Battery conditioner

[Tim Jones]

Afternoon all - I'm looking to replace my battery conditioner. One of the candidates, which seems well received is 

CTEK Multi MXS 10 10A 12V 8-Stage Battery Charger Conditioner

- anyone using this and can recommend it (or any alternative)? TIA

[jep]

CTEK are a brilliant company at marketing. They have become the default choice for many enthusiasts. 

I have various trickle chargers, from AirFlow (22 years in constant use, still performing), Lidl £12 ones (three, all great over 7 years and counting) and very cheap plug in DC constant feed (all good). 

There is no need to pay a premium price for a trickle charger. AirFlow are just as fancy as CTEK if you want a 'brand' but a £12 from Lidl will do the job. AA do branded ones, as do Black and Decker amongst others, for a fair price.

https://airflow-uk.com/product/car-battery-conditioner/

Justin

 

[TonyPoll]

I've had a CTEK for about 15 years on my Excel.

Works very well. Recommended.

Tony

[MJON]

@Tim Jones Have up to 4 CTEKs in operation indoor and outdoor non failed me yet. Why the 10? Would have thought the MXS 5 more than adequate if just for conditioning.

 

[Tony D]

Tim, I've been using a CTEK 5.0 for a couple of years now and very happy with it. It's not plugged in 24 /7, just used every couple of weeks if the cars not been out. Also used it to rejuvenate a couple of batteries with good results. 

Tony 

[Tim Jones]

Cheers guys. Why the 10? Fair question. No reason. I have some Xmas money burning a hole in my pocket, the existing conditioner doesn't seem to cut the mustard (the battery is relatively new) and I thought the 10 might have something the 5 didn't and perhaps it was time to push the boat out.  As for why CTEK, again, no coherent response other than I'd tried a cheaper brand and it never did that much for me. If I left the car on the conditioner for a few weeks, it was very sluggish and needed a conventional overnight charge. 

[Lozza74]

I've just bought another charger/conditioner. I got the Oxford Oximiser 3X from Infinity motorcycles as its on a pretty good offer at the moment and had good reviews. I also wanted something that was good on my motorbike as well as cars since these tend to need a lower charge rate.

I've been using it for a week or so now and it seems pretty well made.

[Escape]

I have been using the CTEK MXS 10 for 6 years now on a semi-professional base, not as a trickle charger but mainly to charge and recondition batteries, often large ones (around 100Ah). It hasn't failed me yet and has brought back many a battery over the years. So well worth the money.
Before I had the previous CTEK 8, that also did very well, even after I accidentally ran over it with a Range Rover (though no longer waterproof...). Only reason it was replaced is because it was lost when the Workshop burned down.

If it's for personal use, I'd go for a cheaper smaller one though. A 0.8 will do the trickle stuff, but wont help much if a battery does get depleted. I'd chose the 5.0 over the 3.8 because it has the reconditioning mode.

While I'm sure a lot of cheap chargers are fine, I've seen several struggle and suspect a few batteries even died prematurely because a cheap charger was left connected and didn't provide a proper maintenance charge.

Filip

[Denis247]

Are people using these with the battery still connected to the car?, is there no risk to damaging the voltage regulator in the alternator as with 'normal' chargers?

[jep]

Always trickle charge my cars with battery in situ. 340R and Evora come from factory with a port to plug into. 

Elise I feed via live cigarette port.

Justin

 

[Escape]

I also usually leave the batteries connected. Only when really depleted I tend to disconnect while running a reconditioning cycle. I figure the less external connections/loads to battery, the better the chance the reconditioning will work.