With Built In Temperature Compensation, Motorcycle And Car Charger, Smart Battery Charger, Battery Maintainer With Reconditioning Mode And Dedicated AGM Mode
CamelCamelCamel.
Yep, I've got my Victron topping up my car's battery right now.
Also, I've read that this model of CTEK has an issue with the button going bad or something.
Mode selector button can go bad. Of the 4 i bought one had that issue. Doesen't affect the charging but means you can't change modes.
It does go bad, I have the 5.0 and 10 and the button is stuck on the mode I left it long ago.
Youtube videos has a fix but I cant be bothered mucking around with it.
I was going to buy the ctek but now looking at the Victron. Which one would you recommend?
The product is this: https://www.victronenergy.com/chargers/blue-smart-ip65-charg…
As for the which model, it depends on the size of your car battery. You want to aim for 10-20% of the amp hour (AH) of your battery. So for example, my battery is 50 AH and my charger is 10 amps, so bang on 20%.
@EthanBezz: I used a $10 kmart 12V/2A charger on a 55Ah battery. It was plugged in for a week and still not full!
The 5amp one has been good enough for me, I paid around $114 a few years ago
Checkout the NOCO chargers also, Ive heard good things about them.
100% correct, the button on my MXS 5.0 stopped working around 12 months after purchase. Still charges 6 years later but onpy on the 1 mode.
Do you have a link for the recommended Victron?
How much is a victron that charge lithium batteries?….not $93
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/174211965812?chn=ps&_ul=AU&srslt…
One of these. Victron is well worth the slight extra, even when not on sale.
Don't let the inflated Amazon RRP trick you on the CTek.
Got one to test out, $95.45 as per the link from jon. BT smarts are bit of a surprise.
I paid $114 for my victron 5 amp one off ebay years ago ( i would of used a coupon). Sold the the one in this deal
Here's the Victron one that charges lithium batteries.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/285099808537?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mk…
$97.75 with the 15% off code or $95.45 if you have eBay Plus.
Good find, an extra few $ gets you a much more versatile charger. This Victron charger can also connect to your phone via bluetooth so you can monitor all previous charging records.
Is this ok for charging/tending a 12v car battery?
The real deals are always in the comments 👍🏼
Can I use this to charge my 12V 100Ah Deep Cycle Lithium LiFePO4 Battery from my Landcruiser AGM battery. If this works I can get rid of my solar blanket and DC to DC charger.
@dumbass777: Im not quite following, The Victron will charge lifepo4, and it will charge AGM, seperatly, on separate modes.
I think @mitcheo was referring to the charger being labelled "smart"
I referring to the advertising on the product. Im not out here personally attacking people lol
The majority of car and motorcycle owners don’t have a Li-Ion so it’s moot. Till then it’s a good buy. I have two xms5 and xms7, 10yrs and 8yrs old. Mode button still like new, what are you people doing to your buttons. Must be ham fisted.
The xms5 was 80 dollars when I bought it, and the xms7 on sale at repo for 125. This is before covid pricing, so the market has put enough on these chargers. I do like the service they’ve given me all these years later
Maybe they've had some QA issues with newer devices? I've also had one for a few years now and has been great. No issues, and I rate the "comfort connect" lead you can connect to the battery and leave there so it's dead simple to hook up (one of my cars the battery is hidden under a plastic panel that's very fiddly to remove/clip back in)….
Me too, I have two cars and a MC with a hidden connector hahaha. I helped an older rider with a new battery and mxs5 for his Goldwing. He knew what type of run I've had with mine and was adamant on getting a Ctek. The vehicle 4x4 gets a monthly top up, and the bike is permanently connected as it only gets a Sunday ride. He loves his. The leads are only 12 or so dollars and the alligator clips are handy when other people don't have a solution when you have a flat battery.
Mode button still like new, what are you people doing to your buttons. Must be ham fisted.
Great way to victim blame.
At least three (EDIT: up to SIX now) people on this post alone have had buttons fail and a few of the YouTube button self-repair videos have tens of thousands of views.
The button died on my MXS 5.0 about 18 months after purchase. I'd never even used the mode selector switch aside from testing it the first day of delivery, so I know it worked once, but when I wanted to charge an AGM battery for the first time it failed.
I bought it from eBay and the seller disappeared into the ether. Despite claiming 5 years warranty, CTEK themselves refused to honour the warranty as they told me the eBay seller should honour it. They refused to repair it based on the serial number.
Never buying one again. I can repair it myself (EDIT: I just double-checked and my model doesn't have screws so I need to crack it open! Guess that's why I didn't repair it myself years ago) but it was a crappy experience from a product that people had recommended on car forums for many years.
EDIT 2: Screwless version repair tip - YouTube videos suggest heating the top label and peeling it off gives access to the microswitch, and if you're lucky a good squirt with some contact cleaner will clean off the corrosion and get it working again.
