I'm moving to a new house this weekend which I'm fortunate to have power in the garage.

I don't use the car very often and just want a decent charger to plug in and leave on the car letting it do what it needs to do.

What's everybody use and recommend?

 

had one of these on my old classic for years, cracking bit of kit


few different models with varying prices so can choose what to pay

 

Optimate4 ..... my car lives plugged into it and it works a treat!

Comes with a nice wee hardwire quick connector to plumb direct to the battery and hide in the grille too.

 

Optimate everytime.

 

My choice would be the CTEK unit

 

Either of the above.

I'd buy whichever one is doing the extra lead for leaving connected to the battery so that connection is a plug in affair, and whichever one is doing the wall mounting for the cheapest price.

With C-Tek, beware of buying from ebay etc, C-Tek say they will ONLY honour the guarantee from authorised sellers

 

+1 for the CTEK mate

 

ive owned both of the above mentioned and this is excellent

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CTEK-NEW-M...item27faf67395

siv

 

CTEK, everytime.

Have them on the bikes as well when they're not being used.

 

Agreed....but as I said...watch out for ebay sellers who aren't accredited dealers.
C-Tek will NOT honour any guarantee.

The price from C-Tek or one of their dealers is only about £4-£5 more anyway.

 

CTEK end.

 

I have a CTEK on my boat and a Optimate on my bike. The Optimate gives you more information but the CTEK feels a better quality bit of kit.
If I was buying again I'd go for CTEK

 

Optimate here and mine is the best part of 10yrs old and still doing it's job.

 

Sorry for a noob question but is this basically like a normal car charger? Or is it like timed ir something and switches off by itself once battery is full??

 

Electronic, can't overcharge, feeds back the state of the battery and gives it as much charge as it needs, so is often called a battery conditioner.
They can be left connected all the time the car isn't in use.

 

Thankyou. Also another question. Can it be left connected to the car any ill effects or perfectly fine?

 

they tend to be known as battery conditioners rather than chargers. They keep the battery charged by detecting when the votage in it drops, then when it gets high again it stops charging.

idea is they are left connected to the car while it parked, most come with a quick connector so leads stay on the car all the time and just snap fit the connector when you park up.

 

big arrow is the quick connector, the main grey and black unit on the left stays at home

 

No ill effects...the reverse in fact, keeps the battery in tip-top condition.