Battery Charger - which is best?

[Ralf85]

I have used a smart Hilka home battery charger for the last few years which worked fine. However, it has just packed up completely. Can anyone suggest a modern smart charger to replace it? Cheers.

[R0B]

Ctek MXS 5.0 would be my recommendation.

[bigherb]

Lidl have their smart charger on offer from Sunday @ £13.99

[petethefeet]

I have a charger from Lidl (not sure if it is the same one) works OK but the downside is it has a press button to select motorcycle or car setting; that has to be pressed before it will charge. If you have a power cut it needs to be be pressed before the charger works again, so unless you check it regularly it might sit there doing nothing slowly draining your battery.

[scottbott]

Ctek cannot go wrong with one of them

[Ralf85]

Cheers guys. I now have the Ctek 5.0 on order.

[Sir Brixalot]

I found the lidl didn't fully charge any of my batteries. Could have been a dodgy unit though

[California Dreamin]

Ctek's are good as a 'stand alone' charger..but it depends on use: how many batteries/how many amp hour/charge time expectations, used solely at home or intended for use on site etc.

The one you have ordered will be great for ensuring your batteries are kept tip top when your van is laid up not being used..if that's how you intend to use it?


Martin

[kit]

The Lidl one won't charge a battery with less than 3.5 volts, so no good if you have left it draining.

[California Dreamin]

A lot of the SMART chargers are like that...they won't start (latch) if the initial voltage is too low.

I had the same experience recently with mine, had to start the charge with an 8amp Halfords unit, leave it on for a couple of hours before swapping over to the LIDL smart charger.

Martin

[Arripay]

Thanks for the heads up on SMART chargers. My Gunson "Electromagically Controlled" refused to charge a totally flat battery.
Did not know they need some volts to start them up.
Attached jump leads from the domestic to said flat batt, parallel charged for a few minutes, removed jump leads and off it went.
Started on 1/2 an Amp slowly climbed to 4 Amps, this morning tailing back to 1/2 amp, hopefully fully charged.

[Sir Brixalot]

A lot of the SMART chargers are like that...they won't start (latch) if the initial voltage is too low.

I had the same experience recently with mine, had to start the charge with an 8amp Halfords unit, leave it on for a couple of hours before swapping over to the LIDL smart charger.

Martin

Same with domestic AA and AAA rechargeables. Need to pair them up with another charged battery with a paperclip to get them going

[Arripay]

Bother, just chucked a load of AAs away, had no idea...
But have saved the bus battery, hooray!