Charger

[marinaman]

Evening all

Looking at this charger, seems to have trickle and fast charge and a jump start facility which is handy for us that dont use the car much and forget to charge it,

I downloaded the manual, it does say battery should be disconnected before charging but it seems to say that on a lot of chargers. For £60 it seems to offer a lot, i know i can get the 5a Ctek for the same cash but the jump start seems a good idea as a back up.

I asked the company selling them on Amazon , a place in Hampshire called Union Mart UK , they said it would be fine still connected.

Just thought i would check with the real experts , links below for amazon and the instruction booklet,

Thanks

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07 ... P17VQ4904X

http://www.unionmartltd.com/docs/manual ... manual.pdf

[X5Sport]

Things to check.....
Is it for Lead Acid only or AGM? It doesn’t say. AGM batteries have a specific charge voltage and current. You may or may not have an AGM type fitted (it will say on the battery) but many BMWs do have them.

Yes you can leave it in the boot (indeed BMW tell you to do just that and use the under bonnet connections) when charging BUT if on fast charge you will need to monitor the battery closely for temperature.

Fast chargers can generate a lot of heat which distorts the battery’s plates and causes shorts. That will of course result in a wrecked battery. Fast charging also liberates a lot of hydrogen gas - which goes Bang! This would be a good reason for them to recommend removing the battery from the car in order to cover their backsides

Your best bet is to leave the car connected to a conditioner charger (like the CTEK family) but you need the car safely off the road/in a garage for that.

It also doesn’t say what the jump start rating is - or I missed it - as you need a fair whack for these cars. The OEM starter will pull 180A on a cold morning in winter.

The charger looks OK as long as you take care if using the higher power settings.

For my E46/E71 which both have 3.0L Diesel engines, I use a 10A CTEK if they are going flat. The E46 when in storage is connected permanently to a CTEK 5A conditioner for up to 6-months at a time.

[Leslie]

Ctek are great little chargers and that's what i would go with and id think the jump start function would be hard on a battery .

[ttr]

Eh Up

For what its worth CTEK are cracking, fitted mine and put a thread on here

Brilliant bit of kit and the quick connect to the charge poles is a godsend

HTH

[henrym3]

I know it was a number of years ago but my son bought me something similar and it worked great on a few 1.6 and 2.0ltr cars and I was pleased with it. Then used it on a friends 3.0d which was turning over but not starting so the battery wasn’t completely flat and it just didn’t have the power. So be carefull, you can own these things until after the warranty is up before you discover they are c%*p. There are a lot of people on here with CTEK mostly old men (no offence to anyone) who have probably migrated there because of experience with other chargers

[marinaman]

Would that have been one of thos battery in a box type things with jump leads attached do you know ?

This seems to supply the jump start as its plugged into the mains, it says rated at 130amps

I cant work out though how they say its a trickle or fast charger when the charge rate is 20amp thats not a trickle in my book.

Just seems good to have the function for a reasonable price.

[henrym3]

Not that I’m very clued upon the subject but doesn’t the 3.0ltr diesel and 4+ ltr petrol draw more than that on start.

[marinaman]

Yes X5 said 180amp but wouldnt battery still have some amps left in it though not enough to start the car ?

[henrym3]

Where is X5Sport when you need him? I know what your saying but it seems to marginal to me, yes, if at home and you can plug it in to power, then probably not a problem, but what’s the point of lugging it about in the car if it hasn’t got the guts to do it away from home.

[marinaman]

Yes see the point, my problem is car is on road outside, have to put mains cable under a carpet mat to plug charger in, car still up for sale, i had one email from someone one this site who sounded very interested then never replied back after asking questions, one in the whole UK i expected it to be gone pretty fast, so as it dont get used the battery dies away, i need to top up every few weeks or its dead. then take 2 days to charge up again, this rohr charger seemed like a good idea if it was flat , o thought i may at least get it started.
Wish someone would buy it.
Put it on webuyanycar came back at £2585 i only asked £3000 on this forum . Didnt seem a lot for a great car.

[Leslie]

You must have got webuyanycar on a good day Marinaman , I put the e70 sd I was looking at buying in to get a value and they only offered 6k (2009 car with 128k, fsh ,1 owner !)

[marinaman]

Think will stick with the Ctek 5amp its on offer on the Amazon black friday fortnight

if your going to buy one this seems the best buy

https://www.amazon.co.uk/CTEK-MXS-5-0-R ... er+mxs+5.0

[ttr]

Marinaman

That’s what I got cracking bit of kit

I would strongly recommend getting the ctek quick connect too, it’s dirt cheap and you can fix it to the charge poles under the bonnet permanently.

Just flick the cap of plug in and forget, no need for the croc leads.

I put a thread on here in December ish.

Hope it helps.

Best check with henrym3 though to make sure we are old enough to use them