portable battery charger required

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Dustydog

Dustydog

Jun 20, 2005
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My old faithful Aldi smart charger has packed up. Left me with a flat car battery caused by me trying to upgrade the sat nav software.
Any recommendations for a new charger.
I’ve looked at the Ctec range. Very expensive £75. Are they worth it?
Surely there must be “just as good” ones out there?
 
Gafferbill

Gafferbill

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.....I've always had cheap battery chargers but now have a 10 amp Cteck @ £120.
Got it last Christmas as a present.
It recovered a flat battery in my wife's car that was recently left for 6 weeks in our garage whilst we were away with the caravan.
Worth every penny of my son and daughter in law's money :)
 
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Beardy

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Dustydog said:
My old faithful Aldi smart charger has packed up. Left me with a flat car battery caused by me trying to upgrade the sat nav software.
Any recommendations for a new charger.
I’ve looked at the Ctec range. Very expensive £75. Are they worth it?
Surely there must be “just as good” ones out there?
Click to expand...
How long did the Aldi one last? At £15 each the Ctec would have to last 5 times as long to break even (unless the Ctec has other advantages).
 
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otherclive

otherclive

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I’ve had a CTEK for neigh on 20 years. It was bought mainly to keep caravan batteries in good condition. On one occasion I used it to charge a 2.4 diesel and although it’s only 4 amps after a couple of hours there was enough to start the car. They are good as are NOCO. but not cheap.. The CTEK can be used outdoors without any concerns wrt weather ingress.
 
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otherclive

otherclive

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Dustydog said:
My old faithful Aldi smart charger has packed up. Left me with a flat car battery caused by me trying to upgrade the sat nav software.
Any recommendations for a new charger.
I’ve looked at the Ctec range. Very expensive £75. Are they worth it?
Surely there must be “just as good” ones out there?
Click to expand...
My Kia requires the engine to be running and the car stationary when starting the update. It then monitors battery condition and will advise if you can turn off and leave it to complete.
 
Dustydog

Dustydog

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Beardy said:
How long did the Aldi one last? At £15 each the Ctec would have to last 5 times as long to break even (unless the Ctec has other advantages).
Click to expand...
Approx 10 years. It’s had lots of use but now I want a bit more . Seems to be a toss up between CTEC and NOCO, ( never heard of them!).

Looks like £75/100 is about the going rate. Appreciate the inputs. A bit late for Christmas presents now Bill🤪

Clive Leaving the engine running 3 hours seems a bit mad . The instruction I have with the upgrade say you can use a charger to keep the battery healthy. Ignition must be left on too.. Just my luck it’s all messed up now with the battery going flat mis upgrade.
I’ll spend tomorrow morning starting from scratch and see where that takes me. I have a feeling I may have bitten off more than I chew🙉.
Jokes apart , is a dealer job to restore the original,factory settings🤔
 
otherclive

otherclive

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Dustydog said:
Approx 10 years. It’s had lots of use but now I want a bit more . Seems to be a toss up between CTEC and NOCO, ( never heard of them!).

Looks like £75/100 is about the going rate. Appreciate the inputs. A bit late for Christmas presents now Bill🤪

Clive Leaving the engine running 3 hours seems a bit mad . The instruction I have with the upgrade say you can use a charger to keep the battery healthy. Ignition must be left on too.. Just my luck it’s all messed up now with the battery going flat mis upgrade.
I’ll spend tomorrow morning starting from scratch and see where that takes me. I have a feeling I may have bitten off more than I chew🙉.
Jokes apart , is a dealer job to restore the original,factory settings🤔
Click to expand...
Mines never required more than 15-20 minutes with the engine running then I am told to switch off. It then continues on its own for about the same length of time.
Hope you can get sorted without having to visit the dealership. Next car you must get FTA updates whilst driving but they may require a distance from Wiltshire to Sutherland 👍
 
Dustydog

Dustydog

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otherclive said:
Mines never required more than 15-20 minutes with the engine running then I am told to switch off. It then continues on its own for about the same length of time.
Hope you can get sorted without having to visit the dealership. Next car you must get FTA updates whilst driving but they may require a distance from Wiltshire to Sutherland 👍
Click to expand...
Seriously thinking about recommissioning my old TomTom!
 
