Spec me a car battery trickle charger

cyber69

cyber69

cyber69

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Joined
16 Sep 2009
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2,337
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Loogabarooga
Looking for something to help keep the battery charged. Currently using my daughters Micra 11 plate 20k miler for commuting to work 2 miles (yeah I’m lazy), and it holds charge most of the time but occasionally the battery goes flat and have to use my Norco jump starter to revive him.

Can anyone recommend something fairly cheap to help keep the battery tip top? Maybe leave it plugged in at the weekend to charge it.

Thanks Motors!
 
If it is intermittently failing to hold charge it probably will still do that even with a trickle charger on it when not in use. It may be possible to revive it using the recovery function on some chargers but most likely it won't help or only temporarily alleviate the issue.

The only recommendation I'd make is the Noco Genius line but even the cheapest is half-way to the cost of a new battery or more.
 
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alex24 said:
I’m using a CTEK MXS 5.0 and it does the job. Seems to have also brought one battery back from the brink as well. However the car may not be used for 2-3 weeks at a time. Sounds different to your use case or perhaps issue…
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Can't fault my CTEK MXS 5.0 either. Likewise it sparked life back into the battery on my wife's car which had separated.

I'd highly recommend the comfort connect (or whatever they call it) if you are going to be hooking up regularly. I've seen people rig them up on the scuttle panel so you don't even need to pop the bonnet to put it on charge.

My battery is in the boot and the car lives in the garage so I just leave the comfort connect in there, have the charger mounted and run an extension between the two.
 
cyber69 said:
Cars only used to do a few miles a day. Passed its MOT ok not so long ago with no advisories. Would a new battery be any better if the cars not used very much?
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Yes, a new battery is likely to be much better. If you get a new one, you'll likely find you don't have any starting issues with your car usage for about three years. After that, you can give the car a "battery conditioning run" of a longer drive every one or two weeks and you still won't have any issues for another 1 to 2 years.

How old is the battery? It's likely it's old (5 years+) and that's what's causing the intermittent start problem, because the battery can no longer hold a charge as well as it used to because of internal corrosion.
 
cyber69 said:
Cars only used to do a few miles a day. Passed its MOT ok not so long ago with no advisories. Would a new battery be any better if the cars not used very much?
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MOT won't highlight anything to do with battery health, charging, electrical drain. It's a safety test not a "Does the car perform well" check.

+1 for the CTEK MXS 5.0, I've used mine to recondition a few tired batteries and use it regularly to top up my project car and spare jump battery.
 
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