When I purchased my 2013 Bentley Continental GT in November last year there was no Bentley charger with it. I purchased one for sale on e-bay.

When I connect it it shows the battery as 'sulphated'. I left the charger connected and after 8 hours (I think) the charger trips off line. This has happened on both occasions I have tried to use it.

I suspected the charger might be faulty but have today borrowed a friend's Bentley charger with the same result.

The Main battery was brand new and fitted in November.

Any suggestions what the problem could be please?

 

The magnetic connector above the licence plate on my Mulsanne was faulty when I picked it up and had similar behaviour. Plugging the charger into the 12v socket in the boot worked correctly until I could get the charging plate changed.

A

 

If you have the magnetic disk charger try cleaning the contacts on both the charger connector and the contacts on the charging plate. Just a damp cloth should do it unless there's some caked on crud. Since your friend's did the same the same thing I suspect there's some buildup on the charging plate. The contacts are slightly indented so a Q-Tip might come in handy!

 

Thanks for your responses. I have tried cleaning the contacts, which seemed quite clean anyway, with no change.

I will update this post when I have sorted the problem.

 

Does the charger work plugged into the 12v socket in the boot/trunk?

A

 

Ctek chargers are sensitive to resistance anywhere between the charger and battery. Be it wiring, connectors or something else. I've had an MXS 7.0 (equivalent to Bentley OEM) act up in strange ways and upon closer investigation I found a fried connector. Replacing it solved the problem.

I'd concentrate in checking everything, not just the magnetic connector but the wiring behind it all the way to batteries, as well as the wiring on the charger.

 

An update. I removed the charger receptacle from the boot lid and dismantled it. It is a clever design with magnets and contacts which only make a circuit when a charger plug is inserted into the charging connector. I could find nothing wrong.

I turned my attention to the charger plug. From day one I found it odd that there appeared to be minimal protrusion of the plug contacts to make a connection with the charger receptacle in the boot lid. I removed the central screw in the charger plug and it was immediately apparent that it had got hot at some point and was distorted from the heat. The interesting point was that the plug also has magnets AND the contacts are extended by the interaction with the magnets in the receptacle. Mine did not freely move.

I fiddled around and made them work a little better but the connection was inconsistent. A new charger plug on ebay at £25 cured the problem.

In summary the whole arangement is a clever design with magnets to disconnect the recptacle from the batteries when no charger is present and when the charger is connected the charger plug contacts extend to make good contact.

All working fine now. Thanks for the helpful input from those who responded.