Don't like the adverts?  Click here to remove them

CTEK Battery Chargers

While this seems like the bargain of the decade, looking on Lidl website shows £70 or so. Couldn’t seem to find it otherwise.
 
I think you might need to go into the shop rather than the website! I bought two of em....
 
I couldn't find the on their web site either, odd because they normally list their specials, so shop it will be.
Is it the red one Karl ?
 
Answering my own question here ( must do more homework)
No, its not the red one, and says on their ad, "in store only"
Thanks anyway, Karl.
 
Don't like the adverts?  Click here to remove them
They're actually white! (Ctek must be going for a new look)!

Functionally I think it's the usual ctek 5 amp charger - can do AGM and has recon mode etc
 
Interesting, Lidl used to do their own version of the CTEK.
I've had 2 Silverline (Lidl) smart chargers, they both packed up as did the CTEK that went before them, all in about the same time frame.
One of them going down unnoticed by me also ruined a recently bought Varta battery on my old Merc which sulphated beyond saving.

Meanwhile my old school Absaar a lump of an unsmart charger plods on merrily some 25 years later, at 4 or 11 amps.
 
Supposedly you can leave one on permanently without any problem, ie over winter for a summer use only vehicle...which is great so long as it doesn't pack up mid winter which mine did.

They also can pulse charge and other things which mean bugger all to me, also battery recovery which failed to recover my Varta.
 
What is smart about a smart charger. My 1960 charger shows 2 amps on an uncharged battery but drops down to 0 amps when the battery is charged. Is not that smart enough?

I think they vary the current and the voltage to charge the battery more effectively. Eg an AGM battery needs a higher voltage to charge fully
 
I don't know how the technology works but I swear by them and I have a collection of them keeping various batteries alive - Land Cruiser, motorcycle, boat.

My motorcycle battery is at least ten years old and still going strong.

I must be a CTEK salesman's dream - all the gear and no idea!
 
I use my 80 very little now but leave it on charge all the time when garaged. The charger reads 0.2 amps so the batteries must be in good condition and fully charged. Presumably if you drive every day you don't need a charger. I've just bought another 60's charger off ebay. Very simple inside. Just a transformer, rectifier and ammeter. Again it is "self adjusting" and the ammeter reads almost zero when the batteries are charged. Well made item and very lowly stressed
 
I have to say I am 100% with you on this @frank rabbets. I love old school stuff, the less to go wrong the better! My 80 has been all but parked up now since I went into hospital at the beginning of September last year as I have yet to recover my driving licence. So I simply left the car parked up with a single solar panel and controller on 'maintenance mode', the system has actually been in for around five or six years, never misses a beat. Old style 'load tester' for batteries as well, the modern versions cannot detect faulty internal cell connections. Battery charger is an old one, reads IIRC 0 - 5 amps, I had not used it for a number of years however, my work van also parked up for the same amount of time as the 80, once a month an overnight charge on the old charger and all done. I just know when I dig out 'stuff' like this it is going to work!

Regards

Dave
 
Meanwhile over at Aldi they do their own-brand trickle charger for £14.99. I have a Ctek but bought one for the caravan. No complaints after three months.

IMG_20220627_202002925.jpg
 
Last edited:
+1 I have 2 of those, one for general use and 1 for the caravan.
One is around 4 years old now, and they have loads of functions on them.
 
I have a couple of those as well from ALDI, I take them with me when I go camping with other site members we stop in camp sites with hookups, re the functions mine has motorbike, car and car again although for cold weather? Unsure why that function is there, the charge rate is the same?

Either way, I take the two as they are small and compact, and of course if one fails I have a spare, I must have a fridge.

Regards

Dave
 
Back
Top