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I'm sure I'm not the only one. One of our cars has an older battery, and its struggling with a one every 10 days short trip...
It's stop/start as well, so bigger battery than normal.
I'm thinking of getting a trickle charger for it - eBay is awash with @£20-25 things that claim to be 'smart'.
Suggestions and thoughts please.
NOCO Genius for me.
Ctek every time. They seem to be genuinely smart charger/conditioners, as opposed to the cheap ones that make claims without any evidence, as far as I can tell.
Not really in the same budget though...
The concept is fine. I use one for the motorbike as its off the road for 6 months of the year. No idea about van sized ones though.
FWIW I recently bought one of those jump-start packs for the van as its not been getting used. It worked perfectly yesterday when I couldn't get the van to start. It's a UTRAI J-STAR 1. Small enough to carry around unobtrusively.
I've also bought a NOCO Genius after my door open/interior light balls up with the Mazda last week. It seems to have brought the battery back from the dead and can be left attached indefinitely to monitor/maintain the battery.
Dammit I just posted in the other thread asking about a booster, & you go & update this one.. Optimate 4 is my trickle charger recommendation, in-laws uses it in their spare car
Thanks all.
Noco Genius +1.
I've got a G7200 which paid for itself by resurrecting a battery so dead that even the NOCO wouldn't recognize it and took a few days in power supply mode to lift it upto a voltage where ti would accept a charge. Keep meaning to get around to making up cables to all the cars can be left on charge at the same time.
Ctek works for me too. I've used Optimate as well, but I prefer the Ctek.
Just plugged a streetwyzew solar trickle charger into the van. Attached across terminals because for some reason the thought of shunting charge back to the battery from the 12v socket makes me nervous
Just dug my charger out today to pop on the car tomorrow. Not been run for a while and it probably warrants a check/top up.
I've got an ancient optimate... Not the best for value I'm sure but it's been saving batteries for me for at least 15 years, including a few totally flat as a pancake that I'd have assumed would be for the bin.
Downside is it's a motorbike one so it takes forever to charge a flat car battery. But for trickle charging that's not an issue.
Solar ones seem like a not bad idea to me though- half the hassle is wiring after all.
Noco Genius +2.I’ve got a G7200
CTEK, but not the cheapest. You want the ability to trickle charge and recondition. Mine is 10+ years old.
Battery on my Grand C-Max was flat again when I went to use it. The car's 8 years old and on the original battery - should I get it replaced? It's got my old Optimate motorbike charger on it now.
How long since you last used the car? If the charger will keep it topped up for now, and it's alright in 'normal' use, I'd say just keep it as it is.
It was unused for 2 weeks, flat battery which I recharged and then took the car for a 30 minute drive, stood for a week and flat again.
Ah, fair enough. Nothing obvious like an interior light left on (don't ask me how I know) or anything else draining the battery? If not, that sounds knackered.
Flat, then top up s bit, then flat again a week later sounds very much like ours. Our new CTEK MXS 5.0 seems to think the battery is healthy enough but it took a weekend to recondition and charge it.
The time it took for a full charge makes me think the hours drive I gave it didn't put much back in.
Do you have a volt meter to run some basic tests to check off load volts and see if the alternator is actually working?
My multimeter died a couple of years ago. I did think of taking it back to Tandy in Sheffield but I bought it in 1986.
Dumb full size battery charger says the battery is full. I'll put the Optimate on it tomorrow and see what it says. If Optimate doesn't like it or it fails in less than 2 weeks it'll be new battery time. After 8 years I can't complain if that's the case.
My c-max eats batteries. But I do only use it infrequently even in normal times. Hence why I bought the noco to keep it topped up.
New battery fitted for £132 with 5 year guarantee by Tyres on The Drive aka Halfords - car now working nicely.
Batteries don't last forever. A new one is often a stress free bit of preventative maintenance.
I ordered a Noco Genius G7200 two weeks ago, I was pleased to get it for £88. Supplier now says they've been 'let down by their suppliers' and cancelled* my order. None in stock anywhere else now, except at £580.
*They even told eBay they'd cancelled it because the customer asked them to!