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barttery gone flat..any of these any good??
Ian Jones - 28/3/13 at 06:29 PM

Hi all, I have a vardy sealed battery, and it has gone flat today.

im guessing it is because i havent used it for the last month.


I have been looking at trickle chargers, and wanted to know if any of these were any good please.

1st.
a solar charger, this i would leave on the fence, and connect to the car.
+ free energy
-as safe to leave connected to battery??
http://www.maplin.co.uk/solar-powered-12v-12w-battery-charger-217850

2nd
ctek charger.
+ safe for battery
- have to have mains power supply
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_818863_langId_-1_categoryId_255205

what would the people of locostbuilders recomend please

thanks
ian

wylliezx9r - 28/3/13 at 06:38 PM

What makes you think the solar charger would be unsafe ?

Ian Jones - 28/3/13 at 06:39 PM

quote:
Originally posted by wylliezx9r
What makes you think the solar charger would be unsafe ?


if it is left on for a week etc, could it over charge the battery?

maccmike - 28/3/13 at 06:48 PM

+1 ctek

Thurbs - 28/3/13 at 07:00 PM

+2 for the c-tek

Ian Jones - 28/3/13 at 07:05 PM

this is the battery spec, but going by the + it will be the ctek

the car is stored outside, under a stormforce cover, so i could run a extension lead from the shed, to under the cover.



SPEC:

Length - approx. 181mm

Width - approx. 77mm

Height - approx. 167mm

Weight - approx. 5.3Kg

Terminals - 12x12x1.2mm flat blade, 6mm diameter hole

Completely sealed Lead-Acid battery

Maintenance Free



PERFORMANCE @ 25°C:

Voltage - 12v

Capacity - 20Ah

Cranking current - approx 680Amps(5 secs)



The battery can be mounted on its side or upright.



Designed for motorsport use.

Westy1994 - 28/3/13 at 07:15 PM

I was given one of those solar chargers a while back, I ended up binning it, unless you start from a 100% charge battery a solar one will not charge it in time for when you need the car, or at least if you dont plan on driving the car for a few months, they simply do not have the cabability to supply the current needed to charge a partial or flat battery. So with what you have given as an option, yet another one for the Ctec.

Eta

If you feel you are safer , get an decent ELCB circuit protector for use outside with your extension lead. BTW your batt specs are the same as mine, exactly, this was the battery I tried the solar charger on !



[Edited on 28/3/13 by Westy1994]

Ian Jones - 28/3/13 at 07:22 PM

thanks for the info all.

so it looks like a mains power supplyed one will be best.

is the ctek .8 a good vfm one, or would you recomend a defferent version/make?

thanks
ian

Westy1994 - 28/3/13 at 07:29 PM

Your going to get lots of options now, lol, but my choice was this, one thing to remember is not to give a small capacity battery to much current, you wont get the life out of the battery otherwise, the one I choose was a small 900Ma one which is perfect for small batts.

eta

That link didnt give a price here's another one.

[Edited on 28/3/13 by Westy1994]

Ian Jones - 28/3/13 at 07:30 PM

lol, see what you mean.

is the ctek .8 a small enough charger?

[Edited on 28/3/13 by Ian Jones]

Westy1994 - 28/3/13 at 07:34 PM

see above new link, bit cheaper that one

Westy1994 - 28/3/13 at 07:40 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Ian Jones
lol, see what you mean.

is the ctek .8 a small enough charger?

[Edited on 28/3/13 by Ian Jones]


Yes 800Ma will be fine, will just be a tad slower than mine thats all.... I charge mine after every time I get home after a run, yes the alternator does this but to get it to peak again I use the charger, takes about 10 mins to get it to 100% again, then if I dont use the car for a month or so, I charge it every few weeks, takes around 5 mins then.

Ian Jones - 28/3/13 at 08:27 PM

if i got the ctek .8
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_818863_langId_-1_categoryId_255205

and then got this charge indercator panel
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_738319_langId_-1_categoryId_255205#tab4

could the panel be used as a 12v power supply for sat navs etc as well?

thanks
ian

edited to say..

looking at it again, it looks like it is not a cig lighter style socket

[Edited on 28/3/13 by Ian Jones]

Westy1994 - 28/3/13 at 08:42 PM

To be honest, any decent 'intelligent' charger should already have the indicators on it, mine does, if you have to look at separate indicators , I would elsewhere than the one you are proposing ( thats assuming it does not have them - hard to see with the photo there, but it does have something on it)

As for the solar charger, I tested it to see what current it could supply, my own barely had the power to run three 10mm leds, now this was 2 years ago, maybe they are better now I don't know?. It may have the current to keep a satnav charged but I doubt it would have the capacity to run it wholey on that solar device.

If it were me, I would forget about the solar device and just get a decent charger with the charge state leds already built into it

Peteff - 29/3/13 at 09:49 AM

Have you got any timer plugs. You could set it up to charge for 1 hour a day so it doesn't overheat the battery as even intelligent chargers are not perfect if left on for really long stints as found at the bike shop.

Ian Jones - 5/4/13 at 04:28 PM

I went for a ctek 0.8 in the end with a panel mounted display, so i can keep a eye on the levels with out having to connect anything up.

will post some pics when i fit it

Ian Jones - 8/4/13 at 01:15 PM

I fitted the batery indercator today, what do you think?


Ian Jones - 17/4/13 at 06:03 PM

the ctek charget turned up today