Battery charger recommendations please.

VanMan2007

I have a Mazda Xedos 2.0 litre V6. I've been running the car for 5-10mins at least during this cold snap, but on a couple of occasions the start has been a bit laboured.

For peace of mind, I'd like to get a battery charger. Is there a best-buy for under £75? Nothing pretty or fancy, just something that gets the job done well. Also, are the charger/starter combo's any good, or a bit mickey mouse?

I have a carport, so could charge the battery in situe from the house with a long extension lead anyway, right?

Thanks guys.

mikey72

CTEK are good.

[Deleted User]

I bought the cheap £22 one from Argos last weekend. Charged up the flat battery on my 206 no problem.

The same one is on Amazon.co.uk (although with a different brand name) for £15 but I needed it straight away.

:beer:

anewman

There probably won't be any stores with them left in stock, but these are good for the price http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/special_buys3_15825.htm

But to be honest, if you're doing longish journeys and it is still struggling in the mornings, either the alternator is not charging the battery, or more likely in this weather the battery is on its last legs. I'd look at getting a new battery.

Edit: just noticed you say you're running for 5 to 10 minutes, presumably on your driveway idling. Given how much power this uses to get the starter motor going I wouldn't bother doing this IMHO. You may want to bring the battery indoors though and charge it.

VanMan2007

anewman wrote: »

But to be honest, if you're doing longish journeys and it is still struggling in the mornings, either the alternator is not charging the battery, or more likely in this weather the battery is on its last legs. I'd look at getting a new battery.

Edit: just noticed you say you're running for 5 to 10 minutes, presumably on your driveway idling. Given how much power this uses to get the starter motor going I wouldn't bother doing this IMHO. You may want to bring the battery indoors though and charge it.

That's the problem, I may not use the car for 3-4 days. I figured 5-10 mins driveway idling or a 10-min blast to the motorway would keep it topped up. The battery is only 2 years old and until the cold weather has been fine. I may be being over cautious, I mean it hasn't failed me yet - tho it probably will now, having said that!

VanMan2007

mikey72 wrote: »

CTEK are good.

Thanks Mikey,

I'm liking the look of that 3600. A nice range at good prices, with good reviews!

Wig

I have used the Optimate and the orange Black and Decker one. They both work, The Optimate is small and easier to put in the engine bay. The B&D gives fault codes for example if the battery is damaged. The B&D will however when put on [some] batteries in poor condition say it is FULL shortly after and you might think it's ok, but it's not. I think what happens after that (if you leave it connected) is that the charger lets the battery sit for 12 hours before outputting a final opinion on the state of the battery. The optimate does this aswell.

If I was going to buy a charger I'd get the RAC one
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/7402168.htm

However all of these chargers all they do is measure voltage when they have finished charging, which is not good enough, if you want to know how good your battery is you need one of these
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-53090-Battery-Load-Tester/dp/B0001K9V8Q/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1291400728&sr=8-16
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/gunson-g4184-battery-tester
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/cvt1-battery-tester

Or a multimeter and do a load test on your car, which is the same thing really only less exact, you might for example disconnect the fuel pump relay and the ignition coil and turn the engine over for 10 seconds whilst watching the voltage. Should stay above 11.5V

esmerobbo

I use one of these on a car I have laid up. Keeps the battery up only when it needs it.

http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail.asp?productID=7998

Wig

Idling a poorly charged battery is not AUII going to do your battery much good. The alternator does not get into full attack mode until it is going over 2000 rpm. AFAIK you will be doing more harm than good to your battery because you will be always leaving it in a state of poor charge which means it will start to sulphate. The best thing you can do is to stick it on charge. And that's exactly what I intend to do right now with my car overnight.

VanMan2007

CTEK vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHSI_qHOI4U

The 3600 looks even better! :cool:

Wig

I didn't watch the whole vid, and I have feeling these things must be expensive, but with the exception of the pulse charge I was going to say both the ones I mentioned do almost exactly the same thing.

With regards to long term charging the B&D one also said something about a float charge mode in the manual, I think it goes into a similar pulse mode but I'd have to read the manual again to find out, I'm certain it does not just keep charging constantly. Ok I've read the manual and it switches the float charge on and off as and when required similar to the pulse charge by CTEK, the process is described on the bottom of page 6 in the manual

this is the one I mean The B&D BDV1084
http://service.blackanddecker.it/PDMSDocuments/EU/Docs//docpdf/bdv1084%20uk2.pdf

http://www.directbrandtools.com/Detail.asp?qsFullScr=Yes&qsProd=BDV1084&qsCat=27&qsSubCat=113
Though like I said it is quite bulky. not slimline like the CTEK. But the Optimate is slimlined like the CTEK.

And the optimate also has a pulse mode 30 mins no charge/30mins float charge from their manual
http://www.accumate.co.uk/Optimate%204%20Instructions.pdf

But I have to say this float/pulse charge business really is not as importnat as you might think. Only if you were going to go away for a a few months or if you wanted to adopt a connect and forget it attitude for weeks/months on end. If your car is not used much and you just charge it every weekend and then disconnect it the following day that is all that you will need.