CTEK CS Free vs Portable Jump Starter/Power Bank+CTEK MXS 5

[y700suf]

For all those Lamborghini owners with battery ‘operating theatre’ experience!

I keep my Gallardo stored in a basement car park with a CTEK MXS 5.0 plugged in to maintain / condition the battery.

Unfortunately, the Lamborghini marque evokes ill feelings amongst some members of society. I recently discovered that my CTEK was disconnected from the mains presumably by a ‘friendly’ neighbour. Given it has been several weeks since I checked, the battery has unfortunately gone flat.

I am now thinking of getting a portable power bank to connect my CTEK to so as to avoid this problem. However, I need to first bring the battery to life before I can put it back on the battery conditioner.

In researching battery jump starters, I came across the CTEK CS Free, which is a portable power bank, jump starter and adaptive battery conditioner all in one.

My original plan was just to get the portable power bank / jump starter element of this and attach my CTEK MXS 5.0 for the battery conditioning.

Does anyone have experience of the CTEK CS Free and would recommend it over the separate, stand-alone solution of a portable power bank / jump starter with the option to connect the MXS 5.0? If not, what would you recommend for the portable power bank / jump starter element?

Thanks in advance.

[Zadkiel]

Sounds like it may be a good option for your situation. I have one but haven't tested it as a jumper pack yet so can't really give a recommendation. It works as a usual CTEK when plugged in though and if someone did disconnect it again then it would continue to trickle charge until it's battery runs out which would give you a while to notice.You'd definitely want to make sure the unit itself is secure though because if the "friendly" neighbour decides to up the game by nicking it it isn't cheap to replace.

[y700suf]

Thanks for the tip

Out of interest, why did you go for the CS Free if you haven’t used it as a jump starter?

Just as a precaution or for the portability?

[Zadkiel]

Just as a precaution, I don't need to jump regularly as I aim to avoid it. I use normal CTEKs a lot and it is nice to have a jumper pack so it seemed like two birds one stone. Also it may come up that I want to extend battery life on a vehicle for a bit that doesn't have access to a powerpoint so that should hopefully be good too.