Battery Chargers

[will]

OK, so searching for info on battery chargers returned little apart from Ctek are the name in chargers. but what are some others worth looking at?

Today i made a bit of a rushed / split decision and bought one of these from BCF for $59.95. Battery Link Battery Charger MCU - 12V, 3.6Amp - BCF a Battery Link MCU3600.

First impressions are that is seems pretty well made and has the 5 stage charging cycle similar to the Ctek 8 steps. I'm using it to charge a 100ah AGM deep cycle battery. i'ts been running for 6 hours so nothing to report yet.

Has anyone used one of these or have any other recommendations, thoughts etc?

feel free to add reviews of other charger types and brands you've used too.

 

[Old.Tony]

I bought a cheapy to play with, I have it looking after the gel battery that I use to charge my model helicopter batteries so it's not vital.

However, it does a fair job - but there's a caveat with mine. It won't auto-detect the state of the battery and automatically start charging. Every time the power comes on, I have to press the button. It charges, then stops when it's done.

That said, it does a fair job. It won't recover the battery like the C-Tek charger will (or will try to, not every battery is capable of being rescued).

Most importantly, it won't do anything destructive to the battery.

Charging your battery at too high a voltage is a killer. Gels should never be charged at more than 14.4V, and 15V for others.

The problem with playing it safe, and not getting up to those voltages, is that the batteries won't fully charge if you don't. Having a battery that is 80% charged means that your usable battery capacity is not 50% - it's 30% - since you should never discharge your battery to below 50% of its capacity. There are some batteries coming out that do allow deeper discharges - the gel in my caravan states on its label that it can be discharged to 20% of its capacity. I don't do that - but I can if I need to.

As long as the charger doesn't over-volt the battery too much, and maintains about 13.2V in 'float' mode, and automatically comes on when the battery power level drops - it's all good.

Watch what it does when connected to mains and a load is placed on it. This activity confuses the C-Tek, so be careful. I got around this by making sure that the fridge in the van draws from 240V as well, so when 240V is present, there's no load on the battery.

 

[KraftyPg]

12Amp 5 stage SCA charger for $90. In the testing I've done with it it works as well as any C-Tek and is a lot cheaper. C-Tek seem to be the name everyone turns too and why not they work but the SCA one I got 8 months ago has been used as a maintenance charger, a quick charge and even recovered a 180AH tractor battery showing 2v terminal voltage in less then 12 hours.

 

[terryc]

even recovered a 180AH tractor battery showing 2v terminal voltage in less then 12 hours.

The c-tek and powertech barf on that. That is where a cheap, single volt battery charger earns its keep. It will bring it up to the state where the other fancy chargers can take over.

 

[KraftyPg]

Never had a C-tek pull a battery that large that quickly but each person will have their own real world tests and for the price difference I can't fault the SCA over the C-Tek

 

[grumpy d22]

will, funny you should bring up this topic, i bought a ctek last week a mulit xs 7000 from battery world. but my motive was a bit different, ive got dual batteries and a 2200w inverter that i run every day instead of a generator on site, my battery is a redback 100ah that i thought was not getting looked after well enough, by the projector cheapy charger i bought originally.
the reason i bought the ctek was because of the reputation, also because i could mount it in the back permanently with just the power cord coming out so when im at home i can just plug it in easy as, and also because the bloke said that it could condition a seriously flat battery.
all up $299.

 

[Bala]

The original post has a 3.6amp charger for a 100ah battery, my thoughts were that it may be a bit small,
did a quick search and found the following page might be of interest

http://www.federalbatteries.com.au/files/charging.pdf

 

[will]

Well, after allowing the charger (from first post) to complete a full charge cycle on my 100ah AGM, I'm satisfied with the charger. It took almost 2 days to complete the charge completely. After it was completed the battery held almost 14 volts. It has now been over a week and with the battery running my 40l Engel during the day (It's on 240v over night) and driving about 40 - 50 mins each day the battery is still at 12.9 volts.

All this and i thought 12.7 was 100% charged. http://www.mmbalmainauto.com.au/PDF/State_of_charge_12_volt_batteries.pdf

Obviously the battery has a lot to do with that, but I reckon the charger did a pretty good job for a cheapy. only criticism is that it takes a long time, but i'm not too upset for $59.

 

[raywise]

Yep, as long as the cheap ones work and don't have a short life, then yeah why not. We ended up with a C-Tek XS7000, leave it plugged in to our 120AH Gel battery between outings, and use it to condition our 2 old car batteries for powering lights when we go camping.

Can't fault it, expensive though.

 

[KraftyPg]

My 12A SCA reconditioned the old tractor battery which was on the old Massey when it was brought 14 years ago from a reading of just less than 6 volts (two cells was down further than the others) to 14.2 volts in less than 12 hours. We wont be able to trust the battery fully every again but then after 14 years I guess we have had a good run.

