CTEK (56-384) Comfort Indicator Clamps

I am writing this in November 2021. Now don’t get me wrong, I used to love these but quality has become rubbish lately and they fail quickly.I have many of these connected to my various cars so that I can easily see the battery status and to also connect my charger to the cars easily. Lately I have noticed that they are failing very quickly and you just get a solid red light and not the flashing lights no matter what condition your battery is in. I contacted CTEK via their support page to report that I have been having issues with the new ones I have bought lately but they were not interested, they just told me to return them to where I bought them from.To give you an idea, so far I have had 2 fail within a month and 2 fail as soon as I connected them. The ones I purchased a few years ago are still going string so I can only assume CTEK have had a bad batch made or they are just using cheaper components and the customer is left to suffer. Very disappointed in the response from CTEK.I still buy more as and when I get another car in my collection so I still recommend them, just be aware of the poor quality lately (2021).

I bought this Ctek extension cable because I thought I had lost the original shorter standard ones.I assumed it would be worth the £12 + because of the make but this has not proven to be the case.I received it on 6th March and have used it 3 times since then and already the metal positive clip has rusted quite badly despite only being used on clean dry terminals, and the plastic grip has broken off due to poor design.The metal clamp is thin cheap plated steel, not stainless as I would have expected.Very disappointed and annoyed!

The lead length is 140cm and, has a 15A inline fuse.The connector has 3 LEDs to indicate the battery voltage:Red <12.5 voltsAmber 12.5 to 12.7 voltsGreen >12.7 voltsThese voltages were measured using a precision Power Supply Unit and, confirmed with a professional Fluke multimeter.

This works really well and makes connecting CTEK chargers so easy. Price was reasonable and delivery time good.BUT the traffic lights failed after several months to only flash red even with fully charged battery. returned to shop and waited several months as they could not test it (even though it obviously was not working) and had to send it back to Sweden. I eventually emailed the manufacurer and got immediate reply with apology as they had no record of it so sent a replacement. Another one I bought has just gone the same way, so hence the 2 star rating although it can still be used to conveniently charge the battery but just flashes red all the time.Recommend that you contact CTEK direct for prompt service and NOT the shop as they were less than helpful.

CTEK chargers are generally regarded as among the best that you can get and I love mine, which I have had for several years. Having used both leads that came with the charger to permanently attach to cars for instant use if needed, I bought this lead as a move-it-around device. As expected from CTEK it is well made and quick to attach to the charger lead. My only gripe is that it was a bit expensive when compared to what I paid for the charger in the first place.