Discussion
Hello,
I’ve run out of garage space but been fortunate to be able to find a very nice garage in my village to rent for my AM but it doesn’t have mains power.
I always keep the car on a trickle charger as I don’t get to drive it regularly, especially in the winter.
I’ve been looking at a mains free option to maintain the battery. Does anyone have any experience with the CTEK CS one?
It reads like it can be charged up and then work as a standalone trickle charger but isn’t 100% clear. Wondered if anyone has one or experience with one off mains?
Thanks
I’ve run out of garage space but been fortunate to be able to find a very nice garage in my village to rent for my AM but it doesn’t have mains power.
I always keep the car on a trickle charger as I don’t get to drive it regularly, especially in the winter.
I’ve been looking at a mains free option to maintain the battery. Does anyone have any experience with the CTEK CS one?
It reads like it can be charged up and then work as a standalone trickle charger but isn’t 100% clear. Wondered if anyone has one or experience with one off mains?
Thanks
Import said:
Hey..ever thought about one of the solar powered battery maintainers..several on the market..used to use one for my motorcycles…
I have just not confident they would provide enough charge over a period of time given alarm etc on car in Uk especially in winter. But is an optionI’m told by someone that uses the One that they do just that and then taken indoors sometimes to charge the One up and then reconnect.
The online instructions appear to be very light on actual inf and they also seem expensive.
But a better option all things considered than perhaps solar.
The online instructions appear to be very light on actual inf and they also seem expensive.
But a better option all things considered than perhaps solar.
i had the same issue with my car storage when I bought it back in 2016 so I decided against all so call expert suggestion to disconnect the battery over the winter months (Nov - Apr) and left the battery in the car as you know it is a bit of a pain to remove. When I go back to the car in Apr, connect the battery and start the car no issues there but some years one of he door module didn't work and other years the seat module didn't work but after a few fuse reset I always was able to get everything back in working order. Yes I had to redo the misfire calculation run but that took only about 15min and a nice little drive to do. The problem with all those modules in our cars is that they don't always start in the right order and from what I can see is the main reason as to why they don't always work after plugging in the battery. I also lock the door with the metal key after disconnecting the battery. Not saying that should be the way you go about it but it has been working fine for me since 2016, good luck.
I have been using a 12 volt 10w solar panel to keep a car battery fully charged.
However, that battery is only used to power a couple of LED lights, so you would need a bigger panel for the modern electical items still active in a stored car.
The 10w kit cost me about £35 and the 20w version is not very much more.
My panel has an extended cable beween panel and battery.
Although it works OK in the summer, the winter output is of course much reduced.
Need guidance about what size panel you would need.
Although called 10 watts, that might only be achieved by someone living on the Equator !
The system should work, but selecting the right power panel might be guesswork.
Edited by Dewi 2 on Friday 17th February 12:17
Thanks for the replies and the solar detail all gratefully recieved.
For interest I did email CTEK and got below reply which I don’t wholly “get”
The CS One does not work without a power source.
For this we have the CS Free.
When the charger is not connected to a power source.
In battery mode, the CS-free Adaptive Boost function automatically checks the condition of your battery "10-130 Ah" (large or small) and calculates the correct amount of energy needed to charge it. So in this case you don't have to worry, the charger does everything by itself. The higher the voltage, the lower the amperage.
In this mode, the CS-free serves more as a starting aid for "deeply discharged batteries" (output 12V - 14.4V, charging current Max 20A/240W) and is thus also intended as a power bank (e.g. for laptops, smartphones, tablets etc. ).
For most vehicle batteries (depending on how often the car is driven), charging the battery in battery mode is not mandatory. For example, if your battery is 12.6 volts, which is actually a good condition, the charger will still charge to a maximum of 14.4 volts within 15 minutes and needs to be recharged.
HINT: You would need to wait 1 hour before recharging the internal battery, in order to prevent it from overheating after it has charged your battery.
After that, the charging current drops and the charging stages switch as quickly as possible until the charging process (flashing complete LED ring) is complete, provided the internal battery still has enough energy to charge by then.
For how long can CS FREE maintenance - charge a battery is a very difficult question to answer.
The answer depends completely on the battery size, characteristics and health and other circumstances (loads/consumers on battery and temperature for instance) so every case is different.
A basic car with a good battery- perhaps a month ? A new car with a good batetry- two weeks? A battery-consuming muscle car - one week- or less. I would check the charger weekly in the beginning, to learn to know how long it will last on this particular battery.
On another battery the CS FREE can last longer - or shorter.
Sorry for not being able to give a straight answer, but there is none!
The trickle charge starts when the complete LED ring flashes. The trickle charge mode is not so necessary if you have a CS-free charger and especially not in battery mode. Here, normal charging/ trickle charge mode via a power source is preferred.
When the charger is connected to a power source (normal charging)
When the CS Free charger is connected to a power source, charging your vehicle's battery always takes priority (if the internal battery is not completely empty) and when your battery is fully charged, the unit automatically switches to charging its own internal battery/accumulator.
