No need to disconnect the battery. In fact, disconnecting the battery can cause many alarms to come on when battery is reconnected and time will be needed for things to settle down.

The CTEK normally comes with a set of tails which you can leave connected and just plug the charger into the tails when needed.

I've only needed to use my CTEK with the Giulia a few times and just made temporary connections in the engine bay. So I'm not sure how easily the tails can be connected to the battery on this car. Worked fine on my 156 GTA.

Andy

 

Thanks Andy, in the engine bay?? I was afraid that dissconnecting the leads would make the car go mental, lol

 

The manual says to charge on the battery. Under the bonnet connection is for jump starting only.
Remove the plastic cover over the positive terminal on the battery and connect to that and then there's a nut next to the negative terminal. Connect to that. If you don't do it this way the Intelligent Battery Sensor won't know you're topping the battery up.

 

I have my charger leads permanently connected to the battery, see :

 

I have mine connected in the boot directly to the battery via the quick connect pigtail that comes with it.

I just connect it inside the boot when in use and just use a flat 2 core cable extension for the power supply so I can close the boot with it connected.
More than enough room in the rubber seal to accommodate the cable and I have been using it like that for over a year.

 

I did almost the same as @jwq only I used that square hole that you can see in his photo combined with a pair of very large washers and a nut and bolt to secure the neg lead to the bodywork.
Didn’t need to scrape off any paint, it works fine.
Charged my battery last weekend and the stop start is working this week for the first time in months.

 

I fitted mine last week, the same way as bucket. jwq & D4VE way is a good way to do also. After i done mine as i loosened the negative cable i had all sorts of lights on the dash come on but after shutting the car down overnight everything was back to normal in the morning.

 

Tangentially related, has anyone tried one of those solar battery chargers that apparently charge through the OBD port or something?

My daily commute is 15mi each way on a motorway but that's apparently not enough to top up the battery for start/stop which is a little disappointing

Was just thinking I could top it up while it's parked in the sun at work now that it is sunny again!

 

The charging current of these panels is usually very low, won't make much of a contribution.
Also a lot of the sockets (lighter, usb etc) are switched off after ignition off, so can't be used. Not sure about OBD.
(a lot of the active circuits in giulia switch off after a certain timeperiod, upto half an hour....)

 

Looking at the photos that have been posted and the advice in the manual, shouldn't the charger be connected to the negative battery clamp post so that the charger is connected to the battery and then the IBS. I also get it if the negative body lead goes straight to a body/engine earth but the 8mm terminals lend themselves to just go on the battery post clamps imho?

 

No, connecting directly to the negative battery pole would bypass the IBS monitor, which monitors the current going in/out of the negative battery pole to keep track of the State Of Charge of the battery.
You could connect to a screw behind the IBS monitor, but connecting the negative charger unit to ground assures the current is monitored, easy to make the connection and impossible to make a mistake with the connection.

 

Hi, my QV had been left for a week and would not start yesterday, car unlocked with the fob but would not start and the dash display just went mental .. every warning light flashing, numerous fault messages flashing up, dial needles spinning up and down. I called out Alfa assist and the guy jump started it using the connections under the bonnet and after a few starts and a short run all was back to normal.
I have now purchased a Ctek charger and I have a question regarding connection if anyone can help?
I plan to have it so the cables are permanently connected to the battery as jwq and I want to keep the charger body itself inside the garage with the charging lead coming out under the garage door to the car, problem is I don't think that will be long enough to reach the tail ends in the boot. Do you think it would be ok to extend the leads either at the battery end or the lead from the charger? Thanks in advance.

 

CTEK do an extension lead specific to your requirements.

MXS 5.0 UK

56-975

www.ctek.com

 

Or do as I did which is make up an extension lead from flat profile 2 core cable over which you can close the boot and put the charger in the boot and just lead the extension from there to the garage.

 

Thanks bucketbot , take it you mean the mains supply ? Not sure about having the mains lead laying outside .

 

Yes but only the cable is outside so not a problem.
I have mine plugged into an outside IP66 socket and the other end is in the boot of course.

 

Hi , finally got my Ctek set up for my QV... does anyone know if I should be using the AGM setting on the charger ?

 

Standard Alfa battery is an EFB type, so not AGM

Most people go for equivalent AGM when replacing though.

 

If you can select the mode it probably needs you to select the type of battery you have but we have an AGM battery in our car. I have the Official Alfa Romeo Ctek charger and don't have that option?

 

Thanks isotope, it has the option on the charger but wasn’t sure what type of battery was fitted on a QV as standard ...

 

My baby is currently on the ctek charger and hopefully I'm going to switch off the stop/start function at the weekend. If not then I will be claiming for a new battery

 

Mines in on Monday for a battery check , distorted fuel filler cover and software update . I’ve not had stop start ( not that I want it ) or HRW for months now ! ... when I connected the charger earlier it showed under 80% charge... so if I don’t see any improvement I too will be insisting on a new battery, still like to know what type of battery is fitted as standard on the QV if anyone knows?

 

Thanks jwq

 

My CTEK charger/conditioner arrives today. [Different thread - HRW, seats etc came on after a decent journey. So too S/S (boo!)]
Assuming I can shut the boot with a mains cable powering the charger, can I lock/alarm the car when this is powered?

 

yes. That's the way I use mine (locked+alarm)

 

I found that a decent sized mains cable needs to be put into the very edge of the bottom corner of either side of the boot lid to get the boot lid to close properly, anywhere on the bottom edge won't allow the bootlid to shut, I have a continental plug on my charger so use my Italian extension lead to plug it in and retain it's originality, I have one to get my music at the pool before anyone asks! Bearing in mind that the charger is converting 240VAC to something like 12VDC you don't need a huge cable to supply the charging current, so you can use a much smaller diameter mains cable to the charger or if you have a garage Ctek do a 2 wire 12Volt extension lead that you could use to have the charger outside of the car with just DC voltage going into the boot. I had my Giulia on the charger for 3 days and tonight the Stop Start worked every freaking minute I didn't want it to! The car isn't my daily driver so it may get better if I use it more often, in the meantime the charger will be a regular part of the cars maintenance.

 

Does anyone have any opinions on the conditioning option? Should I contemplate this right away (battery had two years of use and recent evidence that if wasn't 100%), once a year as recommended, every time - what would be the harm? - or not at all?

 

basically whatever is convenient, and depending on how often you drive it
However, there is no disadvantage to just keeping your car hooked up with f.i. the ctek, as it uses a smart maintenance mode, it will just keep your battery in prime condition.....

 

I had my charger on the giulia for 4 days and it seems to have transformed the car, I'm not a fan of Start stop in an auto car but I get why they have done it. I much prefer the start stop on my manual Giulietta, clutch disengagement s are so much longer than pressing the brake pedal

 

Similar thing I noticed after having the Alfa assist guy out for a flat battery and he had disconnected it for a few minutes, initially the dash was going nuts .. every thing flashing .. but after it had settled down my car felt totally different... smoother running and gear changes in auto much smoother thought must be my imagination but maybe that had done something.