im wanting to purchaser a new type smart battery charger. im thinking i fancy the noco genius 5 amp at 70 quid from halfords. its gud for up to 120 ah batterys.     they also do a 10amp at 120 quid gud for up to 240 ah batterys.   has anyone got experience of either of these or  any recomendations for any other type of smart charger 

Big fan of the Maypole battery charger. Click here... It has one killer feature that many don't. After a power cut, it will automatically resume charging the battery. Most others will want a button pressed again. Why is this useful? Well, if you leave you car on charge and go on holiday, if you have a power cut whilst away, you'll come back to a fully charged car, with others, you won't!

Oh, and it's a great charger, rated at up to 120 Ah, coming with jumper leads or a more permanent fly lead which I have installed. Also the backlight of the display changes from red on charge, to green when ready, just a nice feature! Also, far cheaper than your proposed, and does exactly the same thing...

 

thats sounds good.  is the 4 amp charge enough for a 85 ah battery. my existing charger is a 4.5 amp and works fine but i want smart. 

I have a Noco Genius 5 and the equivalent Ctek MXS 5. Both cost around the same, both easy to use and seem to work well so far. No battery problems with either of our cars during lockdown.

9 minutes ago, michaelburrows said:

... but i want smart. 

3 hours ago, michaelburrows said:

im wanting to purchaser a new type smart battery charger. im thinking i fancy the noco genius 5 amp at 70 quid from halfords. its gud for up to 120 ah batterys.     they also do a 10amp at 120 quid gud for up to 240 ah batterys.   has anyone got experience of either of these or  any recomendations for any other type of smart charger 

I did a lot of research into the most popular chargers when I bought mine a few months ago and decided on the CTEK MXS 5.0, £68 from Amazon.

and how do you rate the ctek mxs 5. for performance  ease of use  etc.  

4 minutes ago, michaelburrows said:

and how do you rate ........... for performance  ease of use  etc.  

All decent 'smart' chargers need connecting to the battery. It will detect that you have the correct polarity, then detect what type of battery you have, then what kind of charge you need, then it will cook the battery as appropriate. When done, it will stop charging, and turn to trickle mode where you can leave it if you wish. or then disconnect when done. As for performance, they all charge a battery as needed. But if you have £70 burning a hole in your pocket, go get one at that price 🤣 The retailer will be happy you called in...

If you do use a fly lead, it is always a good idea to put a fuse in the +ve close to the battery terminal.

I do not know, but if you have a "Smart Charging Alternator", then the -ve goes to body earth, and not the -ve battery terminal ? Anybody confirm this ?

7 minutes ago, Paulkp said:

If you do use a fly lead, it is always a good idea to put a fuse in the +ve close to the battery terminal.

 

Any decent charger (like the Maypole) will already have a fuse in the fly lead!

thanks for youre time guys.  undecided.haha

3 hours ago, michaelburrows said:

and how do you rate the ctek mxs 5. for performance  ease of use  etc.  

That's an impossible question for anyone who only has one charger. What would you compare it with? It appears to do what it says on the tin, and is extremely easy to use, to analyse further I'd need to be a battery. I found the CTEK not only the most popular charger on the forums but also came top in AutoExpress trials.

3 hours ago, Paulkp said:

If you do use a fly lead, it is always a good idea to put a fuse in the +ve close to the battery terminal.

I do not know, but if you have a "Smart Charging Alternator", then the -ve goes to body earth, and not the -ve battery terminal ? Anybody confirm this ?

-ve connection? Either will do . They are electrically connected, so whatever's most convent. 

NB Having now read some other posts about cars with stop/start (which mine does not have), that might not be strictly accurate, so I'd double-check if your does have s/s.

I don't know if all smart chargers are the same, but mine detects whether it's connected to a 12v or 6v (motorbike) battery. The problem is that when my 12v battery got so flat that it got down to 5v, my charger thought it was a 6v battery and wouldn't charge it to more than 7v, which was not at all helpful!

9 hours ago, alanfp said:

I don't know if all smart chargers are the same, but mine detects whether it's connected to a 12v or 6v (motorbike) battery. The problem is that when my 12v battery got so flat that it got down to 5v, my charger thought it was a 6v battery and wouldn't charge it to more than 7v, which was not at all helpful!

I know I keep harping on about it LOL but my 'maypole' has an overriding 'mode' button just for stuff like that!

15 hours ago, Paulkp said:

I do not know, but if you have a "Smart Charging Alternator", then the -ve goes to body earth, and not the -ve battery terminal ? Anybody confirm this ?

This thread deals with this issue.

12 hours ago, alanfp said:

The problem is that when my 12v battery got so flat that it got down to 5v, my charger thought it was a 6v battery and wouldn't charge it to more than 7v

To be honest if it got that low it was probably beyond recovery anyway.

10 minutes ago, mjt said:

To be honest if it got that low it was probably beyond recovery anyway.

Well, I've had a battery go that low (on an old Merc) and it recovered just fine. Unfortunately, the Merc didn't make it as  year later, I scrapped it LOL