Recommendations for a smart portable 12v charger?

colind3782

colind3782

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As per the title. My cheap battery charger that I use for my motorbike is next to useless so I have decided to replace it with a decent smart charger. CTEK is mentioned in some old threads. Any other recommendations? Budget say <£100?
 
I bought one from Lidl, came with a couple of leads to leave permanently attached to the battery, it's looked after my K1600 battery for years, never had an issue and was about £35. I nearly bought another a few months back when they were selling them again but didn't bother as this one is still doing fine.
 
My Ctek 5 amp one is just about hanging in there after 10 years or so. Someone on YouTube stripped one down and wasn’t that impressed with the components used. That said, mine is still going, but the mode button needs a bit of cajoling.
 
fredrussell said:
My Ctek 5 amp one is just about hanging in there after 10 years or so. Someone on YouTube stripped one down and wasn’t that impressed with the components used. That said, mine is still going, but the mode button needs a bit of cajoling.
Click to expand...

Pal of mine when he bought his boat ... a CTek charger was in the locker ... looking ashore in shops - this was one of the more expensive ones ...

It did not work.

He gave it to me - see if I could do anything with it ... I opened it up and was amazed at the crap inside. When he next visited - I showed him his CTek and another charger I had at 1/4 the price and asked him what he saw ...

Lets put it this way - CTek was not what he bought to replace the old !!

If I was in market for another SMART charger - the Lidl one would be fine ... but on boats - smart charger for me is not good unless they also include smart ON instead of usual smart OFF only. So I use old fashioned dumb charger through solid state auto mode splitter.

For trickle maintenance of Lead Acid - I use cheap small block 1A max maintainers ... they auto on / off as battery needs ... in fact I have them connected to all my batts on the boats permanently ... they don't mind other power sources charging the batts - they just click off ...

Portable 12V/1A Car Boat Motorcycle Smart Battery Charger Maintainer Trickle EU | eBay

s-l500.jpg


Fit and forget literally ... one for each battery.
 
colind3782 said:
As per the title. My cheap battery charger that I use for my motorbike is next to useless so I have decided to replace it with a decent smart charger. CTEK is mentioned in some old threads. Any other recommendations? Budget say <£100?
Click to expand...
My CTEK MXS 7.0 is 10 years old and works perfectly for occasionally charging my two 80Ah batteries on my boat.

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk
 
Don't forget that even "PR" has posted in past about cheap solid state charge controllers that can be connected in line with dumb chargers to control on / off and user settable values.
It means you can take your cheap 10 quid non smart charger ... another 3 or 4 quid for the controller and have a user settable system .....

Don't want to be full charged all time ... want to set it a few decimals lower to be kind to the battery ... easy ... adjust the settings .... want to have it auto on at your values ... easy adjust the settings.

Loads online ... Banggood ... AliExpress etc. No need for me to give link -- easy to find.
 
Refueler said:
Don't forget that even "PR" has posted in past about cheap solid state charge controllers that can be connected in line with dumb chargers to control on / off and user settable values.
It means you can take your cheap 10 quid non smart charger ... another 3 or 4 quid for the controller and have a user settable system .....

Don't want to be full charged all time ... want to set it a few decimals lower to be kind to the battery ... easy ... adjust the settings .... want to have it auto on at your values ... easy adjust the settings.

Loads online ... Banggood ... AliExpress etc. No need for me to give link -- easy to find.
Click to expand...
If you mean me, i don't think i have ever recommended such a thing.
 
colind3782 said:
As per the title. My cheap battery charger that I use for my motorbike is next to useless so I have decided to replace it with a decent smart charger. CTEK is mentioned in some old threads. Any other recommendations? Budget say <£100?
Click to expand...
Are you looking for a proper smart charger or a trickle charger?

If the former this is the one I have.
screwfix.com/p/maypole-mp7428-8a-electronic-battery-charger-12v/3197r

If it is a trickle charger (sometimes called a "maintenance" that typically has an output of between 0.8 and 1.1amps then there is a huge range - some of them already referred to earlier I have one for the battery in my Morgan that I plug into the lighter socket if I am not using the car for more than a couple of weeks. seems to work OK as the Red Flash battery lasted 19 years.
 
Tranona said:
Are you looking for a proper smart charger or a trickle charger?

If the former this is the one I have.
screwfix.com/p/maypole-mp7428-8a-electronic-battery-charger-12v/3197r

If it is a trickle charger (sometimes called a "maintenance" that typically has an output of between 0.8 and 1.1amps then there is a huge range - some of them already referred to earlier I have one for the battery in my Morgan that I plug into the lighter socket if I am not using the car for more than a couple of weeks. seems to work OK as the Red Flash battery lasted 19 years.
Click to expand...
Had a look at the Maypole (£10 cheaper on Amazon!). Most of the reviews are quite bad for reliability and the positive reviews seem to be from new users.
 
I have two CTEK chargers, different models (I can't remember how I ended up with two). I have had them quite a while, and have found them very satisfactory in performance, build quality and features. They detect and warn if not connected or if polarity reversed. One (the more recent?) has a slightly more elaborate display and nicer alligator clips. They both have settings for normal voltage or higher for AGMs, and a boost/recovery facility; one has a (lower output?) setting for motorbike batteries; one or both can provide a 13.6v supply (i.e. not sensing for a battery). I'd buy again.
 
colind3782 said:
Had a look at the Maypole (£10 cheaper on Amazon!). Most of the reviews are quite bad for reliability and the positive reviews seem to be from new users.
Click to expand...
Seems pretty positive to me - just the odd duff product on delivery and a couple of long term failures. Otherwise wall to wall 5 stars! Would not think that out of the ordinary for cheap Chinese sourced products. People tend only to review in the immediate aftermath of purchase or longer term if it fails! So the half dozen negative reviews are really small in relation to the total number.

Anyway I have used mine several times over the last 2 years on both a leisure battery and AGMs and no problems.

Depends really on what you want it for. If it is to maintain charge on something that is used infrequently (like my Morgan in the winter) then a trickle charger is the way to go. On the other hand if you want to occasionally put a lot of charge into a big battery that is well down then an 8amp smart charger like the Maypole or Ring is a good bet at the price.
 
Look for one that pushes a minimum of 10% of the battery capacity (100ah needs a 10A charger).
With properly dimensioned wire and connectors.
Waterproof if you intend to use it anywhere but indoors.
Make sure it can be connected for an extended time (switch to storage mode after charging)

Some have extra features but probably not within your budget.

I'm impressed by a Noco (US) 26A workshop charger and the 3x Victron IP67 (EU, Netherlands) setup recently fitted to the boat.
Not <£100 but reliable brands.,- cheaper models are available
 
colind3782 said:
As per the title. My cheap battery charger that I use for my motorbike is next to useless so I have decided to replace it with a decent smart charger. CTEK is mentioned in some old threads. Any other recommendations? Budget say <£100?
Click to expand...
I had a CTEK for many years until it failed suddenly. Although I had my money's worth out of it, I was a bit miffed that it failed and was in the mood for an alternative upmarket charger. I chose Optimate. There are many models to choose from; perhaps some within budget. They really are the bee's knees and are worth checking out if you have a passion for battery charging (at home rather than onboard).
 
I’ve had many over the years...but that Ctek just never stops working...had it for at least twenty five years
 
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