Battery chargers/conditioners - best buy?

[Ian F]

I have a CTEK charger for the MGBGT, and an old Optimate 4 charger which I use for the Midget. The Optimate is now on its last legs and I'm looking for a replacement. The usual spec. is what I'm after - keeping a battery in good condition over the Winter and being left connected for long periods etc. The market place now seems to be flooded with options -unlike a few years ago (just take a look at the huge Optimate range!) so I'm faced with quite a task in selecting the best option at reasonable cost.
Anyone have any particular recommendations? It is for the midget so I will probably just use the crocodile clips for connection as the battery is quite accessible (for the BGT I have an extension for connecting the CTEK unit which sits next to the battery cut-out on the rear bulkhead behind the passenger seat).

Ian F.

[David M B Leggeat]

Ian,
I have had a CTEK XS3600 for years and have been pleased with its performance.
I recently bought the updated version CTEK MXS3.6, as an additional charger, via the MGCC shop.
Regards,
David.

[Geoff Norcliffe]

I too have a CTEK charger for a Midget and find this does a really good job in maintaining the battery during long periods of non use. My son also uses a different model CTEK to maintain his Midget battery with the same results, both cars have dynamos. So I would recommend the CTEK especially if your own experience of them is good.
My BGT which has been converted to a single battery seems to lose very little charge when stood and I have not had to use a charger with that one, again a dynamo charged model.
As an aside I have an 03 TF which does run the battery down over a period of three weeks if unused and as this one is kept under a carport I tried a solar charger which simply clips to the battery with crocodile clips. Experience of this one is that while the rate of battery discharge is reduced, testing with a volt meter shows it still discharges at around 0.1V per week.

Geoff

[Charles Farran]

Ian,
I have a Ctek MXS . 5 which has been faultless for 2 years. I have recently bought the extension cable & cigarette plug ( which are expensive but well made )so I can connect it directly to the cigarette lighter socket which is permanently connected on my car & not dependent on the ignition switch being in the aux position or on.This saves me having to access the battery compartment on my 1980 roadster. I understand that some earlier cars / those for other markets were not necessarily wired in this way.
Charles

[Ian F]

Thanks everyone, looks like CTEK then! I had moved towards the MXS 3.8 or the MXS 5.0, so your comments have reinforced this position. Ironically I managed yesterday to repair the Optimate 4 which is now functional again, so being a good Yorkshireman living in Scotland I may postpone the additional expenditure a little longer (hope I'm allowed to say all of that in these PC times.......).
Thanks again
Ian F

[Martin Evans]

I have various battery savers (I think they have all come from Frost- https://www.frost.co.uk/battery-savers.html) and on my Morris Minor and the Midget, I just connect to the battery with the standard clips. The V8 has one of these https://www.frost.co.uk/battery-pulse-clean-master.html and has done for quite a long time. I connect the + to a live terminal on the fuse box (With a spade connector) and the - to the oil filter mount, via a standard crocodile clip. There is a battery cut out under the boot floor and this has a fuse bypass, to allow charging but it would blow if anyone tried to start the car. The Pulse Master has worked well. I had a set of twin 6V lead acid batteries from Lincoln Batteries (Who put in extra plates) and these out lasted any others but whether this was due to the Pulse Master or due the the batteries being superior (Or a bit of both), I don't know. I now have a set of twin 12V (The Manor Garage system) Yuasa batteries in parallel and they seem fine with the same charger.

My mother's BGT has a single 12V and as she has an MGOC battery box, the size of battery is limited by the box. There is a type of Yuasa battery, that is up to the job and she now has that, allied to a Yuasa conditioner, which seems very good.

[Vic Butler]

I have an Accumate charger/ conditioner which is connected to the battery with a fly lead and this is connected to the charger by a connector behind the driver's seat.
The battery is an Optima Red Top AGM type which is literally fit and forget. The previous Optima lasted 9 years on the MG after spending 3 years on my Land Rover. The only modification to fit this battery was to the clamp.
There is an electrical leak somewhere and I believe it could be something to do with the ignition switch/ steering lock which I replaced a good few years ago but I don't want to change the switch and find out that it wasn't the problem. It's very easy to disconnect the charger before using the car and to reconnect it afterwards.
. Vic Butler

[Pharer]

Thanks for the replies. I bought it new in the 70's... I worked for a Mobil station at the time and we used Schauer floor standing models.. they had more settings and adjustments.

In essence, the one I have does a great job just leaving it on "Automatic Maintenance Free" assuming the battery is in fact "Maintenance Free"... which obviously AGM's are.. just with no juice. My Schauer detects the AMPs needed and charges the battery.. slowly climbs to 10AMPs and then will decrease to 1-2 AMPs and then shuts off. I can leave it unattended for a week if I wish...

I've had to use this charger a few times recently...

My '91 Cherokee has an Interstate 4 year wet battery... after our long winter, it was pretty much dead. The NOCO 3.5 AMP charger would just shut down after a minute. I hooked up my Schauer and it brought it back to life...

My '02 Express Van has a Delco 6 year wet battery charger https://wheelstips.com/best-car-battery-charger again, after our long winter, it was too low. I removed and hooked it up to my Schauer and let it charge for a week.. the charger shut off automatically after a full charge.

I want to try it on an AGM and see how it works. I would watch it, but would still set it on the "Automatic Maintenance Free" setting and allow it to do its thing.