Best Battery Charger

[Cab89]

Evening all, looking to buy a new battery charger. I already have a winter trickle charger but need a fast/slow general unit, any reccomedations?

 

[67westy]

I have a ctek mxs 5 for sale. Excellent intelligent charger and can handle leisure and starter batteries. Less than a year old, only selling as I picked up the 7 amp version at a good price:

http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=68860" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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[Cab89]

Been looking at the 7.0 it looks pretty decent. I'm looking to charge the leisure battery. £90 cheapest I can find!

 

[67westy]

Yeah Amazon had them on a good black Friday deal. The 5 has charged our 110 leisure battery without issue but the price on the 7 was too good to pass up

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[gas1man]

Bought a C-Tek MXS 10. :shock: A little expensive but the best. imo

Worth every penny, plug and forget.

J & P

 

[rlepecha]

I've got one of these..

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=271107518129&alt=web" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Very powerful charger which is great if you have a 110ah+ leisure battery + the starter battery.

Mine is permanently fitted to my van, wired into the hook up. Essentially its acting like a zigg unit in a caravan.


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[Mr Brightside]

+1 for CTEK,

I have an installed M200 as part of the hook-up in the van which is perfect as it has a night time silent mode & an MXS 10 for other vehicle uses, really good pieces of kit

http://www.ctek.com/gb/en/chargers/M%20200" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.ctek.com/gb/en/chargers/MXS%2010" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[67westy]

+1 for CTEK,

I have an installed M200 as part of the hook-up in the van which is perfect as it has a night time silent mode & an MXS 10 for other vehicle uses, really good pieces of kit

http://www.ctek.com/gb/en/chargers/M%20200" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.ctek.com/gb/en/chargers/MXS%2010" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

M200 is a serious charger for the bus. I thought I was over doing it by upgrading to the mxs7

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[Cab89]

Ended up ordering a CTEK MXS 7.0. Think this should keep both batteries up to speed. Whats the best programme to set it to so it charges the battery then keeps it topped up constantly whilst in the garage?

 

[67westy]

Just select the right battery type and connect it up, it handles the rest. Assuming you don't have a fancy agm battery its literally just hook it up and plug it in

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[chad]

I've got a mxs 7 but am a bit unsure about how well it's charging my leisure battery, which is connected to the main battery by a split charge relay. Can it sense, through the relay, the state of the leisure battery?
At present I'm directly connecting it to the leisure battery when I want to charge that which is a bit of a pain as I bought a battery with the terminals on the 'wrong' side.

 

[Graham L]

I've got a mxs 7 but am a bit unsure about how well it's charging my leisure battery, which is connected to the main battery by a split charge relay. Can it sense, through the relay, the state of the leisure battery?
At present I'm directly connecting it to the leisure battery when I want to charge that which is a bit of a pain as I bought a battery with the terminals on the 'wrong' side.

Your post is a bit confusing, if its directly connected to the leisure battery and you are running it from the mains the fact theres a split charge relay in place makes no difference ii will sense the condition of the leisure battery. Our charger is permanently connected to the leisure battery so it can be charged up before setting off for the weekend and then the split charge tops it up as you go along.

 

[chad]

Sorry for the confusion Graham

The bus isn't getting much use at the moment but I want to keep the batteries topped up

I started off by connecting the charger to the main battery which is connected to the leisure one by a split charge relay and charging both via this connection.

However, I have my doubts as to whether the intelligent charger functions work when it's not connected directly - ie when the main battery is charged and then its charging the leisure battery -so I'm now connecting it directly to the leisure when I want that to charge

If it works correctly via the split charge relay then I just need to connect it to the main one - this is where I'm unsure

Hope this makes sense

 

[67westy]

The split charge normally only kicks in when it senses the voltage from the alternator (generally connected to the wire for your generator light) so if the engine isn't running it wouldn't charge the leisure battery in this set up but it depends on how your split charge is wired in. Have you checked the voltage on both batteries when connected to see if it is working through the split charge?

I don't like the idea of charging both at the same time as I don't think either battery would get the best charge cycle from the intelligent chargers. I have a set of the ctek comfort connectors on each set of battery terminals and leave the leisure battery connected for the majority of the time. Once a month I'll switch to the starter battery for a day or two just to top it up. Leisure batteries don't cope well with the discharge and are more expensive to replace hence keeping that on a maintenance charge the majority of the time.

 

[chad]

It appears to be charging through the split charge as the voltage reading increases to about 14V + after I've connected the charger to the main battery.

Thanks for the advice about charging - that's basically what I was looking for but didn't make myself clear

 

[67westy]

It appears to be charging through the split charge as the voltage reading increases to about 14V + after I've connected the charger to the main battery.

Thanks for the advice about charging - that's basically what I was looking for but didn't make myself clear

Hmmm I wonder if mine does the same, will have to check now.

I may be wrong about charging the 2 together, that's just my opinion but I don't have any evidence to back it up. Just seems logical that they have different needs and states of charge.

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[chad]

I've just sent a query to CTEK so I'll let you know what they say.

As you say they're 2 different types of batteries so you would expect their needs to be different

 

[pkrboo]

They are both wet batteries so it shouldn't be a problem, it sounds like you have a voltage sensing split charge relay. So it will be fine to connect to one battery and it will charge both.

67westy, If you have a bog standard relay that is 'switched on' by the alternator then the ctek will only charge the battery it is connected to.

 

[gas1man]

My ctek goes direct to my leisure battery with a split charger so that it kicks in at a low voltage
and keeps the main battery charged. Using a £40 odd Durite split charger. Keeps both perfect on the road on site or during the winter lay up.

J & P

 

[67westy]

They are both wet batteries so it shouldn't be a problem, it sounds like you have a voltage sensing split charge relay. So it will be fine to connect to one battery and it will charge both.

67westy, If you have a bog standard relay that is 'switched on' by the alternator then the ctek will only charge the battery it is connected to.

Cheers mate, that's what I thought. Just the cheap relay in mine

Would be interested to hear what ctek say. Both are wet but if one is flat and the other is nearly full what charge stafee does the ctek go to? I guess it would be suboptimal for at least one of the batteries

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