I've had this battery charger since 2015. I paid $99 back then (on sale). It has served me well, charging/maintaining my lead acid car batteries - getting much longer life out of them than without using a charger (especially if doing a lot of shorter trips). It also revived my friend's AGM marine batteries.
As stated above, it doesn't do lithium batteries, so if that is a requirement you're better off looking for a different charger.
assuming most of our trips are only 3-4 kilometres per day (unsafe to walk due to late shifts)…how often should we trickle charge using this?
I do monthly top ups, the Motorcycle is always connected when not in use. For you I’d start with fortnightly top up charges. No need to trickle charge, just set and forget.
the button fail after a couple of years on average… make sure you change it back to the function that you usually use…so when the button gives up, you still can use that function
For those with button issues. I recently got mind replaced by Repco, as they come with a 5 year warranty. Just hold onto your receipts! (Obviously Amazon will have to come to the party on refund/replacement.
thanks for the tip…found my email confirmation from Repco from last year…will print it since I almost forgot whether I bought it from SCA, Repco, Ebay or Amazon, Autobarn
I got an china brand one off aliexpress for 1/3 of the price. Works fine and hasn't blown up yet. It apparently even does LiFePo4 but i have not used it for that type.
I see a bunch on there. Which one have you got?
Great charger.
I know many people with 'weekend only' cars and collections that run these constantly. (Including myself.)
I've been looking at buying one of these for a while but after watching some of the testing and teardowns that this guy has done on the CTEK, I'm now not so sure
I have one, maybe 5 yrs now. Works fine but is old technology.
I got the CTEK MXS 10 a month or two ago, It is infuriating that it is costing 50% less now haha
My motorcycle battery went RIP and now it is back to its glory.
It didn't get too hot and did what it was supposed to do.
I see no point in getting this 5A over 10A, it is better to have more and don't need it than you need more A and you don't have it.
I wouldn't recommend folks to go to cheap only to find out it cannot charge bigger batteries or will take an eternity to do so.
10A took 12h to fully recover my 270CCA motorcycle battery, 5A I would expect to take twice as long or longer than 12h
10A is too big for a small MC batt. That’s why the xms5 exists. Big capacity batts. just take a little longer to fully charge on the smaller chargers, no real big deal, slow charging is kinder on all batteries even if they can take a big charge rate.
You might want to look at your figures again. Cause they’re messed up.Forget CCA ratings, look at AH. My CB500X has a 9Ah battery at 5A it’s more like 2hrs, see the correlation. And that’s dependent upon a few factors and if it’s dead flat. The car batt. is an 80Ah hobby, it’s only ever taken 4hrs or so on the xms10 on its worst day.
Are there any risks leaving these on for weeks/months?
Or should I also invest in a smart plug so it powers on once/twice a week for half a day?
Which option would be better long term health/safety?
They have a specific long term maintenance mode they switch to automatically after being on for a week.
no dramas ,I leave mine on continuously on my bike…been doing it for years…
No problem leaving them long term, they will charge the battery, then go into float mode where it’s monitoring and if the level drops a preset figure, it’ll charge it again. This is the automatic charging features and maintenance modes it has amongst the others they have. It can act as a 12V power supply too. Handy when a battery has been so discharged that smart chargers don’t sense a battery when connected and can’t charge it. Then features to exercise it, drain and charge and recover a battery.
This xms5 is perfectly fine and safe and a good price. It’ll do all 12 vehicles with the battery types it supports and will do the smaller Motorcycle batteries and the small UPS AGM batteries, done a few of those too.
Thanks, just bought one.
Beats constantly disconnecting the battery when I'm not using the car for long periods.
Thanks for the crowd wisdom, cancelled the MXS 5.0 order and bought a Victron Blue Smart IP65s 12V 5A instead, due to it's power supply mode & bluetooth connectivity. Already got a CTEK XS 0.8 for trickle charging (connected for months).
Was looking at Noco and other brands knowing CTEK may not be the best like how it is priced. Never heard of Victron until I read this and glad that I did ;-)
good choice
Happy with the choice, such a good product with bluetooth + app, great user experience. Function wise, also better than CTEK, wow. Don't understand why it has not become CTEK / NOCO competitor in the AU market.
I have been using OzCharge trickle chargers for the past few years and it's been brilliant.
Bought another yesterday, one model up at a good price. Ordered yesterday morning and delivered this morning. Free shipping Aus wide.
https://www.batterysolutionsnetwork.com.au/ozcharge-pro-seri…
![[Prime] CTEK MXS 5.0 Smart Battery Charger $93 Delivered @ Amazon AU](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/92/856692.jpg?h=8d3f17cd)
Not very smart. Doesnt charge lithium batteries. Much better options out there, e.g victron