I've had the replacement Varta battery for four years and it's only charging to 70% now. So not lasting as long as they used to.

 

How do you determine the percentage-charged-to?

 

A battery capacity detector.

 

Lead acid batteries are not rocket science. Any decent battery charger/maintainer will be sufficient for the Astons. You don't need to spend $300 on an Aston branded one. 12V receptacles are finicky, so consider hooking directly to the jump point in the engine bay.

 

I took sonies advice and picked-up the CTEK unit with the cigarette attachment from Amazon and it worked perfectly. EXTREMELY simple, even for a non-techie like me. I did need to use a short extension cord to get from my outlet to the vehicle. Also, I turned on the unit at about 4pm, checked it at 9pm and it hadn't moved off the second yellow indicator light. But by the time I got up this morning, all lights were lit. So it may take a good 8-12 hours to get the charge up. Thanks sonies for the tip on this. Really appreciated.

 

Ctek conditioners are the AM brand which many have posted. There are several types you can find. (I know this isn't what you meant @spikemd just wanted to put all this in one posting)


I paid $70US or so for mine, plus the cigarettes socket adaptor. All in was around $90 shipped. I used Autogeek and got it under one of their 20% off sales, however i am sure Amazon would be good also.


My father plugged the adaptor into the trunk (DB9) socket and plugged the unit in the wall. Took a day or so to fill her up, then its on maintenance cycle from here on out. So many issue arise due to low batteries on high end cars. Funny thing is, as soon as an electrical gremlin, or weird light pops up on dash, first thing to make sure of is a topped off battery. Solves maybe 50% of the first time poster questions on this forum I would bet. I know any issue with my Maserati, AMG, Bentley was almost always battery related.


So, this question pops up all the time in new threads. Just go by a non-AM branded CTEK battery maintainer and then enjoy life.