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

[AnD3rew]

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?

I agree we normally would set up an auxiliary battery system differently. However the EFB batteries in the Grenadier perform quite well as deep cycle batteries with good charge acceptance and long cycle lives.

 

[DaveB]

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.

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

 

[TD5-90]

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

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 ;-)

 

[DaveB]

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 ;-)

I have no idea
I have only opened the bonnet twice in the 5 years I have had it.
The battery was flat and the RACQ roadside assistance guy found the battery in the boot, discovered what it was for and then pulled a lot of stuff out from under the bonnet to find the main battery up near the fire wall.
I can only assume i have a 400 litre window washer bottle under there somewhere as i use it a lot and have never filled it in the 5 years.

 

[das mo]

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!

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

 

[bakepl]

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

Interesting, please keep us posted regarding dealers comment on the Smartpass wiring, only thing I can see is the smart alternator wire is not connected and accessories are not run off the 'consumer out' of the Smartpass.. both easily rectified.

 

[WhiteBear]

There is no „consumer out„ at the Ctek 120 they are installing in the newer cars.

 

[Pat-Ard]

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

 

[Jean Mercier]

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

Thanks for the info, I will therefore wait before buying the 250SE.

But I got the connection plates for free after "insisting" a little bit. They seem to be used ones, but I don't mind.

On the other hand, after insisting a lot, I got also, through my dealer, an answer concerning the behavior of the Smartpass. I used the argument solar panel, but my question was: "What is the technical difference between the CTEK Smartpass in the Grenadier and a Standard CTEK Smartpass?", therefore the answer I got was not really related to my question:

Again a very "non informative" answer!

 

[WhiteBear]

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

Who knows. I would go a different way and reconnect an outlet to the second battery. There is some information in the forum, cannot find it but I think it was @DCPU who showed it.

 

[Logsplitter]

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

 

[AnD3rew]

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

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

 

[bakepl]

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

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??

 

[Rab]

Likewise, I have never seen more than 93% with an external Ctek for 24 hrs (diesel) usually hovers around 88% if used everyday. I am looking forward to the update to see all areas affected.

 

[Clark Kent]

Similar here. I had the SOC show 0% AFTER STARTING for a short trip yesterday. It was back to 87% on the next trip. I put a 7-stage charger (Projecta) on each battery 30 minutes after I got home and it displayed fully charged on each battery. I left the charger on each battery for 3 hours in regeneration mode and the displayed voltage and SOC didn't change.

 

[ADVAW8S]

Are EFB are the batteries? wouldn't AGM make more sense and would 120 act differently.

 

[DenisM]

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??

EDIT: Rather than rely on a display "state of charge", check the batteries with a multimeter 15 mins after the engine has been turned off. The files containing the algorithm for calculating the SOC may well be faulty thereby causing needless concern... the following are reliable "indicative" SOC values for lead acid battery voltages:
12.80 100%
12.60 75%
12.30 50%
12.00 25%
11.80. 0%

 

[Logsplitter]

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

Yes mine have inbuilt mppt controller and top quality so all good

 

[Logsplitter]

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??

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.

 

[Jean Mercier]

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.

My car is petrol. Some two weeks ago I saw a state of charge of 99% while travelling 5 days and driving with a lot of stops.

Usually it fluctuates between 85 and 90%.