ctek mxs 5 battery charge

[pricega1]

Just bought a CTEK MXS 5 battery charger for my SLK 200 0n a 55 plate. it's garaged ove winter and the battery tends to run down when the car isn't used. the instructions with the CTEK do not say to remove the vent caps on the battery while the battery is charged. I've seen several posts where people have bought one of these chargers and would like to know what is their approach with the vent caps? I intend leaving the charger on over the winter so it kicks in when required.

 

[Dave Richardson]

I also have a CTEK charger & frequently leave my car battery on charge, being of a 'Sealed' type I have no other option. Never suffered with a problem.

Hope this helps

Dave

 

[whitenemesis]

I have a CTEK and have permanent connection to my battery which I charge in-situ without issue. In fact MB fitted the battery and charger connection. Service team leader commented they don't remove the batteries when charging

 

[brucemillar]

Ah Ha. Spooky indeed.

I have a Ring intelligent maintenance charger. I use on my Pajero during the summer months. left on 24x7. This year I noticed some "gassing" from the battery caps. Concerned about this, I emailed Ring. They got back to immediately. Basically they said remove or loosed the battery caps. If the gassing was still a problem then to have the battery checked out.

loosened the caps and no further issues. Asked a sparky mate of mine. He said loosening id best if leaving plugged in permanently.

 

[nrg220]

Just bought a CTEK MXS 5 battery charger for my SLK 200 0n a 55 plate. it's garaged ove winter and the battery tends to run down when the car isn't used. the instructions with the CTEK do not say to remove the vent caps on the battery while the battery is charged. I've seen several posts where people have bought one of these chargers and would like to know what is their approach with the vent caps? I intend leaving the charger on over the winter so it kicks in when required.

The mxs 5 has a cycle or two at 15.8 volts yet Mercedes say a Max of 14.8 and my local dealer only send the 3.6 which has a Max voltage of 14.8 but ctek day for a 95ah diesel battery one needs the Max 5 so just worried about the higher voltage given Mercedes limit in the handbook

 

[nrg220]

With regard to the Ctek 5 charger and now in fact all their chargers as they updated them to this 15.8v cycle here is what Mercedes said. They may be fine actually but its £60 or £600 for a repair, didn't fancy the latter so not buying one now dammit so now off to look for an alternative

Mercedes-Benz Model: C-ClassC 220 CDI

Thank you for contacting Mercedes-Benz Customer Service.

Further to your recent email communication, thank you for the further information you provided. In light of this information we can advise the maximum charge rate of the charger is 15.8V which is 1 volt above the maximum recommended charge rate, as stated in the owners manual. This does have the possibility to damage the electrical system vehicle.

The reason why its still called a 12v charger is the vehicle still has 12v battery and they increase the charge rate to shorten charging times.

The advice we would give is to order a trickle charger from your local Mercedes-Benz Retailer this will assure you have been provided with the correct trickle charger for your vehicle.

A full list of Mercedes-Benz Retailers can be found at www.mercedes-benz.co.uk.

Should you have any further requirements please do not hesitate to contact us.

 

[ivan1983]

I have the aldi version of this, they generally get good reviews.

You can go have a look and read the specs in the manual in store but my one only goes up to 14.4v when charging and 14.1 when float/trickle charging

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[grober]

Most modern zero maintenance batteries have vent ports built in. Often they are connected to small vent pipes especially if they located in the boot or under the rear seats. This should take care of any " venting" of hydrogen. Hydrogen gas is evolved at high charge rates or when the battery is over charged. Intelligent chargers should not do this as they are sensitive the charged batteries voltage. It would be foolish to use the higher charge voltage rate on a battery still in the vehicle and the CTEK instructions will tell you this. Normally these higher voltages are used for battery recovery [ which I would always do out of the car] or specific types of Gell type batteries or batteries at very low temperatures. You don't need anything but a trickle charge to keep your battery up to scratch. If you want to know any more ask CTEK they know far more than the Mercedes customer service . Used on the right setting the CTEK will be fine
ps the Mercedes one is made by CTEK

 

[1945wickedred]

Hi I have been using the CTEK 5 for over a year now with no problems and will continue to use it this winter.

 

[nrg220]

I agree with all you say I'm quite sure the Max 5 would be fine and do a great job. However not being technical and finding the one Mercedes retailers sell at about £90 I might add is the 3.6a one, yes probably CTek this one is a Max of 14.7v the msx 5 has 15.8v cycles.

In my handbook it says 14.8 v Max so what does one do, ask Mercedes who advised no but as we see in practise members use the MSX 5 without a problem but the thought of an issue and what I would be charged to fix, put me off but found a ctek 3.6 as I only want a maintenance charge when the car isn't used for several weeks and don't wish to charge from flat. Whilst Ctek said it would be fine if any issue occurred they I'm sure would not pick up the tab and I would be directed to the vehicle handbook. I never thought getting a charger would be so fraught lol

 

[whitenemesis]

The CTek msx5 only uses the 15.8v cycle if one chooses the RECON mode. Normal charging is 14.7v

If the charger detects sulphated batteries it will pulse the voltage to 15.8v to remove sulphate from the lead plates of the battery restoring the battery capacity. This is the very first stage of operation in any mode. I've never seen mine linger on this stage, it normally goes directly to stage 3 (Bulk charge stage)

 

[b1g1an]

I'm sure I've read a dozen times that Mercedes chargers are rebadged CTEKs, they just cost more!

I got a MXS5 last year because my battery would only sit from fully charged for a few days before the consumer message would pop up. After reading the instructions, strange nowadays I know, it recommends running the RECON mode once a year on otherwise healthy batteries so I did.

The result is the car will sit for at least a fortnight now not being charged without the consumer message appearing, haven't left it any longer to know how much longer it'll go so I only plug it in every now and again when I know it'll be at least a week before she goes out again.

Not certain how old the battery is for certain but it looks original but the RECON worked wonders for it.