Ctek Battery Sense

[Loz]

Since recent updates, my Ctek battery sense won't update as it says it cannot connect, if I go into Bluetooth I can manually connect to them but the app does not seem to see them.

It also looks like the victron has also lost its connection and it seems to want to re-pair but doesn't like the pairing password.

@Dellmassive have you tried your recently?

 

[Phil_G]

I'd suggest trying them after moving your van somewhere Loz, its unlikely that two BLE devices would fail together,
more likely some local interference on 2.4ghz.
Cheers
Phil

 

[Dellmassive]

Since recent updates, my Ctek battery sense won't update as it says it cannot connect, if I go into Bluetooth I can manually connect to them but the app does not seem to see them.

It also looks like the victron has also lost its connection and it seems to want to re-pair but doesn't like the pairing password.

@Dellmassive have you tried your recently?

@Loz I've since removed all three Ctek units off the van and upgraded to BM2 battery monitors...

I've still got them so will connect to a battery later on and see what happens.

 

[Loz]

Tried again at lunchtime and they both sprung into life, also had to reset the Bluetooth pairing pin on the Victron and got that working again.
I see the app now has graphing for temperature SOC and Voltage.

 

[Dellmassive]

Tried again at lunchtime and they both sprung into life, also had to reset the Bluetooth pairing pin on the Victron and got that working again.
I see the app now has graphing for temperature SOC and Voltage.

Oh nice.....

Got any screenshots?

 

[t0mb0]

The plots are mixed up on mine. The voltage is in degrees centigrade and the temperature is in volts...

 

[Loz]

 

[Hah!]

This update does not appear to be on Android yet so assume this is on an iThing of some description?

It appeared on Android for a day or two a while ago but it had issues connecting and updating. It was fairly rapidly withdrawn unfortunately

 

[Loz]

Yes same happed on the iOS release back in the summer. So they must have fixed it and released it finally.

 

[Martinf]

The plots are mixed up on mine. The voltage is in degrees centigrade and the temperature is in volts...

Mine are mixed up by the temperature and voltage headings being transposed. However I note Loz above has them correct, so it must just be us. More daft is that is that the temperature scale uses a zero degree datum, so this time of year much of time the trace bounces along or below the bottom of the graph!

 

[Dellmassive]

Hmm looks good...

I did see that update in summer for a few days before it was pulled on Android..... it did look good.

I ended up with 3 of them on the van because I couldn't believe the readout that kept saying the batteries were dead,low soc etc etc.......(tho having the temp data is nice, but I added a separate temp logger)

So I added another 2 BM2 units, plus regular testing with A DVOM . . . . . which showed that in my case the Ctek units SOC algorithm was too harsh which lead to skewed inaccurate results....

It seems my starter battery Is very happy resting at 12.2v (say 12hrs after shutdown)...and will stay there for weeks.....the CTEK didn't like that.



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I might try plugging them back in to see if anything has changed....

@Loz can you screenshot the sw/fw info page for comparison pls.

 

[John Fletcher]

I'm very happy to see this post. I was just about to ask if anyone had a ctek battery sense and if they trusted them. I'm getting some wild readings when I actually get any readings at all.
Any advice would be greatly received.

 

[John Fletcher]

7% battery is after a 25 minute journey on a motorway too.

 

[Loz]

@Loz can you screenshot the sw/fw info page for comparison pls.

 

[t0mb0]

I'm very happy to see this post. I was just about to ask if anyone had a ctek battery sense and if they trusted them. I'm getting some wild readings when I actually get any readings at all.
Any advice would be greatly received.

It only uses voltage to estimate SOC so it’s good at tracking slow moving changes in SOC but cannot accurately track fast changes caused by big current swings - you’d need a device that uses a shunt to measure current like a Victron BMV for that. Having said that, mine has never given readings as strange looking as yours so it’s possible it’s a dodgy connection of the device or your battery is actually knackered. You don’t have a MOLL battery do you? These are known to be faulty.

 

[John Fletcher]

View attachment 55045

 

[John Fletcher]

It only uses voltage to estimate SOC so it’s good at tracking slow moving changes in SOC but cannot accurately track fast changes caused by big current swings - you’d need a device that uses a shunt to measure current like a Victron BMV for that. Having said that, mine has never given readings as strange looking as yours so it’s possible it’s a dodgy connection of the device or your battery is actually knackered. You don’t have a MOLL battery do you? These are known to be faulty.

I don't know what type of battery it is. It was in VW for service last week and I told them that the start/stop never works and I think it's because of the battery. I charged it over a weekend and the following day the start/stop works. Next day, it doesn't. They checked it and said it's ok but needs charging. I asked why does it need charging? Surely that means there's a problem somewhere as it's driven every weekday for a decent amount of time. They said there's no fault, just charge it up. I gave up with them.

 

[t0mb0]

I don't know what type of battery it is. It was in VW for service last week and I told them that the start/stop never works and I think it's because of the battery. I charged it over a weekend and the following day the start/stop works. Next day, it doesn't. They checked it and said it's ok but needs charging. I asked why does it need charging? Surely that means there's a problem somewhere as it's driven every weekday for a decent amount of time. They said there's no fault, just charge it up. I gave up with them.

Sounds very much like your battery is knackered. If it’s a Moll, VW should definitely be swapping it out - it’s well known they’re faulty.

 

[t0mb0]

Just open the bonnet and take a look at what brand the battery is.

 

[Jayjmac]

Hi guys,

just wondering what other battery monitors you all used? I’ve been using the CTEK on both starter and leisure batteries but I think the readings are way off on my starter battery.

admittedly I (us as a family.. I took the blame) killed my starter battery the other day in our shopping centre Carpark.. left the mrs and kids in there with the radio on, HEATED SEATS and the auto lights were on when I went for a appointment! Van was running but it killed the battery! Quite amusing trying to get the mrs to push it to bump it. I’ve now got the NOCO jump pack for these tiny problems. Since then though the battery hasn’t been the same and the CTEK isn’t reading correct.. 1% and it still starts perfectly??

I've hooked it up to a NOCO Genius 10 to give it a proper full condition along with the CTEK on the leisure battery.

after all that waffling and what looks like a advert for NOCO I just need something that gives spot on read outs? I’ve Already got the CTEK charging the leisure battery on hook up so may just add the NOCO to do the starter at the same time. Anyone see any issues with this??