Mr Plodd

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It all depends what you expect/want a battery charger to do.
If you just want something to top up a leisure or car starter battery then a cheapo Halfords type charger will be fine. If you want something to (possibly) rescue a knackered battery, or to remain connected for an extended period then a more sophisticated device, such as Ctek is what you need.
Your situation, your money, your choice.

I don't possess a battery charger of any description. But if I want to top my "Emergency 12v battery that powers an LED strip a in case of power cuts" I simply remove a terminal from my caravan battery and attach, via a couple of crocodile clip leads, the 12v battery and it gets topped up courtesy of my solar panel.
.
 
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otherclive

otherclive

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One advantage some NOCO have is ability to charge lithium as well as LA, AGM batteries. Wheras CTEK produce a dedicated charger for Lithium batteries.

www.oliverjobson.co.uk

Which should you buy: CTEK MXS 5.0 or Noco Genius5?

Both of these chargers output 5 amps, charge all the common battery types & tick the box for restoring batteries – although the CTEK may be easier in this regard, and is usually cheaper. So is the CTEK the one to buy? Find out in this comparison...
www.oliverjobson.co.uk www.oliverjobson.co.uk
 
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Hutch

Hutch

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I am going to tag onto DustyDogs thread, in the hope the battery Gurus can help.
I have a 110amh battery, 6 years old, (Silver/ cadmium ) sealed flooded, that after a 24hr charge on an old Halfords battery charger that only pushes out 13.4 volts, The battery after sitting for a day shows 12.6 volts.

My question is, would it benefit me to buy a Smart Charger, NOCO genuis 5, and try and revive this battery, or cut my losses and buy a new battery,


I am thinking about 2 days trips off grid in summer.
PS my tyres do need replacing.
 
Dustydog

Dustydog

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Well here’s a thing!
My old faithful mega crude 1970 unsolid state charger saved the day! I wonder if we have got too fussy about volts etc?? I get the solid state stuff is all hypocritical but not for me in a caravan environment .
The old Aldi unit is working but doesn’t turn back on as the battery discharges. Not a life threatening problem.
So for me the Jury is still out but many thanks everyone for all your words of wisdom👍👍
 
otherclive

otherclive

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Hutch said:
I am going to tag onto DustyDogs thread, in the hope the battery Gurus can help.
I have a 110amh battery, 6 years old, (Silver/ cadmium ) sealed flooded, that after a 24hr charge on an old Halfords battery charger that only pushes out 13.4 volts, The battery after sitting for a day shows 12.6 volts.

My question is, would it benefit me to buy a Smart Charger, NOCO genuis 5, and try and revive this battery, or cut my losses and buy a new battery,


I am thinking about 2 days trips off grid in summer.
PS my tyres do need replacing.
Click to expand...
Given the cost of the NOCO and no guarantee that your battery will be revived I would opt for a brand new battery. Then for Christmas put a CTEK/Noco/Aldi etc on your gift list.
 
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ProfJohnL

ProfJohnL

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Dustydog said:
Well here’s a thing!
My old faithful mega crude 1970 unsolid state charger saved the day! I wonder if we have got too fussy about volts etc?? I get the solid state stuff is all hypocritical but not for me in a caravan environment .
The old Aldi unit is working but doesn’t turn back on as the battery discharges. Not a life threatening problem.
So for me the Jury is still out but many thanks everyone for all your words of wisdom👍👍
Click to expand...
I've got several Aldi chargers, and their Achilles heel is the fact they don't automatically turn back on, after a mains power cut, but provided the mains is there, they do monitor the state of the battery and will ramp up the charge rate if the battery is used, Is this what you mean?
 
Hutch

Hutch

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Given the fact that my caravan PSU, supply's 12 volts, Upto 20 amp power, and the unit is supposed to be a smart unit doing all this flash multi volt stuff,
Would I be wasting my money buying the NOCO unit, and rather buy a new battery.
Given the fact I might give up the Caravan life due to health reasons, Mrs H's not mine.
 
Hutch

Hutch

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Thinking about it I have a spare PSU, I could rewire to be a "Smart charger".
Another weekend project before walking the dog to the pub.
Edit
Surely this system should be doing the desulfidation !!! On the battery.
The same as a NOCO / CTEK charger.
 
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