OEM Batteries

[kryten2001]

Hi Guys -

Away from my car at the moment, and I need a quick bit of info as I'm trying to select the best battery charger....

What is the Ah rating of the OEM battery?

I'm trying to decide whether to get a 7A, 15A or 25A charger.....

Cheers...

[Umai Naa!!]

Off the top of my head, you'll want a charger suitable for calcium batteries.

Supercheap sells a cost-effective one under their 'Calibre' brand. We've got one at work, and it does what we ask of it.

[kryten2001]

Off the top of my head, you'll want a charger suitable for calcium batteries.

Supercheap sells a cost-effective one under their 'Calibre' brand. We've got one at work, and it does what we ask of it.

yeah I've got a calibre already, I want to upgrade to a CTEK so I can leave it on trickle charge/maintenance like I do with the bike..

Trick is which one. Will a 7A do, or do I need a 15A or a 25A.

The 7A is better as you can use the eyelets with an external clip to plug in the charger. Very very handy and you don't even need to open the bonnet... Cteks also provide "supply" power, so you don't even lose power if you replace the battery.

[Transporter]

The 7A Ctek (XS7000) will be more than enough for the Golf battery I'm using it to charge the battery in our Touareg as well, and it's good.

[Von Richthofen]

I've just purchased the Calibre 20 Amp Multi-Stage charger.

Just checked the instruction manual .... The charger allows you to select the type of battery & will float charge at 13.7 volts for a calcium battery. The float charge is designed to avoid over charging the battery which is what I think you are looking for.

[kryten2001]

Thanks guys, I know which charger (brand) I want, I just need to know what the AH rating on the OEM battery is, so I can select the best one..

[Von Richthofen]

Just checked the original Jetta battery it's 72 AH.

Regards, Barry

[kryten2001]

Thanks mate. The charger I'm looking at is happy charging between 14 and 225Ah so that's well in range.

[Transporter]

Thanks guys, I know which charger (brand) I want, I just need to know what the AH rating on the OEM battery is, so I can select the best one..

Go on Ctek website if you already didn't. Just briefl, and that info is from Ctek; the XS3600 charger which is 3.6A charger will compare to 10A chargers of some other brands, due to its pulse charging mode. It doesn't matter if you choose a bit bigger charger than you need, you can still charge even very small batteries with it, without any negative effect.

If some one doesn't want to pay premium for Ctek, have a look at Projecta.com they have some good looking chargers too. But I trust Ctek more than any other brand from SuperCheap and similar shops.

[bazzle]

To trickle charge a batt you wont need more than a few amps for any size car batt. Float voltage is 99% more important.

25A is an overkill, it will never charge that high unless batt is flat and only then for a few minutes at the most as batt will overheat.

Bazzle

[kryten2001]

XS7000 looks to be the ticket. Even has a 'supply' mode to provide power to all the electronics if the battery is disconnected.

Anybody know (and I realise this is really pushing it) how many amps a golf takes to provide base power (clock/ECU etc) and/or to power up the ignition circuits (non cranking)

Thanks again guys... I know that last question is a stretch......

[Transporter]

With the ignition turned OFF and car locked after initial spike, less than 300mA for the first few seconds than less than 100mA and within 5 min everything sleeps and current drown is less than 20mA (16mA on our Golf).

Have a look in here for more http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/newf...86&postcount=9

When changing the battery I would just connect Ctek to the Ctek installed connector and keep the battery positive cable OFF the chassis (wrapped in rag or similar). Ctek is not spark proof in the power supply mode, otherwise it is bullet proof, could be left in rain or run over by car.

[kryten2001]

With the ignition turned OFF and car locked after initial spike, less than 300mA for the first few seconds than less than 100mA and within 5 min everything sleeps and current drown is less than 20mA (16mA on our Golf).

Have a look in here for more http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/newf...86&postcount=9

When changing the battery I would just connect Ctek to the Ctek installed connector and keep the battery positive cable OFF the chassis (wrapped in rag or similar). Ctek is not spark proof in the power supply mode, otherwise it is bullet proof, could be left in rain or run over by car.

Ta mate. Far out that's low, surely the GTI with its security system would draw more than a lowly 20Ma.

Be interesting to know what the draw is like with all the accessories (ie ignition) on. I'm presuming 7 amps should be more than enough to run it - assuming the headlights/stereo were off...

I'd like to get a CTEK that can run everything (within reason) in supply mode - and I dunno whether to get the 7amp, 15 amp or 25 amp model... the 7amp is preferred, coz you can use those funky connectors rather than having to use the traditional battery clamps (that can easily fall off if you're removing the battery etc).

[Transporter]

Well if you want to run everything except cranking the engine than you should consider 15A one. I have 7A, and 15A. The 15A one has more heavy duty leads, since it is more for the workshop use (only 12 months warranty). It is bigger for carrying it in the car all the time. Also the 15A one has the temperature sensor in the positive clamp that will reduce the charging if the outside temp is over (Ithink) 25 deg. Cels, difference in the time that 15A charges the Tuareg's battery (it's only once a month top up charge really) is not measurable. The 15A Ctek seats in my T5 charging the Thumper pack I use for running 12V air compressor and the inverter. The 7A Ctek is in the Touareg boot for emergency. As you know when you flatten the battery that is still serviceable the 7A Ctek needs only 7minutes to charge the battery to 80% and you should start. The 15A will do it in 5minutes. Not really worth spending extra $$ I would rather get a small sealed lead acid battery and connect it with the 7A Ctek in parallel to the vehicle system. But why would you need to run everything in the car from the power supply?

I use this for connecting Ctek to the car.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_std7SMZaoXg/S7BQQDVNuBI/AAAAAAAAAz0/kHtBWARoRQg/s400/Anderson%20Plug%20on%20Ctek%20connector.JPG

it is the Anderson plug (50A)

Much better than original Ctek connector.

[kryten2001]

Ta...

I've connected up the leads from a spare CX800 that I had lying around (charges up the ducati) and the immediate problem that leaps to mind is.. How?

How can you connect up the leads so that you can disconnect the battery whilst leaving it on charge? The nut that you have to remove from the battery terminal to screw in the CTEK connectors would also allow the CTEK connectors to flap around if you had to remove the battery later.

I'm assuming there's some sort of additional add-on you could clamp onto the car's terminals that would allow permanent mounting of the CTEK dood-dads?

Connects up a treat. You can keep the battery in the box, with the lid on, and the little CTEK connector just pops out the bottom of the box.. You can even charge your car with the hood down as there's plenty of gap between the headlight and the front fender...

Please excuse the crude images.







Oh and I found the answer I was after on the top of my battery.... 70Ah.

This is what I'm getting at though.... Right here:



This works great if you want to charge the battery, but if you want to 'feed' the car whilst removing the battery, it just won't work.. As soon as you loosen the bolt to remove the clamp, the power feed line will also just fall off (or at least bounce around causing power to go on/off etc) and the car will lose power...

There must be some special clamps you can get which are seperate from the main clamp bolt, so the whole thing can stay secured if you remove the terminals from the battery....