IXLR8

Canadian Tire sells them and they go on sale from time to time. Place yourself on their Sale Alerts list and you'll get an e-mail when they go on sale....usually about $54...down from $90.

pontifex4

I bought one at PartSource for $58.something when I couldn't find them at either Canadian Tire or Princess Auto. As was mentioned previously, PartSource normally has the sales that Canadian Tire had the previous week.

boraiv333

Thanks guys!

I just called Princess Auto order line and they found 4 in London, Ont. They are going to ship it to me....whew. Thanks again!

BTW, my car went into storage last weekend. Is it safe to plug-n-forget the charger (is this the concept of the charger). In the past, I just removed the battery and brought it inside the house. Now I am just lazy and want to plug-n-forget till next spring

If the answer is yes to plug-n-forget, what is the setting....the snowflake? Thanks a million!

theiceman

yup and yup. I forget about mine all winter .. and when i did put mine on charge ,, it went on snowflake automatically when it charged. Keep in mind that model does not have the lighter adapter . I have a "green kmob" on mine so i disconnect from the car too. But then again my car doesnt care.

IXLR8

Yes, it is a plug-n-forget charger and safe to leave connected, provided you do not have a problem battery. Sometimes the latter can cause gassing below the usual charge voltage. You do have a vent tube connected?

I played it safe and installed a battery mat under my battery just in case there is any leakage. Mind you, a 3.3 amp charge rate (and that is during bulk charge mode) is far from extreme on our batteries.

For an ambient temperature just above freezing and lower, yes.

Although I don't recall my CTEK switching to it "automatically" when plugged in as theiceman stated. In fact, you wouldn't want it to, because that would provide an overcharging condition during summer months. Maybe it remembers that mode during power outages as long as the battery is connected to the charger.

If your battery can be topped up with distilled water (to the correct level), don't forget to do so before winter lay-away.

pontifex4

What about an ambient temperature of 15*C?

IXLR8

Depends on the battery. What type (AGM, GEL or FLA) do you have?

Its always better to slightly undercharge than to slightly overcharge a battery, especially when talking VRLA (AGM and GEL) batteries. Why? Because you cannot top up those batteries. When they gas due to overcharging, they cannot be topped up. A common FLA battery is a different matter which is why I prefer and use them.

The lists I provided further up on this thread cover AGM and GEL batteries.

Battery maintenance/proper care... my daily driver battery is now in its 13th year.

boraiv333

Thank you IXLR8. Very informative! I will remove the car cover tonight and find out the battery I have in the car. Cheers mate.

IXLR8

And if you are not sure, just get back to us with a make and model off the label...sort of like...

orangem

learn something new everyday. I always thought that snowflake is only used for AGM battery....

boraiv333

Just wanna give a BIG THUMBS up to Princess Auto!!!

Ordered my CTEK on Monday, received in the mail on Wednesday! Item was in London, Ontario and total cost including the shipping was $64.17!

Happy

BioBanker

The CTEK was not able to breath any life in my blown Odyssey 925. When I hooked it up, it had a very dim amber. A week later, it is unchanged. Still reads under 2v.

BioBanker

Im not storing my car this winter and although it will not be driven daily, I will be driving it. Is there any advantage to using this over the winter on a car that will be driven a couple times a week (but only for short distances)?

IXLR8

I would.

I may have missed it, but what brand/model battery is in the car now?

IXLR8

I wouldn't expect it to if it was that far gone.

Read pages 12 and 13 of the Odyssey Technical Manual.