[Haydes1]

I just locked up a Lotus Elise 07. I was poking around for info on a batter charger/tender/?. Seems to be some variables here that I am not familiar with and was looking at the CTEK 4.3

This is a low mileage car that will not get much road time and a pleasure car so to speak. So it will sit quite a bit and the battery in the vehicle is two months old. So I guess what I would like to know before I buy one is if the CTEK is the vest idea or option. I understand there are cheaper avenues that might be better but I would like to avoid burning my house down becuase I saved 30.00. I am open to opinions although it appears to have been already discussed I cant make heads or tails of it.

Thank you in advance for any assistance.

 

[XHILR8N!]

Battery Tender, avail at ACE, works well for me. Have four in the garage now.

 

[Lotus 07]

I use a Battery Tender on my Optima battery.
A while back I bought an Odyssey for another car. The company I bought the Odyssey from gave me a list of recommended chargers for the Odyssey. They said the BT did not charge at a high enough voltage for the Odyssey (would not maintain at a full charge etc.)
I think there were some CTEKs on the list.
Not a battery expert, just what their documentation told me.

 

[ageshelin]

re: Battery chargers

For a lead-acid battery just about any charger or trickle charger will do. You do not want to get into high-powered models. They will over-charge and damage the battery.

It would be nice to buy a device with an auto turn-on -off feature, so it would keep the battery charged just right. However, the small chargers do not have enough power to overcharge and damage a lead acid battery, unless they are really poorly designed....

Lithium batteries are a toatally different story.

Anton

 

[dipan]

To answer your question briefly, the CTEK is perfect for the Lotus. I was choosing between a CTEK and a Noco model, but went with Noco Genius mainly because Noco had a model that could charge 4 different batteries all built into one unit. I'm only using 2 ports on it.

 

[Haydes1]

I was looking at the CTEK as Sector offers one although their in the market as well and the cord length looks like more than enough. Ill have to do a couple measurements here. I guess I was trying to figure the tender/charger aspect.

 

[KWYK]

I run a ctek MXS5.0 for my Exige,its great,in fact i have a ctek on 3 other cars i have my garage as well,im a big fan of them

I have it mounted to the roof of my garage and i bought a ctek lead extension,i just dangle it down to the rear hatch and connect it to the quick connect lead which is permanent on my battery

check their accessories out
www.ctek.com

heres my setup

CTEK MXS5.0

CTEK extension

quick connect with indicator

 

[Haydes1]

Apreciate all the help and the last unit posted is what I have been eyeballing here.

 

[rcollum]

CTEK!

A friend, with A LOT of cars, recommended CTEK to me. I have two CTEK MUS 4.3's, which is what CTEK customer service recommended for my cars, and in a US standard AC-wired house.

One CTEK is plugged into the Elise's power socket between the seats. Very convenient.

The other CTEK plugs into the battery lead I installed on my Jaguar XK. (Most modern cars apparently do not have always-live power outlets.)

My friend has had his CTEKS for a long time, including some with octopus-like adapters for multiple cars. He has original batteries in a couple of Ferraris, and he credits the CTEKs with that longevity. CTEK claims an extensive process of analyzing, conditioning and charging, each time the device is plugged into the car.

CTEK also has lots of options. I bought the rubber cover for the charger box, so it doesn't scratch the paint on my cars. I bought an extender cord for the Jaguar, so I can easily reach from the garage-wall-mounted charger, thru the trunk to the battery lead.

One last note - shop around for CTEKs and accessories. I found a place in Illinois, a CTEK dealer, through Amazon. They had best prices on all the CTEK items.

 

[Haydes1]

A friend, with A LOT of cars, recommended CTEK to me. I have two CTEK MUS 4.3's, which is what CTEK customer service recommended for my cars, and in a US standard AC-wired house.

One CTEK is plugged into the Elise's power socket between the seats. Very convenient.

The other CTEK plugs into the battery lead I installed on my Jaguar XK. (Most modern cars apparently do not have always-live power outlets.)

My friend has had his CTEKS for a long time, including some with octopus-like adapters for multiple cars. He has original batteries in a couple of Ferraris, and he credits the CTEKs with that longevity. CTEK claims an extensive process of analyzing, conditioning and charging, each time the device is plugged into the car.

CTEK also has lots of options. I bought the rubber cover for the charger box, so it doesn't scratch the paint on my cars. I bought an extender cord for the Jaguar, so I can easily reach from the garage-wall-mounted charger, thru the trunk to the battery lead.

One last note - shop around for CTEKs and accessories. I found a place in Illinois, a CTEK dealer, through Amazon. They had best prices on all the CTEK items.

I am seeing them on Amazon now along with the extension and comfort indicator which is what I need for length, the unit itself wont reach the car so I guess I can skip the bumper protector and just run the extension under the cover to the battery. Looks fairly simple and just wanted to grab everything in one shot and not have to go back and ship something else.

Thank you,

Kris

 

[nak]

Littlest battery tender

For many years I've been running the 700 mA battery tender that is water proof. I don't have to worry about condensation or dust. (My barn is unheated and quite dusty).

I have one for the Elise and one for the tractor. I haven't replaced a battery in many, many years.

 

[GasX3]

What current CTEK unit would you suggest ?

A friend, with A LOT of cars, recommended CTEK to me. I have two CTEK MUS 4.3's, which is what CTEK customer service recommended for my cars, and in a US standard AC-wired house.

One CTEK is plugged into the Elise's power socket between the seats. Very convenient.

The other CTEK plugs into the battery lead I installed on my Jaguar XK. (Most modern cars apparently do not have always-live power outlets.)

My friend has had his CTEKS for a long time, including some with octopus-like adapters for multiple cars. He has original batteries in a couple of Ferraris, and he credits the CTEKs with that longevity. CTEK claims an extensive process of analyzing, conditioning and charging, each time the device is plugged into the car.

CTEK also has lots of options. I bought the rubber cover for the charger box, so it doesn't scratch the paint on my cars. I bought an extender cord for the Jaguar, so I can easily reach from the garage-wall-mounted charger, thru the trunk to the battery lead.

One last note - shop around for CTEKs and accessories. I found a place in Illinois, a CTEK dealer, through Amazon. They had best prices on all the CTEK items.

 

[VisualEchos]

I've been using the Battery Minder Plus, which plugs in between the seats, and it has worked perfect for years.

The one question I have, is that I recently bought a Deka lightweight battery, and I'm not sure it's compatible with it. I've been using it though, no explosions or leaks.

 

[rcollum]

What current CTEK unit would you suggest ?

Do what I did, and contact CTEK.

http://www.ctek.com/help/contact_us

They can tell you what they recommend for your situation. Make sure you are getting the cigarette lighter plug with whatever charger you get - it works great with the Elise, and you can't forget it and drive away, which could happen if you use one connected to the battery.

--Bob Collum