Please note that charging at this point can take up to 36 hours depending on the condition and size of the battery (10-130 Ah). Please leave the charger connected for a longer period of time. If the battery is still not fully charged, it may be defective. Then please test the charger on another battery first. (Charging current Max 5A/60W)
Please also observe the recommendations of the battery manufacturer, as the charging voltage for this unit is only possible up to 14.4V.
We hope we have been able to help you with these answers.
Best regards,
CTEK Customer Service
For interest I did email CTEK and got below reply which I don’t wholly “get”
The CS One does not work without a power source.
For this we have the CS Free.
When the charger is not connected to a power source.
In battery mode, the CS-free Adaptive Boost function automatically checks the condition of your battery "10-130 Ah" (large or small) and calculates the correct amount of energy needed to charge it. So in this case you don't have to worry, the charger does everything by itself. The higher the voltage, the lower the amperage.
In this mode, the CS-free serves more as a starting aid for "deeply discharged batteries" (output 12V - 14.4V, charging current Max 20A/240W) and is thus also intended as a power bank (e.g. for laptops, smartphones, tablets etc. ).
For most vehicle batteries (depending on how often the car is driven), charging the battery in battery mode is not mandatory. For example, if your battery is 12.6 volts, which is actually a good condition, the charger will still charge to a maximum of 14.4 volts within 15 minutes and needs to be recharged.
HINT: You would need to wait 1 hour before recharging the internal battery, in order to prevent it from overheating after it has charged your battery.
After that, the charging current drops and the charging stages switch as quickly as possible until the charging process (flashing complete LED ring) is complete, provided the internal battery still has enough energy to charge by then.
For how long can CS FREE maintenance - charge a battery is a very difficult question to answer.
The answer depends completely on the battery size, characteristics and health and other circumstances (loads/consumers on battery and temperature for instance) so every case is different.
A basic car with a good battery- perhaps a month ? A new car with a good batetry- two weeks? A battery-consuming muscle car - one week- or less. I would check the charger weekly in the beginning, to learn to know how long it will last on this particular battery.
On another battery the CS FREE can last longer - or shorter.
Sorry for not being able to give a straight answer, but there is none!
The trickle charge starts when the complete LED ring flashes. The trickle charge mode is not so necessary if you have a CS-free charger and especially not in battery mode. Here, normal charging/ trickle charge mode via a power source is preferred.
When the charger is connected to a power source (normal charging)
When the CS Free charger is connected to a power source, charging your vehicle's battery always takes priority (if the internal battery is not completely empty) and when your battery is fully charged, the unit automatically switches to charging its own internal battery/accumulator.
Please note that charging at this point can take up to 36 hours depending on the condition and size of the battery (10-130 Ah). Please leave the charger connected for a longer period of time. If the battery is still not fully charged, it may be defective. Then please test the charger on another battery first. (Charging current Max 5A/60W)
Please also observe the recommendations of the battery manufacturer, as the charging voltage for this unit is only possible up to 14.4V.
We hope we have been able to help you with these answers.
Best regards,
CTEK Customer Service
Sorry for not being able to give a straight answer, but there is none!
That line from them made me chuckle though.
I can’t say I get it either from their description and it all sounds the complete opposite of a plug and play conditioner.
Perhaps Solar is looking a better option after all ?
That line from them made me chuckle though.
I can’t say I get it either from their description and it all sounds the complete opposite of a plug and play conditioner.
Perhaps Solar is looking a better option after all ?
Providing you can get to the garage fairly easily then you could think about a portable power bank with AC output to run a cheapo trickle charger.
The trickle charger won't be pulling much power so something like this https://maxoak.uk/products/bluetti-eb150-portable-... (I own one and it's really handy) with 1500W could power the trickle charger for a week-ish before needing to be recharged.
These powerbanks also allow a solar panel to connect directly into them so you may find combining the two will give you more time.
Only downside will be the initial largeish outlay for the powerbank and as they're using lithium batteries they will start to degrade after 2000-3000 charge cycles so will need replacing at some point.
Good luck anyway and hope you find a workable solution
The trickle charger won't be pulling much power so something like this https://maxoak.uk/products/bluetti-eb150-portable-... (I own one and it's really handy) with 1500W could power the trickle charger for a week-ish before needing to be recharged.
These powerbanks also allow a solar panel to connect directly into them so you may find combining the two will give you more time.
Only downside will be the initial largeish outlay for the powerbank and as they're using lithium batteries they will start to degrade after 2000-3000 charge cycles so will need replacing at some point.
Good luck anyway and hope you find a workable solution
I got a CTEK CS Free for xmas, yes you can use it to charge without a power source, im going to give it a try on my Vantage to save plugging into the garage outlet. Their video says on a mostly charged up battery the maintenance charging should keep it topped up for a few days, for longer periods they sell a solar panel kit to help it along. You can also connect it to a leisure battery or other 12V source , this may be useful if you have a remote garage without electricity.
https://youtu.be/X7oEQsnEXRI?si=uQdsCou0S37kvWjD
https://youtu.be/X7oEQsnEXRI?si=uQdsCou0S37kvWjD
Edited by bogie on Saturday 11th January 14:19
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