Alternatives to CTEK chargers

[Tommie38]

I’ve been using CTEK chargers for probably 15 years. Generally they are fine but I’ve also had quite a few failures too. Different cars, different locations.

Most recently one has failed at the 2 year mark. That got me thinking… are there comparable products that can do the same for less? Is there anything genuinely special about a CTEK charger?

Would welcome thoughts. I appreciate some of you will have CTEK chargers that are 10 years old and have never failed. All good but I’m more interested in the alternatives this time around.

[Louis Balfour]

Thread here:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Rene Souffle]

Optimate.

All you’ll ever need

[tight fart]

Noco Genius

[samoht]

I've had good service so far from NOCO, got a Genius 5 charger to trickle charge a lithium battery and it's working happily, also a jump starter (for another car) which equally did the trick and reasonably straightforward to use.

[Robertb]

I’ve got an Airflow one, still going strong after 24 years! Topping up my 4S’s battery as I write…

https://airflow-uk.com/product/car-battery-conditi...

[Tommie38]

Louis Balfour said:

Thread here:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Different fault this time, although have had this fault in the past.

[Tommie38]

Autoexpress for 2022 is saying that CTEK is best although hilariously the tests were conducted at a CTEK lab. They said a Draper unit was best for 2021.

[Second Best]

I've used an AccuMate for years and it's been faultless. It's been on pretty much 24/7 since lockdown keeping my Mini topped up.

I've also had a Halfords special for a couple of years and aside from being a bit fiddly, it's done me just fine.

I do also have a CTEK which has done the job too.

Have charged everything from bike batteries to a beefy 019 AGM and they've all performed as expected. The AccuMate is a little slower than the others but in fairness it was never designed to be a fast charger.

(edit: AccuMate / OptiMate are interchangeable for the purposes of this discussion, I think the Opti is for bikes, the Accu for cars. Same company though)

[trevalvole]

Tommie38 said:

Most recently one has failed at the 2 year mark.

Don't CTEKs have 5 year warranties?

[TR4man]

Keep your eyes peeled when/if you shop at either Lidl or Aldi as they periodically have battery conditioners for sale.

I bought one about 6 years ago (from memory it was £23), it looks like a blatant copy of a C-Tec but it has given reliable use since.

[secret_stu]

I’ve had a couple of the Aldi ones for 3+ years and never had any issues. Cheap too.

[GreenV8S]

I don't know about 'for less', but I'm very pleased with my Victron battery maintainer. It's got Bluetooth monitoring so I can always see the state of charge.

[Tommie38]

trevalvole said:

Tommie38 said:

Most recently one has failed at the 2 year mark.

Don't CTEKs have 5 year warranties?

Oh wow good point.

[Heaveho]

Rene Souffle said:

Optimate.

All you’ll ever need

Agree. Got one for each car, had them for years. Excellent things. I briefly used a Lidl / Aldi type and it flattened the battery. I thought it was dead, the Optimate got it back to life.

[Magicmushroom666]

Maybe I got unlucky, but I had a Lidl Ctek copy which went wrong after a few years and ended up cooking my battery, 15 or 16V constant on the output or similar.

Gone for the standard Ctek now and still going strong for 5 years or so.

[eliot]

if you can, simply disconnect the battery - a fully charged battery will hold it's charge for 6 months.