CTEK SMARTPASS 120S and 250SE DC to DC charger basic features and install information

DenisM said:

Forgive me if this has been raised already.
It was put to me the other day that the European design "philosophy" regarding the "Smarteck" setup is to protect the starting battery, and where necessary couple it with the auxiliary to provide additional starting capacity. Hence the heavy duty "starting" battery supplied as an auxiliary, rather than a "deep cycle" type.
I suggest that most Australians fitting auxiliary batteries go for deep cycle or a hybrid deep cycle/starting battery characteristics (e.g. marine).
And this is where the confusion stems from regarding the appropriate application of the "Samarteck" system.

An alternative design, which in my naivety I fully expected from the original descriptions ( I blame the marketeers who are not technical!!!) would have the ancillary loads and switching arrangements essentially confined to a deep cell / or hybrid auxiliary battery system, isolated from the starter battery, and which would then be recharged accordingly by the Ctek kit. NOT as we have now with the main battery shouldering the entire load and being pulse charged by the existing auxiliary ( where the heavy duty wiring plus auxiliary battery has been optioned).

I am sure that some judicious re-routing of cabling could achieve the original expectations. Replacement of the current aux. battery offering with a hybrid (e.g a Supercharge All Rounder or a reputabe heavy duty marine hybrid lead acid ) would complete the exercise.
Long term exercise is to map the circuits... unless IA provides the wiring diagrams in the meantime....
Thoughts?

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ADVAW8S said:

I think @Denhas a great point. This weekend, I will be replacing the battery in our GMC Yukon. When looking into it, the manual stated their were two batteries because of the electronics and the start stop function. Both batteries are AGM.

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DaveB said:

My Mercedes has a second battery in the boot to support the stop start function.

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TD5-90 said:

Is it 48V?

My colleagues BMW wtih the same engine as in the gren and the same ZF HP8 has 48V additionally.

So we _really_ have the low-tech version we all wanted for the Gren ;-)

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das mo said:

Hi all.

250SE arrived. CTEK shipped me 2 connector plates.

Plan to use the BAS template to mill a wooden base plate. Depending on how that goes, I might be able to mill few more, if someone needs one.

Still feel my Grenadier power supply adventure will last mich mich longer with still losing too much Volts whilst parking.

The 250 hopefully makes sure that I can at least park the car with close to 100% charge. The factory setup often provides me with a mit 70ies load status post trips and therefore dips into orange / red land after few days without moving.

Big thanks to @TheDocAUS !

Good luck to all of us!

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das mo said:

Hei.

As few came back and asked me to a plate for them:

This is on hold on my side as Ineos seems to have registered there might be few things wrong with the Smartpass wiring. So I decided not to change things before my dealer might have to work on the as is setup.

Greetings.

@Wilaspira

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das mo said:

Hei.

As few came back and asked me to a plate for them:

This is on hold on my side as Ineos seems to have registered there might be few things wrong with the Smartpass wiring. So I decided not to change things before my dealer might have to work on the as is setup.

Greetings.

@Wilaspira

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Pat-Ard said:

So there‘s no other way than changing the IA 120 to the original CTK 120… Or isn‘t this recommended?

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Logsplitter said:

I’m going to stick with just the Ctek smartpass 120 for now. I have my fridge connected to the consumer outlet of it and seems to be working fine, batteries staying fully charged although fridge not working hard at the moment as weather pretty cool. My solar panels are portable so will just connect them to the jump start post under the bonnet View attachment 7827752

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Logsplitter said:

I’m going to stick with just the Ctek smartpass 120 for now. I have my fridge connected to the consumer outlet of it and seems to be working fine, batteries staying fully charged although fridge not working hard at the moment as weather pretty cool. My solar panels are portable so will just connect them to the jump start post under the bonnet View attachment 7827752

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bakepl said:

One wonders how you get to 100% SOC? I've been as low as 70% and still only seen it charging maybe 4 to 8 or so amps and then it reaches max 85 odd % (when fully charged by an external battery charger).. another software solution??

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AnD3rew said:

Make sure your solar panels have a regulator for the voltage if you are going to do that. Some do and some don’t

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bakepl said:

One wonders how you get to 100% SOC? I've been as low as 70% and still only seen it charging maybe 4 to 8 or so amps and then it reaches max 85 odd % (when fully charged by an external battery charger).. another software solution??

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Logsplitter said:

I havnt used my smart charger yet on this trip. When reconnecting batteries after the vehicle was in a container for 6 weeks the state of charge was 95% a short drive bought back up to 99%. After switching the fridge on and filling with groceries then leaving the vehicle for 16hrs then state of charge was 95% although not hot weather so fridge not working hard. All seems good to me so far so not going to add or interfere with anything yet apart from a permanently wired mains smart charger for when in camp sites.

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