Battery charger 75Ah AGM, 35 & 100Ah sealed lead acid

[NickK]

Looking for recommendations.

I had Ring in the past and it’s failed after a while on the S5 100Ah. I have an old LA charger but that’a Not going to work on the AGM but could still be used for the older batteries.

Looking for something that can cycle/recover batteries if needed too (both LA and AGM).

I know AGMs are low current charging for most. Ideally it would be good to have something that can clip onto the car battery in car without disconnecting, then letting it charge over night on the odd occasion.

If it can fit under the bonnet that would be good.

The main issue is the AGM car doesn’t get the running it needs to really get a proper charge.

 

[mikeh501]

always used ctek myself. good quality stuff. just pick one from the range which can handle your batts.

 

[BUDFORCE]

At the risk of hijacking this thread but is there a reason you can't use a "regular" battery charger on newer batteries?

I have a battery charger I use it's literally 40 years old, used it on modern AGM batteries seems to work ok????

 

[Frozennova]

CTek.

We have 15 of them in service at work now, had to add some Li-ion compatible ones recently

 

[agw_01]

I have a C-Tek MXS 5.0. It's small enough to fit under the bonnet so the car can be left locked up and secured while the charger does its thing. The quick connects are very handy too, I have a set of terminals permanently attached to the battery on each car.

One thing I have noticed though, is how bloody hot it gets. I know there are a lot of electronics packed into a small footprint, but it's almost too hot to hold. @Frozennova, have you noticed this with yours or is mine faulty? It seems to work ok.

 

[Frozennova]

I have a C-Tek MXS 5.0. It's small enough to fit under the bonnet so the car can be left locked up and secured while the charger does its thing. The quick connects are very handy too, I have a set of terminals permanently attached to the battery on each car.

One thing I have noticed though, is how bloody hot it gets. I know there are a lot of electronics packed into a small footprint, but it's almost too hot to hold. @Frozennova, have you noticed this with yours or is mine faulty? It seems to work ok.

I've not noticed any of them being any more than warm to touch

 

[agw_01]

Are you charging flat batteries or just maintaining them?

Thinking about it, both times I noticed the charger getting very hot were when I charged some dead batteries inside the house and could regularly check on the charger. By dead, they were so flat I had to boost the battery before they were recognised by the C-Tek so they probably put the charger under sustained high load. I don't remember it getting hot when left connected to the Scoob for weeks on end (and even during its initial charge cycle).

I'll do some more testing.

 

[Frozennova]

Are you charging flat batteries or just maintaining them?

Thinking about it, both times I noticed the charger getting very hot were when I charged some dead batteries inside the house and could regularly check on the charger. By dead, they were so flat I had to boost the battery before they were recognised by the C-Tek so they probably put the charger under sustained high load. I don't remember it getting hot when left connected to the Scoob for weeks on end (and even during its initial charge cycle).

I'll do some more testing.

Only maintaining really, unless were actively developing something for that platform they don't get moved for weeks

 

[NickK]

Thanks lads.

Reading up more on the swedish CTEK, it seems there’s a number of models - some get hot whereas the MXS 5.0 is more efficient and doesn’t suffer from that.

Looks like the MXS 5.0 will do all the battery types (LA and AGM), cope up to 110Ah and has reconditioning too.
Although as a trickle/maintainer it’ll take 24h for the large battery at least which is fine.