Maintenance charger - recommendations?

[Viral_Jim]

As per the title. Went out the Chrysler tonight and the battery is flatter than Kiera Knightley.

Turns out it's nearly 8 weeks since I last did anything with it. How time flies  . Still, the chances of me getting it shifted quickly are pretty slim and a maintenance charger seems like the kind of thing that would be handy to have around, so any recommendations Greatly received! 

[Mr Skrunts]

I bought a CTEK years ago, not sure of the model number but have been extremely happy with it.

https://www.ctek.com/uk/battery-chargers-12v-24v/vehicle-type/car-battery-chargers/battery-maintainer

They are available at halfruds and ECP

[Viral_Jim]

Cheers Skruntie, I have the Halfrauds trade club, so I'll see what they have to offer 

[johnnydog]

I have two Ctek smart chargers - a MXS 7.0 which I use for generally charging of mainly AGM batteries, and a CT5 'Time 2 Go' which I use on a  vehicle at a holiday place we have that is left parked up for weeks at a time.
Very happy with both of them
I bought the Ctek Time 2 Go a couple of years ago from  Lidl - they were on offer in the 'Middle of Lidl' aisle at £24.95. At the same time they were on sale at Halfords for around £85! A real bargain, but I've never seen them for sale in Lidl since.
Some recommend NOCO chargers, but the Ctek have been brilliant and I'd recommend them....

[Mr Skrunts]

I have a NOCO to start the car, holds charge for quite some time.  Wouldn't be without it.

[TheBoy]

I didn't have much luck with Ctek, so tend to avoid them.  I had 3 for the Kawasaki, and as Tunnie will confirm, the battery never had enough charge to start it, despite replacing the battery annually (but its OK, Tunnie use to like push starting the heavy ol' Kwaka).  I had 3 for the cars as well, all rubbish IMHO.

I now use a Ring 12A one - the one thats around £80 from Hellfrauds without trade - and its been brilliant for years.  Downside is it lacks the "comfort cable" setup of the Cteks, so you have to fabricate something yourself...   ...in my case, both cars have the batteries in the boot, and I charge my RC stuff in the boot when out and about, so I rigged up an XT60 setup.

I seem to be unique in having trouble with Ctek, but they all came from reliable places, like Halfords or Amazon direct (not marketplace).  I'd certainly only buy Ctek from a reliable source, as there are a lot of chinky clones around.

[Marks DTM Calib]

I have two CTEKs I use and also an Aldi smart charger, the Aldi one does everything the CTEK does (with the exception of recondition mode.....which does jack all anyway) for sub twenty quid.

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

I have a C Tek, which is unreliable - switch keeps playing up.
I have two of the Aldi versions, and they just do what they are supposed to without any problems or fuss.

[Marks DTM Calib]

Potentially useful, on offer at Toolstation at the moment:

https://www.toolstation.com/ring-smart-battery-charger-uk/p29567?utm_source=Rakuten&utm_medium=affiliates&utm_content=digidip&utm_campaign=1&ranMID=46390&ranEAID=hL3Qp0zRBOc&ranSiteID=hL3Qp0zRBOc-lKDthMDvtmQ1C2Drr10s5Q

[johnnydog]

I've got several Ctek chargers for various cars, and they are used mainly the winter months on my classics or other cars that are not in use for a while to keep them topped up, and I honestly can't fault them. I have a battery on one of my classics that was on the car when I bought it in 2012, and it is still going strong today, starting a 2500cc engine with ease. I can only put that down to looking after it with a smart charger. I had a Lidl smart charger which threw a dicky fit and fried the car battery - I got a replacement charger under their warranty but not a battery replacement which wasn't covered dispite being consequential damage...
I went with Ctek initially as my local Audi dealership used them on the cars in the showroom to power the drl 's which were illuminated (to look fancy I guess).
Some have problems with most things they buy, but personally I've had no issues at all with Ctek.

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

Moral of the story - There is probably an element of pot luck involved when buying anything made in China. 

[Sir Tigger KC]

Battery chargers have come a long way. 

Mine is ancient, about the size of a shoe box in a steel casing and it quietly hums to itself when in use. 

[Doctor Gollum]

Potentially useful, on offer at Toolstation at the moment:

https://www.toolstation.com/ring-smart-battery-charger-uk/p29567?utm_source=Rakuten&utm_medium=affiliates&utm_content=digidip&utm_campaign=1&ranMID=46390&ranEAID=hL3Qp0zRBOc&ranSiteID=hL3Qp0zRBOc-lKDthMDvtmQ1C2Drr10s5Q

I have the heavier car and 12v truck version of this. And have hard wired the ring terminals to the S Class. Whilst it struggled to keep both batteries tippety top, it never failed to start the thing.

Only thing I will say is that the cables aren't particularly long, so you need to have somewhere close to the connection to sit the charger and get an extension lead to if you want to close the bonnet.

[TheBoy]

Battery chargers have come a long way. 

Mine is ancient, about the size of a shoe box in a steel casing and it quietly hums to itself when in use. 

And probably not suitable for using on a modern car, certainly not without disconnecting the battery from the car first.

[Sir Tigger KC]

Battery chargers have come a long way. 

Mine is ancient, about the size of a shoe box in a steel casing and it quietly hums to itself when in use. 

And probably not suitable for using on a modern car, certainly not without disconnecting the battery from the car first.

No it's an old stylee battery charger. I've always disconnected the battery or removed it from the car for overnight charging in the garage.