CTEK chargers

[Steve1985]

im looking into getting a ctek smart charger for my sl 500 r230, i have two batteries to maintain.

anyone have any experience/recommendations on which one i should get?

im looking to leave it connected a lot and leave it on maintenance mode.

 

[Smart320]

I bought two about 5 years ago and used them for long periods ( 3/4 months away from home ) and had no problems with them, cars always started first time and neither batteries needed replacing although they were 6-8 years old, so conditioning mode obviously worked.
Not sure what the latest model is but think they give a greater indication of the state of charge than mine but I would not hesitate to buy the same brand again

 

[WOODYTHEWISE]

I had just the opposite experience.
Two gave up the ghost. I think there is a 5 year warranty.....you can't return it to the place you purchased it from.
You have to return it to the manufacturer...in Sweden.

 

[bob6600]

We have 3 in the family, all working as they should. Mine is a MXS7 and the other two are MXS10. Probably all overkill as the MXS5 is sufficient but they were all purchased on offer.

 

[Weds]

I had just the opposite experience.
Two gave up the ghost. I think there is a 5 year warranty.....you can't return it to the place you purchased it from.
You have to return it to the manufacturer...in Sweden.

I had one fail at about 3 months before the warranty ran out, contacted the manufacturers. They sent a replacement and asked me to cut the leads off the faulty one and put it in the correct recycle bin.

 

[WOODYTHEWISE]

Wow...thats good service. I was asked to post them to Sweden along with a receipt from an authorised dealer showing date of purchase at my expense . I heard nothing back. Well done.

 

[ToeKnee]

I had the smaller mx3.0 which worked fine (still does) but replaced it with a mx5.0 which does more things like conditioning etc. Both have been great with no problems whatsoever.

 

[WOODYTHEWISE]

Error...

 

[AntMB]

I use the optimate chargers for long term battery maintenance, they're good.

 

[whitenemesis]

I had the MX5 looking after my CLS55. Worked flawlessly.
CTEK are what Mercedes sell rebadged as their own.

 

[Deleted member 126251]

I've had one for about 10 years - been well used as I used to do bush camping with an off road caravan (in Oz) and had and array of batteries in it (6 IIRC) plus three in my Landcruiser (2 cranking and 1 auxiliary) it has been dropped, rained on and generally abused and is still going strong.

Several leading car and bike manufacturers rebrand them.

 

[c63chris]

Had my SL on a MX5 for the last 3yrs. Just works. Can’t fault it.

 

[reverend]

I've got the MXS 5.0 and the MXS 10 and have been happy with both.

I upgraded to the 10 recently - I think Porsche also rebrand the CTEK units as their own.

They don't pull as much power as I expected either - the 5 / 10amp rating is at the output 12v side, not the 240v input side. I hooked it up via an energy monitoring plug and think it was something like 75w for the 5.0 and 145w for the 10.

The comfort connectors are very good too and make life easier.

 

[anglaslt]

A good thing about CTEK is that they will restart automatically if you have a temporary power cut. I'm not sure all conditioners will do that.

 

[Codger49]

I use a CTEK MXS5.0 on my 3 lightly used cars every couple of months and its kept them all going for the past 4+ years.

 

[Atavus]

CTEK work fine for me, but some people have nothing but trouble. They can even catch fire.

I bought one for my parents and it failed for no apparent reason, out of warranty, but with hardly any use. My own MXS 10 has been great. I use it for normal and AGM batteries.

 

[23 Romeo Tango]

Below is a link to a CTEK thread, where I got some advise from.
I ended up getting a CTEK MXS 5.0 and it has been great for my needs.

CTEK MSX 7.0

Search CTEK in the forum search function on the top right corner of each page.

 

[AltonAnt]

They don't pull as much power as I expected either - the 5 / 10amp rating is at the output 12v side, not the 240v input side...

Ohms law at work, right there

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

I'm using an MX5. No issues at all. I don't use them to trickle, just to charge the, usually original, batteries on my two or three 10 year old cars once or twice a year.

I'm a great advocate of them as an alternative to scrapping batteries.

 

[AntMB]

A good thing about CTEK is that they will restart automatically if you have a temporary power cut. I'm not sure all conditioners will do that.

The optimate will. It has no buttons, just goes through it's motions when the power goes on.