Motoring Discussion > Recommend me a maintenance charger please? Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Badwolf Replies: 22
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New Mon 7 Jan 13 13:53 
 Recommend me a maintenance charger please? - Badwolf
Afternoon all,

I'll shortly be taking my car off the road as we'll only need one car for the next six to nine months. Could the panel recommend a reasonably priced maintenance charger that I can leave attached to the battery? There are so many to choose from so I'd appreciate some 'real world' feedback.

Thanks in advance.
Last edited by: Badwolf on Mon 7 Jan 13 at 13:54
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New Mon 7 Jan 13 14:11 
 Recommend me a maintenance charger please? - -
Lidl's £13.99ish smart charger does the job fine, works identically to the CTEK 3600 at three times the price, i have both but i haven't dismantled either to confirm build.

Don't know when they'll have them in next, apparently Aldi offer a similar charger but i haven't bought one so can't comment.

If the roads get salted before you take it off the road, could i suggest you give the car a thorough underbody wash and then dry the brakes off before parking up, nothing worse than leaving a heavy salt coating underside for several months doing its worse, especially round the caliper sliders etc.
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New Fri 11 Jan 13 17:28 
 Recommend me a maintenance charger please? - John H
>> Lidl's £13.99ish smart charger does the job fine, works identically to the CTEK 3600 at
>> three times the price, i have both but i haven't dismantled either to confirm build.
>>
>> Don't know when they'll have them in next,
>>

Lidl charger available amongst the car stuff next week:
www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/lidl_uk/hs.xsl/offerdate.htm?offerdate=38023

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New Fri 11 Jan 13 17:39 
 Recommend me a maintenance charger please? - Badwolf
>> Lidl charger available amongst the car stuff next week:
>> www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/lidl_uk/hs.xsl/offerdate.htm?offerdate=38023

Grand, thanks for that John.
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New Mon 7 Jan 13 14:12 
 Recommend me a maintenance charger please? - Clk Sec
Old Navy posted a useful link on here:

www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?t=12888&v=f
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New Mon 7 Jan 13 14:21 
 Recommend me a maintenance charger please? - R.P.
Optimax any day of the week - more expensive than the Lidl - but better- especially if you are on CANBus.
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New Mon 7 Jan 13 15:14 
 Recommend me a maintenance charger please? - henry k
>> Optimax any day of the week - more expensive than the Lidl
>>- but better- especially if you are on CANBus.
>>
Now you tell me!!! I recently did a big upgrade of car ( size and newness) so am now in the CANBus flock.

>>Don't know when they'll have them in next, apparently Aldi offer a similar charger but I haven't bought one so can't comment.

A few months ago I bought one as It was not expensive and"useful " to have in addition to my heavy charger. Needless to say I have yet to use it.

With both Aldi & Lidl you never know when they have then on the shelf.
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New Mon 7 Jan 13 15:18 
 Recommend me a maintenance charger please? - Ted

I have both Lidl and Aldi ones. One keeps a battery on the bench up to speed and one is on the old car ATM, the bike has a newish battery.

No complaints with either..they do what they're meant to.

Ted
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New Mon 7 Jan 13 17:44 
 Recommend me a maintenance charger please? - Duncan
>> Optimax any day of the week - more expensive than the Lidl - but better-
>> especially if you are on CANBus.


What is CANBus?
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New Mon 7 Jan 13 17:55 
 Recommend me a maintenance charger please? - sherlock47
but better-
>> especially if you are on CANBus.


Reasons ? or have I missed it?
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New Mon 7 Jan 13 19:38 
 Recommend me a maintenance charger please? - VxFan
>> What is CANBus?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN_bus

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New Tue 8 Jan 13 06:40 
 Recommend me a maintenance charger please? - Duncan
>> >> What is CANBus?
>>
>> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN_bus

Yes. I did that earlier and I still didn't understand!

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New Tue 8 Jan 13 06:55 
 Recommend me a maintenance charger please? - swiss tony
>> >> >> What is CANBus?
>> >> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN_bus
>> Yes. I did that earlier and I still didn't understand!

In basic terms, rather than running a separate wire for each component the length of the vehicle, various signals are sent down a single wire, then those signals are read by a SAM (signal acquisition module) decoded, and then power sent to the component to switch it on, or disconnects the power to turn it off.

The SAM doesn't take well to electronic spikes, hence the need for decent chargers/ care when working on circuits.
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New Mon 7 Jan 13 15:50 
 Recommend me a maintenance charger please? - Victorbox
I've used a CTEK for several years and appreciate its build quality, especially when you are leaving it unattended for weeks on end doing a moderately hazardous process like battery charging: www.ctek-chargers.com/
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New Mon 7 Jan 13 15:58 
 Recommend me a maintenance charger please? - Tigger
I used to be a CTEK fan, but when I had a problem they didn't even answer the question I sent from their website.

Now I just use LIDL/ALDI - I don't recall which - its been in service for several years, keeping my caravan battery topped up over the winter, and a boost to the MX-5 battery when its not been run for a few weeks.
Last edited by: Tigger on Mon 7 Jan 13 at 15:59
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New Mon 7 Jan 13 16:27 
 Recommend me a maintenance charger please? - Fullchat
CTEK keep both bikes up to full charge. No issues.
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New Mon 7 Jan 13 16:38 
 Recommend me a maintenance charger please? - Manatee
I have a CTEK and a Lidl/Aldi. Both work well, neither has a high rate of charging but that's not what they are for, and an overnight charge is fine for a battery that needs a top up. The CTEK is left on the caravan one all the time at home, and the battery has lasted 9 years so far, just as well as it's an expensive gel job.
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New Mon 7 Jan 13 17:56 
 Recommend me a maintenance charger please? - Dave
I have a few batteries to keep charged over the winter, but not the desire to buy another maintenance charger. So the Land Cruiser uses a standard charger plugged into a timer that comes on for a couple of hours a day.
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New Mon 7 Jan 13 19:22 
 Recommend me a maintenance charger please? - Badwolf
Excellent idea, Dave. I'd be plugging the charger in to an outdoor, waterproof box that is switched from inside the house so bunging a timer on the indoor socket would be simple.

Thanks for all your input, folks.
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New Mon 7 Jan 13 19:47 
 Recommend me a maintenance charger please? - Shiny
I'm not being funny, but just as with CANBUS HID kits and LED bulbs, CANBUS has nothing to do with an external battery charger.
A charger only has +ve and -ve leads, not CAN-hi and CAN-lo.
Whatever next? Canbus cigar lighters?
Last edited by: sooty tailpipes on Mon 7 Jan 13 at 19:47
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New Mon 7 Jan 13 19:48 
 Recommend me a maintenance charger please? - nice but dim
just to make you aware, the aldi one i have got requires you to select the mode, e.g 12v, 6v and or car motorcycle. I believe i is a safety feature that intervienes if wrong polarities are connected. I think it is an excellent buy
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New Mon 7 Jan 13 20:17 
 Recommend me a maintenance charger please? - nice but dim
sorry should have been clearer, i dont think you can time to switch on automatically you have to select a mode first
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New Mon 7 Jan 13 23:21 
 Recommend me a maintenance charger please? - nice but dim
just checked mine is XS branded and was from Aldi
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