CTEK chargers

[Doodle]

More often than not they're a bit too smart, and sense what you're trying to do to trick them!

The Aldi one that mikrt mentions appears not to do anything below 7V, by the manufacturers own statement.

 

[mikrt]

More often than not they're a bit too smart, and sense what you're trying to do to trick them!

The Aldi one that mikrt mentions appears not to do anything below 7V, by the manufacturers own statement.

Not below 7v?
Why do you say that?

 

[Deleted member 126251]

Which is how a regular/non-smart charger works.
You can 'trick' smart charges into working with a dead flat battery by connecting a good 12v battery in parallel but maybe not practical in reality.

I believe that doing that, will drain the good 12v battery until both have a similar voltage and possibly ruin the good battery.

 

[Doodle]

Not below 7v?
Why do you say that?

It's stated in the product manual, at least the one I queried.

 

[mikrt]

It's stated in the product manual, at least the one I queried.

I already quoted the manual post #37 which mentions charging a fully discharged battery.

Unsure what you've read. I'd read the manual that it charges in regen mode till 7.5v, then charges @ 0.8 A to ≥ 12.8 V, then battery is kept at the fully charged level with a trickle charging current of 50–150 mA (0.05–0.15 A)

I'm happy to be corrected, but that's the way I read it.

 

[AltonAnt]

I believe that doing that, will drain the good 12v battery until both have a similar voltage and possibly ruin the good battery.

Sorry. I wasn't clear. It is only needed for the charger to detect a battery is connected then it is removed.

 

[Doodle]

I already quoted the manual post #37 which mentions charging a fully discharged battery.

Unsure what you've read. I'd read the manual that it charges in regen mode till 7.5v, then charges @ 0.8 A to ≥ 12.8 V, then battery is kept at the fully charged level with a trickle charging current of 50–150 mA (0.05–0.15 A)

I'm happy to be corrected, but that's the way I read it.

If the battery voltage is lower than 3.8V or higher than 15V, the battery is not suitable or defective. The error message “Err” appears for 3 seconds on the display before returning to the standby mode.

If the battery voltage is between 3.8 and 7.3V, the battery is identified as a 6V battery. By pressing the MODE key (7) the 6V charging program is
started.

If a battery voltage of between 7.3V and 10.5V is measured, this indicates a critical range as at the lower voltage end. It is not clear whether it is a fully charged 6V battery (which could have a voltage of 7.3 V) or a deep-discharged 12 V battery.

On that basis if you're below 7.3V on a 12v battery, it suggests it will either decide it's a 6V battery or unsuitable/defective depending on how far below.

 

[mikrt]

Exactly @Doodle. Thanks for confirming what I thought

 

[MadMerx]

I am so glad to find this thread as was looking for recommendations for battery trickle chargers for a CL55. I have an Accumate and Optimate for my motorbikes but felt they were not quite up to the job of large car batteries so will go for a CXS 7 or 10 if Amazon has an offer soon on them!

 

[Deletedmember130310]

My Optimate III works perfectly on my MB battery

 

[c63chris]

I am so glad to find this thread as was looking for recommendations for battery trickle chargers for a CL55. I have an Accumate and Optimate for my motorbikes but felt they were not quite up to the job of large car batteries so will go for a CXS 7 or 10 if Amazon has an offer soon on them!

I use the 5 on my SL and it’s been faultless

 

[flowrider]

I am so glad to find this thread as was looking for recommendations for battery trickle chargers for a CL55. I have an Accumate and Optimate for my motorbikes but felt they were not quite up to the job of large car batteries so will go for a CXS 7 or 10 if Amazon has an offer soon on them!

I have a MXS5.0 and a MXS10, they both work really well but the 10 charges faster.

 

[Steve1985]

Guys, used my ctek 5.0 for the first time this weekend, my sl is not my daily so sits for days at a time sometimes weeks, however i put the charger on recon for the first charge as the consumer battery always dies on me, 24 hours later I went to unlock the car the remote didnt work then the alarm started to sound, maybe this was because the charger was still connnected? Anyway I unplugged the charger used the key to get inside and strted the ignition to shit the alarm off. I have consumer battery dead on the display and it seems to be dead. Any ideas?

 

[flowrider]

Dont use recon on an AGM battery, you may have killed it!

 

[Deletedmember130310]

Dont use recon on an AGM battery, you may have killed it!

^. this...

 

[Steve1985]

Ffs

 

[Steve1985]

Shall i try and re charge it in normal mode?

 

[ToeKnee]

I have often charged run down agm batteries on recon with my ctek with no harm done.

 

[Steve1985]

Any suggestions with what i should do next?

 

[ToeKnee]

Any suggestions with what i should do next?

How old is the battery (mine had a date stamp on one of the terminals)? It could be just that the battery was knackered anyway, in which case buy a new one.