Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Aero 8, 2012< Plus 8, SuperSports, Coupe & Aeromax Bulb fault

I'm not sure if your cars have Odyssey batteries fitted?

My S1 Aero does and I recently posted the following comments to a fellow owner when he was having starting problems -


I have also collected a few random opinions/explanations from various people, specifically on the Odyssey batteries and Ctek chargers;see below -

The Odyssey isn’t a gel battery.

It can not be connected on a smart charger over a long period of time on the normal settings.Because of its cranking amps the charger supplies the battery small amps over a long period of time and the Odyssey battery doesn't like this, gets too hot and warps the plates,then expands and cracks and leaks,

The way around this is if you connect your battery (only Odyssey) up to a smart charger is to put the charger on the */Winter setting (3 settings, m/c + car + *). This increases amps and volts and charges quicker and shuts down for longer periods of time, then the battery isn't as hot..
Ctek are aware its only the Odyssey batteries that are affected and have had a lot of reports of battery failure.... Gel types and normal batteries seem to be ok.

As far as I can see from the Ctek manual it pulses when in normal battery maintenance mode where as the Optima charger offers the battery charge in alternate 30 minute periods. The Optima 4, 5 and 6 are recommended for AGM batteries such as Odyssey.

NB on the ctek manual it does recommend using the * cold winter setting for AGM batteries such as Odyssey and Optimate batteries.

The may explain why the Odyssey has a problem with the Ctek on normal battery mode and not with an Optimate charger

I have 'fried' a couple of Odyssey batteries on the Aero by trickle charging (and two on a motorbike - but that's another story....).

I now use the Ctek on the Winter setting and on a timer ;a couple of hours every 2 -3 days