must not do a reset on an old battery!!

But with just one year battery reset is OK.

So, I did a reset, and had not a single Battery Low message since.

From time to time I check the battery and it is always between 80-85% SoC.

My daily commute is 34 miles.

If you didn't know, the system aims to keep the battery at max 85% SoC to allow charging from engine braking energy. Too low I think, but that's it.

Allegedly the system does charge the battery to 100% SoC every six months or so to prevent premature sulphation.

[simboc2004]

You do need to reset the battery through VIDA when you replace it. Am about to do mine as it has been replaced and still throws up "battery low" warnings when i use the radio with the engine off. It's also a slightly higher Ah rating and that needs resetting through VIDA too.

I have my battery charger negative lead connected via an earth tag connection washer (10.5mm diameter centre hole) I placed under one of the suspension strut tower bolts. Works well and is neater than other solutions I could come up with.

[hal9000f]

Originally Posted by simboc2004

It's also a slightly higher Ah rating and that needs resetting through VIDA too.

Could you please explain this in more detail?

If for example you put in an 80 Ah battery instead of 74 Ah, do you have to report that to a car through VIDA?

I'd like to go with a bigger battery next time...

[simboc2004]

Yes, you do. Haven't done it yet, but it most definitely affects the battery charging and status reporting. When i do it (maybe today if I can get VIDA set up running) I will post full instructions

[FreshAir]

For a reset of the BMS:

1. Switch on ignition (do not start engine)
2. Switch on dipped beam
3. Press 6x the rear fog light button (do not switch 6x on and off the rear fog light)
4. Press 3x hazard lights button (do not switch 3x on and off hazard lights)
5. Then the battery symbol in the speedometer should flash 3x quickly.

For step 3 I have also read 5x instead of 6 times in case that is wrong in 2 different places on forums.

Then leave car overnight.