Battery charging idiots guide

D Walker

D Walker

Member
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9,827
safrane said:
I understand that the charger may discharge the battery then cycle a full charge to maximise the battery...so it could be a while dependant on the setting you have it on.
Click to expand...

It's all automatic Peter so will wait and see, will check later then may leave on until Wednesday then see or try again.
Then may just leave it on until return from Goa.
 
StuartW

StuartW

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9,314
So is this now famous Lidl charger really the same spec and as good as the C-Tek 5.0? If so, it seems to be a no brainer
 
Bobby Dandruff

Bobby Dandruff

Junior Member
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313
Ryandoc said:
Folks,

She's been sat 4 weeks, started her up yesterday and got the park off warning. Luckily after a 10 minute idle then switch off/on again it cleared and I took her for a decent run however I'm fully aware it takes a lot longer run than that to put any decent charge in. I've also parked her back up with the EPB off.

So, first off which CTek is best, is it the MXS 5.0 below?

Secondly can someone post a complete idiots guide please, where to connect, does anything need left open, boot etc and does this mean you can't lock the car? Etc etc.

Thanks in advance

Click to expand...

This may or may not be relevant but I had what turned out to be a dead battery (6 months after buying my 4.2 from a main dealer - thanks!).

I posted on here and had lost of advice about chargers, which sounded like a lot of hassle.

So I got a new battery fitted and never had any problems ever again. The RAC came and did it at home for £150 I think. And the car was only rarely used so I had all of the questions about how often is it used and then how long for.

I have had no problems with my 4.7 which is used about the same amount.

So whereas fiddling about with chargers may be a worthwhile exercise, I suspect that a new battery is the best fix.

Just a though....... :-/
 
daverichardson

daverichardson

Member
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6,001
The Lidl clone does the jobby for me for about £14.00
I hook it up (Boot lid open) and leave it for 24 hours
Green light fully charged shows up and I disconnect it until the next time
Quite regular over cold winter months not at all in the summer but ultimately depends on car usage
 
D Walker

D Walker

Member
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9,827
Checked this morning and it was nearly done so I suspect by the time I get home tomorrow it will be fine. What concerns me more is how it has discharged in the 1st place. Looks like a new battery and as said before it has started fine after 3 weeks before and there was no sign when I brought it home after MOT.

Baffling....................................or....................Italian!!!!
 
daverichardson

daverichardson

Member
Messages
6,001
Lidl have offers now and then for the charger.
Locally there are none about until next time.
You can take pot luck or check on line once a week
 
zagatoes30

zagatoes30

Member
Messages
20,908
The Ctek charges slowly first and then up the charge rate, it then does some analysis including discharging to determine how well the battery is holding and accepting charge before finally going into it's ongoing maintenance cycle. It seems to work well as it has recovered a couple of batteries I had that other chargers were reporting as not accepting charge.

On a battery that has issue it can take some time, it took 3 days to sort the RR battery whereas the leisure battery from the roadblocker only took a day both big amp batteries and both pretty flat
 
D Walker

D Walker

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9,827
Update - Car started fine tonight and as it was dry I snuck in a 15 minute blast - forgot about the new exhaust for a little while but not for long.

Tucked away now - will put the charger om tomorrow and leave it for 3 weeks.
 
Ryandoc

Ryandoc

Member
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1,842
Well my £1.50 battery monitor came, fired it into the 320d. Haven't checked it against anything will try and get the fluke out later. If nothing else should be a handy 'fairly' accurate quick glance of battery condition

 
Ryandoc

Ryandoc

Member
Messages
1,842
That £1.50 included delivery from China, God knows how that's even possible. Reminds me of that scene out of top gun, you'll be flying plastic dog sh1t out of Hong Kong !!
 
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