Given the old Massy doesn't go far these days we usually park it in the shed and connect it to a 10W solar panel which maintains the voltage at about 13.5 volts and gives it enough kick to turn the old girl over but she got left in the paddock last week and the battery doesn't like not having a wee tickle all day.

 

[terryc]

The original post has a 3.6amp charger for a 100ah battery, my thoughts were that it may be a bit small,
did a quick search and found the following page might be of interest

http://www.federalbatteries.com.au/files/charging.pdf

Based on what is in that pdf, you will screw your batteries if you follow their advise. C/10 is the widely recommended maximum charge rate for maximum battery cycles aka use aka life. They are pushing higher rates and not accurately quoting information from other companies.

 

[RustyNav09]

ok so using an old thread to get my questio answered.

i have 2x 7.0amp batteries and 1x 12amp battery which have been removed from a computer UPS Server that were backup batteries. not sure on how good they are or whther they hold charge and are only gonna be used for LED lighting in our Oztent RV4 tent. what i am after is a quality step charger that will charge batteries as low as 7amps? i have looked at the Ctek MXS7.0 and it will only charge batteries from 14-220amp and the Ctek MXS5.0 will charge from 1.2-110amp batteries. Yes the MXS5.0 can doo what i after but if im wanting to charge the 100amp deep cycle it ill take days.

can anyone point me in the right direction? only reason i have looked at the Ctek models is cause i can use a cigarette lighter adapter to keep the batteries charged. If i was to link 2x7ah and the 12ah battery in parrallel and charge them would i be safe using the MXS7.0? would be a total of 26ah, but im not sure the charger will recognise its 3 different batteries.

Rusty

 

[Old.Tony]

Its unwise to parallel batteries of different capacities, because as the smaller battery reaches a charged level, the charger sees that voltage peaking and switches into float (maintenance) mode, leaving the larger capacity batteries undercharged.

The other problem with very small capacity batteries - and especially gel batteries as these ones will be - is the charge rate CANNOT be exceeded. If you charge them at more than about 1A per hour, they'll form bubbles on the surface of the plates in the gel and the batteries will be destroyed in short order. They'll LOOK like they will still accept a charge, and they'll look like they're charging, but when you put a load on them they'll dive really fast.

I recommend that you get a decent charger for your big batteries and buy a cheap low-power charger for the gels and just hook them up one at a time (or paired with the same capacity). Aldi sold a 3-stage charger that could handle gel batteries and I use one to charge a 12Ah unit that I use in the field to charge my helicopter batteries. It cost me about $25 and runs on 240V - you could use that (via an inverter) while you are on the road at the worst.

 

[RustyNav09]

Just had another look at ctek site. Maybe I should be looking at the ctek xs0.8 it will maintenance charge my 100ah which is all i need

 

[RustyNav09]

hey guys

random question for the electriclly minded. I have a Ctek MXS15 8Step Charger and need ot take it to work tomorrow to charge a dead battery we have on our forklift(shows how much it gets used). I am wanting to know what MODE i would have to use to Charge the dead battery. i have lost my book with all the info in it so im stuck. ive only ever used it to maintenance charge my 100ah deep cycle and my duel starter battey setup.

thanks
Rusty

 

[Al]

normal mode

 

[RustyNav09]

thanks Al. i was opting for ReCond mode but the battery is pretty much brand new. Plus im sure the 15.8V charge in that mode would kill it from dead. Normal Mode it is.

thanks

 

[04SilverSTR]

i have one of these http://www.projecta.com.au/Products...harger.aspx?iframe=true&width=800&height=100%

seems to do the job well, a little slow but i leave the batterys over night any way!

bryan

 

[terryc]

Never had a C-tek pull a battery that large that quickly but each person will have their own real world tests and for the price difference I can't fault the SCA over the C-Tek

Going back to clarify, when I said "barf", it means IME neither brand will touch a battery with that low a voltage. They just test and turn off. That is when I hitch up one of the cheapies I have for car starter batteries and leave it overnight, then transfer it to either of the others for a proper finish off.

Speed just depends on the charger capacity, which isn't critical in starter batteries as they prefer(?)/are built for fast recharge (90Amp alternator).

 

[Old.Tony]

Terry's right - most chargers in "normal" mode will look at the voltage present on their clips and try to determine if there's anything there. If there's no voltage present - or if the voltage is too low for the charger to function correctly - the charger gives up. It's more of a safety feature, but it can obviously be inconvenient.

The C-Tek in "recover" mode may not do that. If I recall correctly, it will pump in power at a constant 15V for some time and THEN check. If that fails, then a simple charger may be the only choice - they don't check a thing, they just pump power out, which is why they're a BAD choice as a general-use charger. I think Terry point this out earlier in this thread - this absence of features is what can help in this situation.