Best battery conditioner

[Cotty]

I can see a time when I would not want to take my Elise S2 out, in the winter when there is snow and ice around and it might not get driven for a few weeks. I like the idea of getting a battery conditioner to keep it topped up and happy.

I have a garage with power. Is it possible to get something wired in permanently with say just a jack attached to the vents on the engine cover so I could quickly plug in the charger/conditioner without having to open the engine cover and connect it up each time?

[Loudman]

I've got a CTEK unit, bought it off ebay (new), it comes with several connections, the one I use is a set of terminals that are permanently attached to the battery, you just plug that into a socket, I guess you could mount that fairly easily to the grille somehow. I think you can leave them plugged in as long as you want.

[kenprotheroe]

I have used 2 Optimate trickle chargers for years

and both cope 100% after being in use for as long

as 6 months at any period of time. So, totally recommend

Optimate. Mine is an Exige S and an easy connection

can be made to connect under the front lid / cover.

[Matt172]

we've got an optimate, comes with an extra set of cables so you can hard wire it to the battery

[kenprotheroe]

No need to wire it direct to the battery on an Exie S.,

More convenient/easy under the front lid me thinks.

[Matt172]

kenprotheroe said:

No need to wire it direct to the battery on an Exie S.,

More convenient/easy under the front lid me thinks.

OP hasn't got an Exige though, and neither have I I guess the battery is in a different place in the S2 then? S1 is in the front under the washer bottle

[doggydave]

I've had Halfords own trickle charger for 6 years and it has been faultless.

[Ireland]

I've got a few different ones that I've ended up with over the years and I have to say that the one I got in Aldi for about a fiver is every bit as good as some of the more expensive ones on the market.

[jondude]

I have had an Optimate pretty much connected either to a bike or the S1 the last 10 years and it still works faultlessly.

Not really an issue these days, but worth remembering the Optimate was made to deal with very, very fragile motorcycle electrics of the late 80's.....as such it is incredibly gentle on the system.

However, it does charge slowly and will struggle to kick a seriously discharged (car) battery back to life. It can take days to re-charge a low power car battery, too.

But if the battery is reasonably charged when you connect the Optimate, it will do a great job. You can then just hook it up and leave for as long as you like. Working overseas this tends to mean 6 months to a year for me on the S1....so far it has started first crank each time.

Think I heard the Optimate costs a penny a day to have connected, although that was many years back

[Cotty]

Optimate seems the one to go for, cheers