CTEK Wiring

Brindle

Brindle

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Hi All (the select few I know will have the answers!)

Need to finally wire in my CTEK D250SA and AGM battery after putting if off for months. . . (I’m a mechanical engineer with the electrical nouse of a Labrador)

I’ve read the other threads of what others have done, but they all seem to be slightly different in their explanation, hence me asking again here to be 100% sure.

Below shows my planned wiring - apologies for the incorrect symbols etc, but as I say electrical I am not! I I think it works but would just like those that are good at this stuff to cast their eye over it to make sure I have made any errors. The only thing I can see is that I could in theory be drawing a higher current from the leisure battery with the amplifier than the CTEK can replace, but in reality, I’m not going to have the amp creaked up at full volume for anything other than very short periods of time so hopefully this will be OK.

  • The black wiring is the CTEK and leisure battery wiring
  • The red wiring is the stuff feeding off the Leisure battery
  • the green writing is the cable size I have to use, which may be overkill in some cases, but I already have it so might as well use it.

Other things to note -
  • my T6 is start stop hence using both the black and the red wires from the smart alternator wires
  • The 2 way distribution block is 300A rated so more than man enough
  • the distribution block running off the 8AWG cable is for various other bits and bobs, all of which will be fused according to the cable used, ensuring the sum of the potential loads doesn’t exceed 20A
  • I plan to introduce a solar panel at some point which will also help re-juice the leisure battery.
  • If I have made a massive dogs dinner of this, please be kind and constructive :)

Thanks in advance for your input guys

2960E44F-D780-434F-B87F-4C44E97B8479.jpeg
 
I'm less of an electrician than you, but have fitted CTEK etc - seems a lot of fuses? I haven't wired in an amp though......
 
Looks good to me.

I take you’re installing the amp some distance away from 2nd battery? In that case separate fuse as you have drawn for it is good, probably not needed if everything fits under single seat base.

Cable AWG’s are very heavy for those ampages. Bigger is better for sure and leaves room for expansion but for reference OEM 2nd battery cabling, fused at 100A under bonnet and 80A under seat uses 10mm^2 for 2nd battery feed. Personally I used 6mm^2 for ground runs and distributor boxes fused at 40A from 2nd battery, 4mm^2 for ctek wiring and 20A switched outlet, and 2.5mm^2 for fridge.

Not an electrician either :)
 
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2 points. Im not au fait with the ctek so bear this in mind.
Firstly are you sure the 12v ignition feed to the ctek should also be connected to yhe ground/chassis?
Secondly, the +ve lead rom the leisure battery is fused at the battery end. How long is this lead? Reason i ask s is there is an insulation break / fault in the cable even with yhat fuse out thr ctek coild still be pushing out its max current.
 
Skyliner33 said:
2 points. Im not au fait with the ctek so bear this in mind.
Firstly are you sure the 12v ignition feed to the ctek should also be connected to yhe ground/chassis?
Secondly, the +ve lead rom the leisure battery is fused at the battery end. How long is this lead? Reason i ask s is there is an insulation break / fault in the cable even with yhat fuse out thr ctek coild still be pushing out its max current.
Click to expand...
#1 ctek has ign (red) and mode (black) wires as a pair cable, I didn’t think that diagram implied that red should be connected to chassis as well. It shouldn’t.

#2 Good point, might be better to take ctek 30A fuse close to ctek and wire it to distributor instead of directly to the battery - so the wiring would be protected by that 60A fuse from battery side
 
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n10n said:
#1 ctek has ign (red) and mode (black) wires as a pair cable, I didn’t think that diagram implied that red should be connected to chassis as well. It shouldn’t.

#2 Good point, might be better to take ctek 30A fuse close to ctek and wire it to distributor instead of directly to the battery - so the wiring would be protected by that 60A fuse from battery side
Click to expand...
How long will that cable from battery + to CTEK out be?
 
n10n said:
#1 ctek has ign (red) and mode (black) wires as a pair cable, I didn’t think that diagram implied that red should be connected to chassis as well. It shouldn’t.

#2 Good point, might be better to take ctek 30A fuse close to ctek and wire it to distributor instead of directly to the battery - so the wiring would be protected by that 60A fuse from battery side
Click to expand...
Hi, thanks for taking a look, it may be my diagram being unclear, but the red and black pair cable should show the red being connected to an ignition feed and the black to chassis? I I think (hope!) that’s right!!!
 
n10n said:
Looks good to me.

I take you’re installing the amp some distance away from 2nd battery? In that case separate fuse as you have drawn for it is good, probably not needed if everything fits under single seat base.

Cable AWG’s are very heavy for those ampages. Bigger is better for sure and leaves room for expansion but for reference OEM 2nd battery cabling, fused at 100A under bonnet and 80A under seat uses 10mm^2 for 2nd battery feed. Personally I used 6mm^2 for ground runs and distributor boxes fused at 40A from 2nd battery, 4mm^2 for ctek wiring and 20A switched outlet, and 2.5mm^2 for fridge.

Not an electrician either :)
Click to expand...
Yeh, the CTEK and leisure battery are under the drivers seat and the amp under the passenger seat, so there is probably a 1 metre or so run under the carpet hence protecting the leisure battery end with a fuse.
 
Skyliner33 said:
2 points. Im not au fait with the ctek so bear this in mind.
Firstly are you sure the 12v ignition feed to the ctek should also be connected to yhe ground/chassis?
Secondly, the +ve lead rom the leisure battery is fused at the battery end. How long is this lead? Reason i ask s is there is an insulation break / fault in the cable even with yhat fuse out thr ctek coild still be pushing out its max current.
Click to expand...
I’ll double check on the check red / black wire conns bu its a separate wire, it comes our of the CTEK as a twin cable but each wire does different things as I understand it

re the second point, its very short, 30-45cm I would say
 
Brindle said:
Hi, thanks for taking a look, it may be my diagram being unclear, but the red and black pair cable should show the red being connected to an ignition feed and the black to chassis? I I think (hope!) that’s right!!!
Click to expand...
@n10n this is in the instructions I found on line, its a 2017 euro T6 so smart alternator (I assume) hence connecting both red and black wires to something if I understand correctly

AD9F07BF-4B98-4328-9606-985D2B2D4E74.png
 
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