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The 5.0 has a battery monitoring module attached to the negative post of the battery. If you attach the charger's negative lead directly to the post, the monitor can't 'see' the charge going in, which may cause issues (apparently), hence the recommendation to connect the negative connection from the charger to an earthing point elsewhere.
The 4.2 does not have the monitor, so it doesn't matter where you connect the negative lead.
I finally had some time to address the car issue today and opened up the hatch (oh yeah there is that key - doh!)
When I lifted the foam mat that partly covers the bolt to which I attached the negative lead for the CTEK, some sparking occured and....
the car started! (Not fully as there was no pressure on brake, so it entered the ON mode, minus the engine.)
A few yellow hazards were displayed in the central display (did not note which ones) and the radio was nothing but hiss (did not mess with it).
I turned the car off and connected the CTEK - in <5min the status went to green.
I am attaching an image showing to which bolt I attached the negative lead of the CTEK and the large cable that goes from this bolt to the battery.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuart S Is that red wire your CTEK negative lead? Red usually indicates positive, black negative.
No, that's the red/black negative lead. The fused solid red lead is attached to the positive battery terminal.
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Why on earth (pun intended) would a negative/ground wire be red AND black?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuart S Is that red wire your CTEK negative lead? Red usually indicates positive, black negative.
No, that's the red/black negative lead. The fused solid red lead is attached to the positive battery terminal.
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Why on earth (pun intended) would a negative/ground wire be red AND black?
All my CTEK's (3 total) have solid Red or Black wiring.
In fact all CTEK smartchargers that I know of, have solid Red (Positive) or Black (Negative) leads and eyelets, or alligator clip wires.
Yes, you are correct. This CTEK was an older version, but I do believe that all new CTEKs have only Red and Black leads. I will however check my other CTEKs.
I know I did had to split the Red and Black leads to reach the battery terminals and perhaps there is a red bead from the strip down on the black. I simply pulled the two wires that were bound apart. But I will check.
In my photo, the CTEK 3300 Eyelets are attached properly and it works "like a champ".
I just checked my CTEK alligator clips and also noticed that the positive is all red and the negative is mostly black with a red strip. I wonder why they designed it that way. I have the permanent eyelet installation and never use the alligator clips.
Answering my own question: "Why on earth (pun intended) would a negative/ground wire be red AND black? "
I learned from my research that most, but not all, automotive electrical systems are engineered with a negative ground. Black is the universal color for negative.
Some vehicles were engineered with a positive ground, primarily antiques. Red is the universal color for positive. Since many antique automobile owners use battery maintainers, CTEK uses a red and black ground wire to indicate that their maintainers can be used on both negative and positive ground systems.
A day without learning something new is like a day without your Jaguar.
Stuart
P.S. Now that I think about it, it appears that automotive engineers got it backwards. In every other area that I can think of, red means negative and black means positive. In business, red ink reflects a loss and you're in the minus column; if you're in the black you're in the plus column. Maybe it's because we're American, where we drive our cars on the parkway and park our cars on the driveway. WTF???
Last edited by Stuart S; 02-05-2015 at 10:08 PM.
Reason: Added P.S.
Black = earth/ground, so dark colour
Red = live, so bright colour
Interesting, though, that mains wiring has used a variety of colours around the world. I recall being most confused when I first encountered a US mains cable that had black, white & green cores - and even more confused when I was told black was the phase (live) core. In olde stylee NZ/UK cables, black was neutral and red was phase. Just goes to prove: standards aren't.
Hopefully everyone is now adopting the brown/blue/green+yellow colours which are designed to be distinguishable even to the colour-blind.
Personally, With all the newer and sensitive electronics, I would not have any modern day car jump started.
I agree with that, I had a SSR which had sat all winter without a ctec charger ,When I came to start in spring the batt, was dead, so I hook up to one of my other cars for a jump, all correct connections with the car running,went to start the SSR It started then died.that jump cost me a new computer $3000.00 . so now all of my cars get a charger, Even my hot rods which dont have electronics.
Yes, you are correct. This CTEK was an older version, but I do believe that all new CTEKs have only Red and Black leads. I will however check my other CTEKs.
I know I did had to split the Red and Black leads to reach the battery terminals and perhaps there is a red bead from the strip down on the black. I simply pulled the two wires that were bound apart. But I will check.
In my photo, the CTEK 3300 Eyelets are attached properly and it works "like a champ".
Rich, you were spot on with your assumption as to how the Red stripe was on the Black cable.
I emailed CTEK today and this was their response
"The reason why there is a red stripe on the black cable, is that the cables arrives assembled to our factory. When pulling them apart at the assembly, there will be a red stripe on the black cable.
How ever the cables is still red and black, the clamps is still red and black. I don’t think there is any risk to connect them reversed due to this stripe".
You don't need any suggestions Doc, that is exactly where my manual indicates it should be and is exactly where mine is located.
Just make sure the nut is correctly tightened.
Jim
Jim -
Much appreciated!
Do you have the large grounding return strap as well?
To what did you change the eyelet to allow things to tighten nicely - I think my arcing/ sparking issues are due to the eyelet not being flat.
I replaced the return/ ground/ negative eyelet with a larger eyelet and was able to tighten the nut flat. No sparking now occurs (other than that which occurred initially when tightening the bolt).
Of course, the positive side, attached directly to the battery now has a locking nut on it that I cannot seem to tighten more, nor remove. The eyelet moves slightly between the nut I added and the one already there. I plan on dealing with this when it comes time to replace the battery (In other words, let the person who installs a new battery deal with it!)
All that said, the CTEK appears to charge correctly; going to "green" within <30min.
As a plus, when started and driven around the block, NO yellow hazard or alert messages appeared! Yay!
There was a message, once I started the car, for me to engage the parking brake while braking, prior to driving.
It also seems like the only issue is all the Sat memory stations seem to have been erased - the sound-field settings appear to remain from prior to multiple disconnections.
Anything else I need to look for to reset?
A huge Thank You to all who helpfully replied both in this thread and in Messaging!
02-02-2015, 08:23 PM
