Question for the collective. Can you leave a ctek charger plugged in to an outlet but not to a battery for long ?

Only asking because I’m cleaning up the garage and discovered a ceiling plug near the garage opener and mounted one ctek to the ceiling with an extended connection. It’s out of the way and ready to drop a line to any car parked in there. But that means leaving the charger plugged into the outlet 24-7 (too high to unplug conveniently) - is that bad? To have it powered on but not necessarily feeding a battery?

Good question and timing, just did the exact same thing, but with my NOCO charger. Got tired of trying to make the cord trip proof for my wife and daughter when plugged into the front wall outlet. I’d imagine it’s in standby mode and shouldn’t damage the charger, but interested in hearing others thoughts.

I don't know, but I know what I'd do! The Clapper – Chia Pet Official

Don't the instructions that came with the charger say that it should be plugged into the wall outlet after it is connected to the car, and unplugged before disconnecting it from the car? This approach prevents arcing, which may take a toll on the charger circuitry.

The manufacture’s manual doesn’t state otherwise. In regards to leaving the battery tender powered on without load in my opinion shouldn’t hurt the device. Just keep in mind to follow safety guidelines if you are utilizing alligator clips to bond to your terminals.

My tender is always plugged in to a power strip where I can just turn the power off if the tender is not being used and on when it has to be used.

I bet dollars to doughnuts that the CTEK is fine.

You guys are too uptight, it's fine to just leave it connected to a power source (always on) and not connected to anything.

These things are not made of tofu as long as it's not the Porsche branded one which is just an outdated overpriced "should be EOL" charger.

Maybe use a WEMO or other switch operated by an app.

I have four CTEK's and have never left them plugged in after removing from battery. I don't think that they were designed to be left plugged in but only CTEK knows, call them....

I have a Battery Tender for one of my cars and a Porsche Branded (very, very old) battery chargers for the other and have them left them plugged in always when not plugged into a battery. Never had any issues and they work perfectly. I think you are just worrying too much....

2 CTEKs and always plugged into electrical outlet even when they are not charging the vehicles. I have done this 2.5 years for one of the CTEK and no issues to date.

Why not just ask CTEK?

It should be fine. However, you do not want to leave the tender plugged into the battery without it being powered or it will draw the battery down.

I unplugged my charger from my 991.1 without first unplugging it from the 120v circuit and it triggered the car alarm. Not a pleasant experience inside the garage. Instructions said to unplug from 120v first.