Trickle charger(s)

[R20 CWH]

Anyone have any recommendations? Im looking to get one for putting car in storage in the garage and dont want a flat battery as its just a pain in the erse, So looking for experience or 'thumbs up' from folk who have used some in the past.

 

[Fred@BTM]

CTEK fella, standard equipment on Astons etc

 

[Fletcher]

As above CTEK chargers

 

[R20 CWH]

this seems not bad for the coin

http://www.ctekchargers.co.uk/ctek-xs3600.php

 

[stokie4ker]

good motorcycle battery chargers like this http://www.ngales.com/products_info...3DRndIxlm5S_zOtXuRqk2nS0zUOdH2KcQ-Q6Cxwme9V00 are designed for the smaller form factor used on bikes without damaging them so would be ideal if you wanted to leave it on your car long term
alternatively, if your car is stored outside or in a garage with a window then a high wattage solar charger like this http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=217850 is a green option

 

[chrispy.clio]

We have this one and it doesnt overcharge the battery

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180581427076

 

[marinemackay2003]

do the solar chargers actually work?

 

[Spee]

do the solar chargers actually work?

Yep. Kept my old weekend cars battery fresh as a daisy all through last winter.

G

 

[Spee]

good motorcycle battery chargers like this http://www.ngales.com/products_info...3DRndIxlm5S_zOtXuRqk2nS0zUOdH2KcQ-Q6Cxwme9V00 are designed for the smaller form factor used on bikes without damaging them so would be ideal if you wanted to leave it on your car long term
alternatively, if your car is stored outside or in a garage with a window then a high wattage solar charger like this http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=217850 is a green option

I have the smaller £20 one, works fine.

 

[marinemackay2003]

may have to invest in one for afghan

 

[JMR]

I only used to use the 172 in fair weather/weekends only and it soon ended up with a flat battery that I had to keep jump starting off the van.

Worst of all was when I went to Silverstone, i filled up with fuel about half an hour away from home and it wouldnt start on the forecourt of a very very busy Shell garage. Had to get jump started by the guy behind me in his brand new SAAB.
Embarassing.

Whilst at Silverstone, I picked up an Optimate III SP charger from the Ducati Corse shop on the circuit. Had been looking at them a few weeks prior to this and the price was good too.
These are great as they have screw on terminals that you can keep attached to the battery and there is a small waterproof rubber housing that you clip the mains cable from the Optimate into.
makes it very easy to disconnect when you want to go out and re-connect when you are back.

Very good bit of kit, had it on my car over a year and I never had any more trouble with the "dead" battery.
It fully re-conditioned it.

You dont have to disconnect the battery at all and its safe to keep on all week if you like - it wont overcharge - it monitors the voltage every hour or so once it is at its peak and only trickles if necessary.
You have to be careful with some of the cheaper ones that arent designed to be connected to the car while the battery is still connected.
Problem of getting backfeed through the rectifier, so I'm told.

http://www.accumate.co.uk/cg010001.htm

 

[geesus69]

i bought the ctek xs3600 the other day

looks like a neat piece of kit, hooked it up to the battery in the clio and left it to do its thing, clio won't be getting started for a while now, and i've already killed one battery through not running it often enough