nhirsch

Installing his charger with this connector which has 3 leds on it to indicate battery condition at all times. First picture is what it looks like under the hood. Red cover hides 3 connectors including one big round post. The negative pipe can be seen just forward (to the left) sticking out. It is simply a conductive pipe attached to the frame. I stuck the camera inside to show how the white acorn nut holds the negative conductive pipe it to the frame. This picture shows a closeup of my use of a stainless steel small hose clamp to hold the connector to the ground pipe still leaving pipe to clam onto if necessary. Now you can see both connections made with the small comfort monitor/indicator flashing the existing charge level of the battery. I used a velcro tie wrap to hold the comfort monitor/indicator wire to the black plastic car part. No holes drilled, nothing done that can't be undone back to original. Then I connected the charger and took a couple pictures showing it at stage 3 out of 8. The little comfort monitor/indicator fits nicely in the space next to the ground point so no interference with the hood mechanism. An attached dust cap covers the contacts to keep them clean while stowed. Note: After charging, you will notice your car utilizes the Automatic engine shutoff at stops more often than when the battery is not fully charged. Note: Not enough experience or information found on whether this charger in fact lengthens battery life or the reverse! Finally a picture of the nice bag that comes with the charger--reinforcing that you connect the DC before the AC, then set the mode. UPDATE: The "comfort" connector's 3 LED lights stopped working although the connector continued to work/charge the battery. I removed this part nevertheless and replaced it with the connector that didn't have the lights on it. I returned and Amazon credited back the cost of the LED connector. Don't really need the LEDs so will leave it the way it is. UPDATE2: Because the CTEK gets pretty hot, I decided to mount it on a heatsink. I figured that if the heat left the body of the CTEK quicker, it would last longer. I ordered a large heatsink off of heatsinkusa.com which is pretty good because they can cut their extrusions to whatever length you want. I ordered the one that's 7.28" wide and had them cut it at 3". I filed off the plastic "feet" that were molded into the base of the CTEK so it would sit flat on the heatsink. I drilled holes thru the two mounting holes of the CTEK into the heatsink and tapped it out w/#10 x 32. Installed the screw but wasn't careful as the head of the machine screw was a little too large so it put pressure on the mounting hole. Additionally I put a little oil on the threads. Between the two, the mounting holes cracked. They really weren't meant for a solid mount as it's mostly hollow where the mounting holes are located so I glued them back and filled the mounting holes with JB Weld. I'll then re-drill and things should be good to go. So the caution is if you decide to do this, go gently with the mounting holes!