Ctek mxs 5 charger.

[Deleted member 126251]

Yes, isl 8-936g. Great bit of kit, still got it and use it occasionally with external balancers or for charging my old Multiplex Tx on outlet 3 (low voltage). I had a caravan so there was always a spare leisure battery or two knocking about

Unfortunately the internal clock circuit has to be replaced every 10-12 years, and Matthias Schulze has completely retired now. I last had it done in 2016 ...

And the PC interface only worked on Windows XP

View attachment 135710

I sold mine (ISL 6) a few years ago. Great chargers (I think I paid 300 Euro in 1998 so they were not cheap) and all their other gear as well. I had a load of their receivers & still have some speed 400 esc & the 1.44 disk with the interface lying around. I think the Chinese killed off their business.

 

[BTB 500]

I sold mine (ISL 6) a few years ago. Great chargers (I think I paid 300 Euro in 1998 so they were not cheap) and all their other gear as well. I had a load of their receivers & still have some speed 400 esc & the 1.44 disk with the interface lying around. I think the Chinese killed off their business.

I dread to think what I paid for my isl 8 (bought from West London Models) - I think it's probably still the most expensive modelling purchase I ever made (even ignoring inflation). But I used it a *lot* over the years and it was a superb charger. I still have quite a few Alpha series receivers (I even used these in multirotors originally, with short whip antennas). Those were/are excellent too, however the PC software for setting failsafe values also hasn't worked since Windows XP! I mostly have them in smaller foamies now, although rarely flown.

 

[vijilants]

I use a CTEK MXS 7 . It also has a permanent 12v supply which you can switch to if required, which can be handy.

 

[BTB 500]

I use a CTEK MXS 7 . It also has a permanent 12v supply which you can switch to if required, which can be handy.

Yep the MXS 7.0 isn't that much more than the 5.0, so could be a good option. I have some smaller SLA batteries though which the 5.0's 'small battery' mode caters for (and the 7.0 doesn't have). So depends on what you need.

 

[Deleted member 126251]

I use a CTEK MXS 7 . It also has a permanent 12v supply which you can switch to if required, which can be handy.

Mine is about 15 year old now. I purchased it in Australia when we did a lot of bush camping & outback travel. It got me 1/2 of the way across the Simpson desert to Birdsville. My alternator got clogged with mud (not a bush repair on a Landcruiser 200) and I’d charge the batteries (dual cranking batteries in a 200 series) at night with the MXS 7 & my Honda generator. We usually only did about 6 hours a day of driving.

It has been used and abused for year and still going strong.

 

[Scooby_Doo]

I borrowed a friend's CTEK 5 to check the state of the battery on my W205 , I've often had the message "start engine See owners manual " and an email via Mercedes ME saying "my battery status is critical", when cleaning the inside of the car after opening and shutting the doors ,as you do.
Connected the charger this morning and had 4 amber lights immediately, the green charged light was on in under an hour. Would this mean that the battery is OK and I need to look for another reason why I get the warning messages.
I rarely get the green stop/start light showing (since new) and wasn't illuminated after the battery had been charged.
Any ideas- comments please ?

 

[chic0821]

I have 2 MXS 5 & 1 Stop/Start Ctek chargers. It's just a habit of mine to plug in whatever car I am using, in essence they are all on. I use the comfort connectors with the flying lead hidden inside the front valance out of sight & takes about 10 secs to connect them up. Anyway, I do not like the Start/stop one, which is connected to my Range Rover & sometimes get the Low Battery message. I then change it to one of the others & overnight it seems to have cured it. For a while now, I have been meaning to get another MXS 5for the Range Rover £80 from that kind Mr Bezos who can deliver it to me the next day. Anyway, I was in Lidl this week & spotted their Ctek clone at £14 odds. I have read about it in the past & gets good reviews. Sorry Mr Bezos you've lost a sale. Hope it dosn't affect him too much. As I still wanted to use my comfort connector, I had to get back to Mr Bezos who sold me a
Ctek 56-689 Female Comfort Connector for £9 odds so I can snip off the plug & connect it to the Lidl flying leads, then it just plugs into the comfort connector. That's todays job. Will let you know how Lidl £24 stacks up against Ctek £80

​

 

[kcsun]

I have 2 MXS 5 & 1 Stop/Start Ctek chargers. It's just a habit of mine to plug in whatever car I am using, in essence they are all on. I use the comfort connectors with the flying lead hidden inside the front valance out of sight & takes about 10 secs to connect them up. Anyway, I do not like the Start/stop one, which is connected to my Range Rover & sometimes get the Low Battery message. I then change it to one of the others & overnight it seems to have cured it. For a while now, I have been meaning to get another MXS 5for the Range Rover £80 from that kind Mr Bezos who can deliver it to me the next day. Anyway, I was in Lidl this week & spotted their Ctek clone at £14 odds. I have read about it in the past & gets good reviews. Sorry Mr Bezos you've lost a sale. Hope it dosn't affect him too much. As I still wanted to use my comfort connector, I had to get back to Mr Bezos who sold me a
Ctek 56-689 Female Comfort Connector for £9 odds so I can snip off the plug & connect it to the Lidl flying leads, then it just plugs into the comfort connector. That's todays job. Will let you know how Lidl £24 stacks up against Ctek £80

​

The only issue with the Lidl charger (I had one about 4 years ago before buying C-Tek) is that in the event of a power cut (we get quite a few) the Lidl charger does not restart automatically when the power is restored - the C-Tek does
kc

 

[rf065]

I borrowed a friend's CTEK 5 to check the state of the battery on my W205 , I've often had the message "start engine See owners manual " and an email via Mercedes ME saying "my battery status is critical", when cleaning the inside of the car after opening and shutting the doors ,as you do.
Connected the charger this morning and had 4 amber lights immediately, the green charged light was on in under an hour. Would this mean that the battery is OK and I need to look for another reason why I get the warning messages.
I rarely get the green stop/start light showing (since new) and wasn't illuminated after the battery had been charged.
Any ideas- comments please ?

W205 has a capacitor behind the glove box, well known to fail and give these warnings as well as stopping the stop/start to work.
I had mine replaced under warranty and the warnings never came back and the stop/start worked again. But check the main battery voltage too, if it is not at least 12.6 volts it will act the same way. Sometimes you need both replaced.

 

[chic0821]

Lidl charger does not restart automatically when the power is restored

Thanks for that, but it won't really effect me as I'm in and out of the garage like a yo yo so would see it as my Cteks are wall mounted. Though the Lidl charger does not look like it could be wall mounted. I will overcome that problem, but its good point you made there. Thanks

 

[chic0821]

Update on the Lidl charger. Gone to charger heaven after 2 months. As someone said it does not reset like Ctek. To start with I switched it off before disconnecting, worked fine, then old habits set in, just disconnected from the comfort connector & left it switched on. When I returned, connected up but the lights were just flashing like nobody's business. Switched off at the mains, on again, same thing. Waste of money for me, but may be fine for someone who switches it off at the mains before disconnecting.