Battery Conditioners

[Dazza N]

can anyone recommend any battery conditioners for a Speed 6 Cerb please ?

I have looked at the Ctek ones, are they any good ?

Any special provisions required with the electrics/immobiliser ?

Cheers

Dazza

[BazMV6]

I bought the Ctek a year ago and I'm very happy with it. At this time of year I just leave it permanently plugged in. Car starts on first turn...

[Dazza N]

thanks Baz do you know which one it is ?

[nicholasshaw]

I got the CTEK MXS 5.0 and been very happy with it. As well as trickle charge duties it managed to revive the battery after I'd let it run too low and it stopped holding a charge.

[Mark.]

Halfords own brand, about £24. Got one on both of mine and work brilliantly.

[storm grey]

ive got a ctek charger ive used for the last 3 years no problems until a couple of weeks ago when it wouldnt start.turns out that it cooked the battery dryed all the acid up.

[BazMV6]

Dazza N said:

thanks Baz do you know which one it is ?

It's the XS3600. Got the cigarette lighter attachment too, which makes it easier to connect/disconnect quickly.

[NailedOn]

Apologies if I am off topic.
I have a T350 and an Accumate charger. I am away for a few weeks so the car will be garaged.
If I leave the car for over 10 days, the battery loses quite a bit of charge.
Is it OK to leave the Accumate plugged into the cigarette lighter for all this time?

[Laser Sag]

NailedOn said:

Apologies if I am off topic.
I have a T350 and an Accumate charger. I am away for a few weeks so the car will be garaged.
If I leave the car for over 10 days, the battery loses quite a bit of charge.
Is it OK to leave the Accumate plugged into the cigarette lighter for all this time?

I use my accumate through the cigarette lighter all the time which means sometimes its only connected for a couple of days other times it can be several weeks. Have done this for several years and no problems to date.

[y2blade]

Have always used Optimate chargers here...never had a problem with them

[blitzracing]

storm grey said:

ive got a ctek charger ive used for the last 3 years no problems until a couple of weeks ago when it wouldnt start.turns out that it cooked the battery dryed all the acid up.

Batteries dry up if the charge voltage is to high for a long period, and a good battery conditioner (note conditioner) should not allow this to happen as they fully charge the battery, then back the charge voltage down a bit to hold the battery is say a 90% charged state. At this point the battery should not gas or loose fluid. The battery will start to sulphate up a bit however at this point, so the conditioner should cycle the voltage back up again once in a while to fully charge the battery and re desolve the sulphate, and then repeat the cycle. You will quicky destroy a battery if you simply leave on on charge on a simple battery charger, as it will gas and dry out.

[Chinski]

A friend at work is looking for a battery conditioner for his BMW. I told him about the cigarette attachment which keeps the the battery topped up. Rather than buying new is there anyone who has a spare conditioner and is willing to sell it please give me a shout.

Cheers.

[Englishman]

I bought a Ctek XS3600 when I bought the Sag in 2005. It is connected most of the time when the car is in the garage and both battery and charger still fine in their 7th year.

[y2blade]

NailedOn said:

Apologies if I am off topic.
I have a T350 and an Accumate charger. I am away for a few weeks so the car will be garaged.
If I leave the car for over 10 days, the battery loses quite a bit of charge.
Is it OK to leave the Accumate plugged into the cigarette lighter for all this time?

Yes it will be fine. It is what they are designed for.

[Getsis]

Mine is on the car for months, 8 months is the longest I have had the car on the Accumate through the cig' lighter.

As a side note the Tam used to drain the power quickly until I realised the boot light was always on. It's now disconnected and the battery has been fine without being on charge for 2 months.

[PuffsBack]

Accumate working perfect on my Cerb Sp6. I have wired a Molex connector fly lead to the battery so I can just plug it straight in

[FarmyardPants]

Accumate fine on my cerb for 6 years. I have a cigarette lighter so I can just plug it straight in.

[NailedOn]

y2blade said:

NailedOn said:

Apologies if I am off topic.
I have a T350 and an Accumate charger. I am away for a few weeks so the car will be garaged.
If I leave the car for over 10 days, the battery loses quite a bit of charge.
Is it OK to leave the Accumate plugged into the cigarette lighter for all this time?

Yes it will be fine. It is what they are designed for.

Thanks for the information. Time to move from frozen rain to snug garage and mains power.

[RichB]

NailedOn said:

Is it OK to leave the Accumate plugged into the cigarette lighter for all this time?

That's the idea of 'em

[Jonboy]

My old man has had his fleet plugged into a Cteks for many years, his (not often used) M Coupe's battery lasted 8 years from new before replacement (even then it wasnt goosed, just advised to replace as he was going across Europe), he tends to get 5-7 years out of most, other than his runabout which is sold on before the battery expires and never plugged in. As far as I am aware, he is on his second battery on a V reg car (1997???)

Varta batteries and Ctek conditioners will pay for themselves during the batteries normal lifespan depending on usage, based on his experience.

- Just dont try my student way of thinking... Ikea timer (20 mins 3 times daily), battery charger, garage, winter... leave to simmer for 3 weeks... Battery = Donald Ducked - remove and replace!!!