Cheap battery charger

[Zico]

I have been looking at the CTEK MXS 5.0 charger as well but for almost the same price I can get a brand new Silver Dynamic 561400060 Varta battery (£72 for the charger from Amazon or £68 click & collect from Halfords after FOC discount, and £73 for the battery from Tanya).
My Fiesta ST is just over 5 years old now so the battery is from new but would normally get a regular charge on my drive to work each day (~19 miles each way). I had the car MOT'd and serviced at the beginning of March and there were no issues highlighted (but don't remember seeing any battery check in the paperwork this time).

The only benefit of getting the charger would be that I could charge my father/brother's BMW diesel estate (2017) which has been SORN'd since the lockdown.

So question for me is new battery for me or charger for both cars?

 

[adam cool dude]

Go into Aldi and check. Bought one a couple of weeks back and it was even on offer for £9.99!

My setup.



Cars been on it for around 10 days. Took off for a drive yesterday and battery was in good condition. No labouring at all.

 

[Tom|Nbk]

I have been looking at the CTEK MXS 5.0 charger as well but for almost the same price I can get a brand new Silver Dynamic 561400060 Varta battery (£72 for the charger from Amazon or £68 click & collect from Halfords after FOC discount, and £73 for the battery from Tanya).
My Fiesta ST is just over 5 years old now so the battery is from new but would normally get a regular charge on my drive to work each day (~19 miles each way). I had the car MOT'd and serviced at the beginning of March and there were no issues highlighted (but don't remember seeing any battery check in the paperwork this time).

The only benefit of getting the charger would be that I could charge my father/brother's BMW diesel estate (2017) which has been SORN'd since the lockdown.

So question for me is new battery for me or charger for both cars?

The CTEK is a good investment in any case and handy to have when in need.

 

[Zico]

Go into Aldi and check. Bought one a couple of weeks back and it was even on offer for £9.99!
My setup.
Cars been on it for around 10 days. Took off for a drive yesterday and battery was in good condition. No labouring at all.

Would love to just be able to drop into Aldi to check (have one only a few miles up the road) but I'm in the high risk group at the moment and don't really fancy the trip out for a slim chance of there being anything in stock. I might see if there is a phone number for the store to check but I doubt it will be available if it's one of those special promotion items.

 

[ShivP]

Hi guys... Mostly for the 'maypole' owners.

I've been charging since this morning and the charger reckons the battery is full (there is a bar along the side) however my car still says 'low battery. As far as I know it should be just plug and play so where am I going wrong?

 

[andy_mk3]

Hi guys... Mostly for the 'maypole' owners.

I've been charging since this morning and the charger reckons the battery is full (there is a bar along the side) however my car still says 'low battery. As far as I know it should be just plug and play so where am I going wrong?

It'll take a drive or two for your cars battery monitoring system to catch up sometimes. Once it's seeing that the battery isn't taking much current in from the alternator it should start to adjust the state of charge accordingly and the warning will go away.

 

[gc123]

if its anything like our 2009 2.0titx diesel it will be the keyless battery fob battery that's low not the car battery. change them fairly regularly .

 

[gc123]

the message comes up on the bottom left of the converse system (dash) don't think I have ever seen a message for low car battery

 

[ADT]

Go into Aldi and check. Bought one a couple of weeks back and it was even on offer for £9.99!

My setup.



Cars been on it for around 10 days. Took off for a drive yesterday and battery was in good condition. No labouring at all.

I’ve had that same one for roughly 6 months.
The instructions say that the battery needs to be disconnected from the car to charge it.
Is that how you’re running it??

 

[adam cool dude]

I’ve had that same one for roughly 6 months.
The instructions say that the battery needs to be disconnected from the car to charge it.
Is that how you’re running it??

No but nothing is broken yet. Plus it runs on pretty ancient hardware. I guess it is more directed at modern cars to disconnect the battery.

 

[ShivP]

It'll take a drive or two for your cars battery monitoring system to catch up sometimes. Once it's seeing that the battery isn't taking much current in from the alternator it should start to adjust the state of charge accordingly and the warning will go away.

OK, great. I'll just wait till I take it into the mechanics then to give it a drive

the message comes up on the bottom left of the converse system (dash) don't think I have ever seen a message for low car battery

I've just changed the key battery, no change

 

[andy_mk3]

Key battery low tells you key battery specifically. Honestly it'll go away by itself eventually. That warning usually stays on for a bit even with a brand new battery.

 

[Ant84]

Just picked one of those Maypole chargers up to try and revive a pretty dead Transit van. There are two batteries under the drivers seat, one for electronics and one for cranking, and there are the jump start points under the bonnet.

Anyone have any idea which ones I’m better connecting the charger to?

 

[Temujin]

Looking at some of the Maypole reviews it isn't really suited for reviving dead batteries as such, if the voltage has dropped too low it might not charge it!
I would have thought you'd probably want to charge each separately, but maybe the cranking one first if you want to actually use the van!

 

[Steven Rimmington]

Been a cheap so and so I have already come to the conclusion my battery is probably already going dead been around 6 years old. Car was left for 4 weeks and would not start.

Streetwize 12V Car Trickle Battery Charger £20 from Argos same-day pickup. 600 odd reviews. Took around 8 hours to charge my battery. Worked like a charm.

What do the £70+ offer when all it does is trickle charge?

 

[andy_mk3]

Been a cheap so and so I have already come to the conclusion my battery is probably already going dead been around 6 years old. Car was left for 4 weeks and would not start.

Streetwize 12V Car Trickle Battery Charger £20 from Argos same-day pickup. 600 odd reviews. Took around 8 hours to charge my battery. Worked like a charm.

What do the £70+ offer when all it does is trickle charge?

The more expensive ones are maintenance chargers, designed so that you can leave them connected to a battery for months at a time to keep the battery in good condition. They are worth the money if that's what you need. But if you just want to purely charge a battery on the odd occasion then a cheap charger will do the job perfectly well.

 

[Steven Rimmington]

The more expensive ones are maintenance chargers, designed so that you can leave them connected to a battery for months at a time to keep the battery in good condition. They are worth the money if that's what you need. But if you just want to purely charge a battery on the odd occasion then a cheap charger will do the job perfectly well.

Thanks

 

[Rilot]

I've got one of those Ebay Maypole chargers. It works fine.