Reply With QuoteBeen racking my brains as to what kind of charger to buy to replace the sad old Projecta one, found one of these ctek chargers on ebay for $114.90 including registered postage so I bought it.
I have been looking at getting either a new dual battery setup, or replacing the expired batteries in my 'thumper'. While talking to a salesman at the Rosehill show yesterday, the seller suggested that one of the new CTEK 4003 chargers might be able to restore the batteries in the thumper.
As I needed a new charger that can do the charge/maintain role for the 10yr old 'battery fighter' that has been dropped one too many times, I thought I'd Agive it a go.
I've run it now on 3 batteries:
1. D4 2.7 system. Battery was in excellent condition according to the charger, but it managed to put more in than I thought possible.
2. My bike (Ducati Monster) with a large capacity battery. As I've just bought this bike and it's sat for a while without running, I put the CTEK on the 'recondition' setting and after 12hrs, it has run the desulphate cycle and brought the battery up to full charge.
3. Wife's bike with battery that has gone flat several times in the last 4 mths (she just doesn't ride it enough). CTEK can't make this battery charge to more than about 70% so it's off to get a new one - the 'old' charger I inherited from my father 20yrs ago says 'perfectly charged' still but it IS very old and tired.
Oh, on the thumper, it goes into error mode so the 4 x batteries in there have really had it which I expected.
So, I now have a gucci charger that I'm more than happy with (will run it on sons and daughters cars to see how it goes) and have proved that one battery I thought was shot, is, and found one I was thinking was probably just OK is nearly shot too.
I'm only using it for lead/acid batteries so it's perfect for what I want and worth a look for anybody in the market for a charger.
Oh, the kits to mount a plug to your battery so you don't need the clamp style connectors are available in a variety of sizes too (I only have 2 for the bikes and am happy to use the clamps for the cars).
AT REST
Been racking my brains as to what kind of charger to buy to replace the sad old Projecta one, found one of these ctek chargers on ebay for $114.90 including registered postage so I bought it.
Swaggie
I don't know whether they're the same type of charger, but I've found the Smart Car/Maintenance charger marketed by Jaycar to be excellent. I have an MB-3604 12V and am about to get a MB-3606 24V for the 101.
OldBushie
Hi Mick, check the link below, I have discount prices on those exact battery chargers for AULRO forum members.Originally Posted by Mick_Marsh
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/verandah/8...-chargers.html
Seems there are a lot of solutions. Not sure of the RRP for the charger I bought but suffice to say after some haggling and finding I'd chatted with the saleman at the Queanbeyan show, it was under $100 as a 'special for you sir' price - I think they were for sale at $155 for the rest of the punters. Not as cheap as yours Drivesafe, but I'm happy - and as I first said, a little sad too as it shows just how bad the old thing really is so I'm up for a new battery in the wifes bike!
I'd guess ANY good battery charger would have proved the same thing somehow.
OldBushie
Hi Disomania, as long as you got what you wanted, all is well.
As far as trying to find out what is a good battery charge is one thing that can be a problem.
I was asked numerous times to supply battery chargers and looked seriously at carrying some of the Ctek chargers but after loads of researching I came to the conclusion you could get a number of different brands of battery chargers that all had similar functions.
I settled on the PowerTech Plus chargers more so because I heard a few reports on the reliability of the Cteks that didn’t exactly impress me, considering their price tag.
I'm waiting for a range of new high tech marine chargers to be approved for use here and I’ll have them up on my web site as soon as the distributor has stock of them.
YarnMaster
Why not modify an SC40 or 80 to do the same thing or are you not keen on the 240v side and all the associated bollocks with approvals etc??
After all, it does switch between batteries, so technically it could be a double battery charger!!
I'm keeping the 2 Supercharge Allrounders on trickle charge all the time in the RRC atm as its not getting driven at all lately.
Both batteries are connected together and I connect the +ve lead to the +ve terminal of one battery and the -ve lead to the -ve terminal of the other battery.
Question, is this OKas I really cant be assed disconnecting them as it takes soooo long to re setup and program the amp and head unit memories.
I do turn the charger off occasionally for a few days and then turn it back on again too keep it topped up, but would prefer something more automated and dont need to isolate the batteries everytime.
My assumption is that my 4amp RMS non switching charger will supply enough to keep the system powered constantly and keep the batteries topped. With the power consumed by the car with ignition off, the charger is really acting as an alternator, just with a smaller charge....
Right, wrong, good, bad?????
Cheers
Andrew.
OldBushie
Hi Andrew, with that type of charger you would probably be better off using it no more than one every week.
Constant charge battery chargers tend to cook batteries.
If you have it on the batteries now, leave it turned on and measure the voltage at the battery terminals.
if it 14v to 14.5v then just keep an eye on the electrolyte levels.
If it’s any higher, as above, cycle the charger one day in seven to avoid cooking the battery.
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