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I used my old (circa 2005) Deltan BT Plus on my C2, C6, first C7 (with cig lighter adapter), several motorcycles, and several lawn tractors--all with no issues. My current GS came with a CTek so I'm using that combo, relegated the BT+ to my truck, and bought a solar Deltran BT for the mower. I also used a BT Jr. on motorcycles, but gave it away with my last bike when I sold it. The CTek works fine but the lighter connector is a constant irritation, sometimes not connecting and requiring a twist once in a while to reconnect. Replaced it in warranty and it still disconnects sporadically. Not a huge problem, but irritating. If I had to buy another maintainer I would probably go with with a Deltran BT Jr., as it should be fine for any task even though charging time is extended, and they are reasonably priced. After all, these devices are maintainers, not full-function chargers.
My experience also.
The dealer replaced the Corvette CTek under warranty because it kept dropping the connection. The replacement was fine for about a year and now does the same.
Since we keep the car in our garage, it's merely an annoyance to look through a window daily to see if the CTek is still working. If I had it in a remote storage location and the CTek lost connection and let the battery go dead, I'd be pissed.
OTOH, the receptacle in the trunk feels even cheesier than the CTek male plug, hard to tell which is causing the problem.
I got a Noco one. It has the adapter that will go both short and long. Short seems to work better and doesn't come loose as much. I have Lithium and AGM batteries so that is why I wanted a unit that will do everything.
That makes sense, the post above yours, where'd that come from?
It came from me, an electronic engineer / tech that has been repairing very expensive and complex electronics for over 50 years.
If you know what you are doing repairing electronics, in most cases, is fairly easy. Just like in engine work just different.
How would you appreciate a car manufacturer removing all part numbers on all parts on your car so you either pay ($$$$$$) only them to fix the problem or throw it away and buy another one? (if you can't tell what it is you can't repair it. No matter if it $100 or $60,000).
The practice of hiding or removing part numbers is really low.
From: NNCC No Name Car Crew; Owned 1 C2, 2 C3's, 1 C4, 3 C5's, 1 C6, 2 C7's; Now '86, '03; S. DE
2024 C5 of the Year Finalist - Modified
2024 C4 of the Year Finalist - Modified
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2023 C3 of the Year Wnner - Unmodified
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St. Jude Donor '21-'22-'23-'24-'25-'26
Originally Posted by Tinkertech
It came from me, an electronic engineer / tech that has been repairing very expensive and complex electronics for over 50 years.
If you know what you are doing repairing electronics, in most cases, is fairly easy. Just like in engine work just different.
How would you appreciate a car manufacturer removing all part numbers on all parts on your car so you either pay ($$$$$$) only them to fix the problem or throw it away and buy another one? (if you can't tell what it is you can't repair it. No matter if it $100 or $60,000).
The practice of hiding or removing part numbers is really low.
Thank you for that info, it's not often subject matter experts grace these boards with their expertise.
It is an interesting tidbit I would not have known otherwise. I can appreciate the frustration of knowing you can fix something, but being prevented from doing so.
Battery tender is ok.I went through several of them that stopped working over the years though. I believe that CTek is the better brand and Jay Leno recommended it on one of his shows.
OTOH, the receptacle in the trunk feels even cheesier than the CTek male plug, hard to tell which is causing the problem.
That occurred to me, too, but the Deltran BT+ with lighter adapter on my first C7 never gave me any problems. When new, the Ctek connector had two plastic guides, or whatever, on each side. My best recollection is that they were black plastic, but these broke off in short order. The warranty replacement broke off, too, and you can see where they were in the photo below, so that might be the root of the intermittent-connection issues. Again, I haven't bothered to replace it again since it's out of warranty and the problem is only a minor irritation since the CTek LEDs are visible every time I walk out the door into the garage.
As you say, since it disconnects on a whim it would be of major concern if the car was stored and frequent checking made more difficult. I've thought about taking the Deltran adapter and splicing its connector to the CTek, but it isn't a big enough problem for me to hassle with.
That occurred to me, too, but the Deltran BT+ with lighter adapter on my first C7 never gave me any problems. When new, the Ctek connector had two plastic guides, or whatever, on each side. My best recollection is that they were black plastic, but these broke off in short order. The warranty replacement broke off, too, and you can see where they were in the photo below, so that might be the root of the intermittent-connection issues. Again, I haven't bothered to replace it again since it's out of warranty and the problem is only a minor irritation since the CTek LEDs are visible every time I walk out the door into the garage.
As you say, since it disconnects on a whim it would be of major concern if the car was stored and frequent checking made more difficult. I've thought about taking the Deltran adapter and splicing its connector to the CTek, but it isn't a big enough problem for me to hassle with.
I don't recall if the little plastic fingers (missing in your photo) on our first CTek had broken off or not, but our current one still has them in place and still loses connection sometimes for no discernable reason.
On our first CTek, I tried various sizes of rubber O-rings slipped onto the red tip, but didn't get much improvement. Some were too small to make any difference, others were too large and got the plug stuck in the receptacle. There might be a "just right" size but I couldn't find it. CTek also sent me a new red tip that didn't help, which makes me suspect the Corvette socket is part of the problem. Or if Tinkertech is correct about the design, then the only good solution would be to get a good new male plug from an auto parts store and splice that onto the CTek wires.
...which makes me suspect the Corvette socket is part of the problem. Or if Tinkertech is correct about the design, then the only good solution would be to get a good new male plug from an auto parts store and splice that onto the CTek wires.
Like I mentioned in an earlier post, the Deltran lighter adapter never gave me any problems in the two years I used it with the BT+ on my first C7. So, I may try swapping it out someday, as I still have the adapter.
I've used at least 7 or 8 Battery Tenders ever since they first came out on my fleet of vehicles. I've had two die in that time, otherwise all is well to this day.
So far I have 5 BT plus and 1 BT Jr.
I've repaired two of them.
BT plus had a weak green LED, replaced. Stilled worked but bugged me.
BT Jr had a bad cap, replaced, charger stopped working cap fixed it.
All repairs were easy.
So only 1 has really completely failed over all the years the BT Jr. (over the last ~10 yrs).
Last edited by Tinkertech; Dec 3, 2021 at 09:56 AM.
