Battery charger and CTEK.

[Thingy]

I am led to believe that the onboard/built in battery charger is nothing more than a glorified trickle charger and over the last couple of years, both on catavan forums and car forums, I have been hearing many people sing the virtues of the CTEK range of chargers/conditioners.

I havent used one myself, and I have been reading up on these things trying to decide whether its worth a purchase. I understand the perils of letting a leisure battery go completely flat and how difficult they are to revive.

I am lucky enough to be able to keep my can at home and I have a dedicated hoot up point outside for it, meaning my batterry and van are permanently connected.

Any thoughts on CTEKs either good or bad?

Presumably to use on, I would have to disconnect the battery from the caravan charger?

 

[Damian]

Older vans had very basic chargers which put out a constant 13.8v, but newer vans have smart chargers which bring the battery up to its capacity then switch to a maintenance charge, which is what a CTEK will do.

Under most circumstances the power supply unit which includes the charger will supply the needs of the 12v system with the battery acting as a smoothing unit to save undue power surge requirements from the PSU.

 

[Thingy]

I accept what you say Damian, but surely the caravan charger wouldnt bring back a deeply discharged leisure battery, would it?

It appears they have started to do a special one for caravans, but how does it actually compare in spec to the modern onboard charger. Can it give anything extra?

 

[Beehpee]

2 or 3 years ago I went on the CC national rally and for the first and only time had a pitch with no electric hook up, having no idea of how long a battery would give me enough power I had a total of 4 batteries with me, 3 of these were acquired from my son in law who works as a car mechanic and were used ones that had been removed from cars when they had gone past their working life, using a ctek I gave all 3 a recondition charge, 2 went straight through the cycle but the 3rd tripped the charger after a few hours and charger registered that the battery was faulty, I restarted the charger again and the same thing, on the 3rd or could even have been the 4th attempt it went through and went through the whole recon charge, I still to this day use what was a faulty battery as one of 3 that gets put on the van when not being used during the winter months and it lasts easily for 5/6 weeks before I need to put the next on, all 3 of the acquired batteries were showing voltage of less than 4 volts with the worst showing zero, that was the one that had to be restarted several times, worth the cost? Absolutely IMO.

BP

 

[chrisn7]

I have 2 CTEK chargers for maintaining classic car batteries, and they have been in constant use for several years.

They are principally designed to maintain a battery, rather than to be a battery charger in the accepted sense. However re-charging is possible, but over a long time, like 2 or 3 days. These units can sometimes revive a battery that might otherwise be condemned, because of the charging regime employed

 

[Thingy]

Chrisn7, this is exactly what i was considering. Are we damaging batteries by leaving them on constant charge. Mine never seem to last as long as I would expect.

 

[ChrisUK]

The onboard/built in battery charger is nothing more than a glorified trickle charger

Not true. As stated already it is a power supply unit for the 12V electrics for the van, charging the battery is secondary. If the power demand is greater than the power supply, usually about 20 amps, the battery will supply the difference but will of course start to discharge. A battery charger, like my trusty CETK will charge a battery from a fairly low level, my 5 amp one is reasonably quick, it is not suitable as a power supply for the van.

 

[SirRogerFFS]

Both the C teck chargers and the one from Aldi are good chargers the only difference is if the power goes off on the c teck the charger will reset from where it left off,the Aldi one goes back to the beginning .Well thats it not being too technical.Sorry I am talking crap here .If there is a power cut the cteck chargers will restart on there own, the Aldi charger you have to reset but not a problem.Both are good chargers just the Aldi one is cheaper.I have use the Aldi one for some years now never an issue.One of my early batteries lasted me eight years long before I bought a digital charger . this one I used to charge with and 11 amp charger I think the 11 amps did it good .
Sir Roger

 

[chrisn7]

Chrisn7, this is exactly what i was considering. Are we damaging batteries by leaving them on constant charge. Mine never seem to last as long as I would expect.

The CTEK chargers won't damage your battery with long term use. In operation, they are very sensitive to battery voltage drop once charged, so that minimal power is used to top up again. There is a big range so check the specs carefully for one that meets your needs.