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Trickle chargers



HaveaCuppa

ClioSport Club Member
I’m storing my car over the next few months and need to get myself a trickle charger to keep the battery in decent nick while it’s laid up.

CTEK chargers seem to be the ones to go for but is there anything else out there that’s worth considering? What are people using here?

Halfords sell some decent looking ones for half the price of a CTEK charger?!
 

JamesBryan

ClioSport Club Member
  Titanium 182
I've got one of these from years ago, meant for leisure batteries but 12v is 12v 😂

 

Daniel

ClioSport Moderator
  Whichever has fuel
I’ve had a ctek charger for a little over 2 years. I can’t remember the last time we switched it off. Been a brilliant bit of Kit and we move it from car to car daily and it’s still working perfectly.
 

clio_ross

ClioSport Club Member
  Clio 172
I’ve got one of these:-


the Clio lives on it whenever it’s not in use. Used it on lots of other cars as well and it’s been faultless. Currently £36 if you have a trade card. Also comes with both crocodile clips harness and ring connectors harness, for is you want to have a quick disconnect on one car.
 

Yarp

ClioSport Club Member
  Clio 182
I’ve got one of these:-


the Clio lives on it whenever it’s not in use. Used it on lots of other cars as well and it’s been faultless. Currently £36 if you have a trade card. Also comes with both crocodile clips harness and ring connectors harness, for is you want to have a quick disconnect on one car.

I’ve got exactly the same one and it works great. The wire splits so you can poke it under the scuttle so you don’t have to pop the bonnet every time you want to connect/disconnect it
 
  4GTS/7.5R/182
I've had a couple of CTEK 5.0s, one for 4 years and one for 2, used both the cigarette lighter on the Porsche (works as it is always wired on) and the quick connect on the Clio.

About a month ago the Bosch battery in the former would no longer hold charge (according to the CTEK), ran a reconditioning cycle and it's been working again ever since. That battery is 4 years old.

I leave the quick connect ends plugged permanently and noticed garages plug into them when I have the cars in for longer services.

Having said all of that I have simply followed the marketing and reviews by choosing CTEK, there might be cheaper alternatives that are just as good but I have never tried any of them.
 

R3k1355

Absolute wetter.
ClioSport Club Member
I’ve had a ctek charger for a little over 2 years. I can’t remember the last time we switched it off. Been a brilliant bit of Kit and we move it from car to car daily and it’s still working perfectly.

Do you disconnect the battery to hook it up or just connect it with everything hooked up?
 

Hyperhatch

ClioSport Club Member
  182
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Another vote for Ctek from me. I also bought this quick connector for £5. Literally takes 2 seconds to put the car on charge
 

Chocice

ClioSport Club Member
  172 Cup, RSI, 200
I have used a cheap and cheerful streetwize trickle charger for about £20 and it worked fine, I never had a problem aside from a mouse which chewed through it, I must have left it on for 4 years in the garage.
 

Daniel

ClioSport Moderator
  Whichever has fuel
Do you disconnect the battery to hook it up or just connect it with everything hooked up?
If the battery is dead dead, then we disconnect it, but if it’s just a car that’s been parked up a while and we want to top it up, we just leave it plugged in.
 

Chocice

ClioSport Club Member
  172 Cup, RSI, 200
My concern with the silver line one is overcharging the battery as it is essentially a dumb charger with no automatic monitoring and switching of modes, I believe the streetwize charger is the cheapest automatic charger and definitely worth the extra couple of quid: Streetwize SWTBC Automatic Trickle Charger - 12 V Car Battery Charger with LED Charging Indicator, Short Circuit Protection https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0012U5BO2/?tag=cliospnet01-21
 


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