Battery Charging Without even Needing to Lift the Hood
18 June 2025
If you rewind back 20 years, charging your car battery was so simple. Lift the hood and there was the battery. Attach the charger clamps to the positive and negative terminals and off you go…easy!
With modern vehicles however, it’s a little more complex, and one of the reasons for this is that the battery is not always situated under the hood. It can be in the trunk, under a seat and for many of us we have absolutely no clue where it is!
This isn’t as much of a big deal as it seems, as due to the introduction of vehicle battery management systems it’s not possible to connect a charger directly to battery terminals anyway – well without messing up vehicle operating systems. Instead you need to charge using dedicated charging points, that are in most cases under the hood.
Lifting the hood and finding the charging points can however take time and result in rather dirty fingertips! So here at CTEK we’ve developed an easy to fit adapter, meaning you can charge your vehicle battery without even needing to lift the hood.
By using the connect CIG PLUG, your CTEK charger can charge your vehicle battery through the 12V cigarette lighter or accessory socket. It’s a universal fit, so it works with both 12mm and 21mm sockets.
It features our unique CTEK Connect system that enables a quick, snug and easy connection from the charger to the battery. It can work with CTEK chargers from 0.8A (the CTEK XS 0.8 charger) up to 7A (the CTEK MXS 7.0 charger).
One thing to note about this accessory, is that you will need your 12V socket to be live, even when the vehicle is turned off. So this accessory will not work if your vehicle has ignition shut off.
To fit the connect CIG PLUG, simply take the cig plug end and push it into the cigarette lighter or accessory socket. If you are using it with a 12mm socket you will need to remove the red adaptor before doing so. Then take the other end, which is a female connector, and attach it to the charger.
Then plug the charger into the power socket and use it as normal – making sure you follow user instructions.
So, if you want a quick and easy way to charge your car battery – take a look at our connect CIG PLUG.
