Amps for the weekend warriors - Battery tender/trickle chargers?

[Batbaruman]

Unfortunately don't get to drive car much now as work has taken away paid parking, so public transport most of the time. Plus side is when i do go out driving, I don't have to worry about trying to be conservative with the throttle or taking the fastest/shortest way to somewhere so my time in the seat is just pure fun. Battery is quickly becoming a problem though.

 

I'm sure there are other such weekend warriors out there, what do you do for maintaining battery health on car so it's good to go every time you have a chance to drive? My battery is in boot and car is parked in garage so no opportunities for solar charge options but easy enough to run extension cord through and crank window down if need to. Looking for something convenient, effective and cheap .. you know, the usual  

[ADIKT]

A small ctek trickle charger will do the job

[boon]

Yup mine just has a wee Ctek on it. 

[J CHILN]

I only drive mine once a week if im lucky most of the time fortnightly and it starts first pop each time?

[Batbaruman]

2 hours ago, ADIKT said:

A small ctek trickle charger will do the job

 

2 hours ago, boon said:

Yup mine just has a wee Ctek on it. 

this one here? https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/BATCTK1987/CTEK-MXS-50-12V-5AMP-NG-CHARGER-with-Temperature-C

couldn't find out capacity (aH) of my battery to see if suitable but I'm guessing since normal car battery and not some super heavy duty thing it should be ok? is a Century ns60lsmf heavy duty battery for reference.

 

30 minutes ago, Inked said:

I only drive mine once a week if im lucky most of the time fortnightly and it starts first pop each time?

haven't had it fail to start yet but it's definitely getting more difficult to start the longer i leave it especially during winter. 

 

been down this track on couple older cars and both eventually ran in to starting issues as i simply didn't drive long enough for alternator to finish doing its job. don't wanna chance any of that with this car, since when i'm in the mood to drive, i just wanna start it up and drive  

[ADIKT]

47 minutes ago, Batbaruman said:

 

this one here? https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/BATCTK1987/CTEK-MXS-50-12V-5AMP-NG-CHARGER-with-Temperature-C

couldn't find out capacity (aH) of my battery to see if suitable but I'm guessing since normal car battery and not some super heavy duty thing it should be ok? is a Century ns60lsmf heavy duty battery for reference.

 

haven't had it fail to start yet but it's definitely getting more difficult to start the longer i leave it especially during winter. 

 

been down this track on couple older cars and both eventually ran in to starting issues as i simply didn't drive long enough for alternator to finish doing its job. don't wanna chance any of that with this car, since when i'm in the mood to drive, i just wanna start it up and drive  

You'll find that your battery will be around 500cca and will be like 50-60ah. 

 

That charger will be fine yo. Check other retailers also - might find it cheaper somewhere else

[Andy_Mac]

Personally, I prefer to just let mine go flat whilst never being used, that way I save even more on fuel as the rare occasions I wanna use it it's dead so just take the van instead 👍

[Zenki]

+1 to getting a CTEK charger. They can be left hooked up to the battery semi-permanently with no ill effects, and come with a plug to wire to the battery terminals so you don't have to mess with clips or clamps every time you disconnect the charger, just unplug the body from the leads bolted to the terminals and close the trunk.

 

I've seen people play with the wiring and feed them through the body of the car so that the charger can be connected without leaving any body panels open.

 

A Century NS60 is somewhat smaller than the OE-replacement battery (55D23 or 58), which won't be helping as you're down on capacity even when fully charged. See if you can fit the larger battery when the time comes to get another one, there's little difference in cost.

[Batbaruman]

18 hours ago, Zenki said:

+1 to getting a CTEK charger. They can be left hooked up to the battery semi-permanently with no ill effects, and come with a plug to wire to the battery terminals so you don't have to mess with clips or clamps every time you disconnect the charger, just unplug the body from the leads bolted to the terminals and close the trunk.

 

I've seen people play with the wiring and feed them through the body of the car so that the charger can be connected without leaving any body panels open.

 

A Century NS60 is somewhat smaller than the OE-replacement battery (55D23 or 58), which won't be helping as you're down on capacity even when fully charged. See if you can fit the larger battery when the time comes to get another one, there's little difference in cost.

thanks on both counts mate, will keep in mind to get a bigger capacity battery when the time comes to replace it. currently looking for the best place to get the ctek charger now

[newsuba]

damn , this thread title is as misleading as the woofer thread for hifi buffs.

 

 

ditto on the trickle charger.