in the bay i had a 7 amp one, i think the design has changed a bit so can't recall the part number, obviously the 7 did the job but with all the stuff on sometimes struggled to keep up with the draw of the power hungry fridge and lighting etc, just looking on ebay i see they now do a 10 amp but do i need it? i still don't know what fridge i'm going to run but i guess any new one won't draw as much as the bay one did, has anyone got a 10 or should i stick with the 7?
Ask @zed , he asked everybody a coupla weeks ago. 7 is good, 10 better as it makes the recharge less stressful on the charger if you hammer the LB
Or an 18-amp Amperor for less money. http://www.amperorassociates.co.uk/c-battery_chargers/BatteryC-3_18A.html
I'd stick with the 7, if it can't keep up then get a bigger one. I think it matters what amp battery your using for amount of time taken to fully recharge..
i just remembered i got one of those aldi "copy" versions a quick google says it's 3.8amp, i might use that for a bit and see how it goes, i know it's a simple charge only job and no supply mode but it means i can at least bung a few amps in while on hook up, especially as i don't have a fridge planned for a while so it will really just be doing lights and the odd usb item. http://www.manualguru.com/aldi/auto-xs-cpl-2054/users-manual
a bit of a google says the aldi one is a copy/rebrand of a maypole one which are only about £25 on ebay.
Ctec looks good if you have a spare £100, I'm using it just for the(compressor) fridge and lighting on power mode and it's not even warm. I might run the battery down for a few days then plug it back in, in the name of science.
Didn't you just say you were mistaken and had a Aldi lookilikee that was 3.5? Or is that another one and the Ctec went with the bus? I'm confused. I went for the 10, it was another tenner and like busmonkey I thought it would cope better when it needed to do some serious charging.
I think you would need bigger than the 3.8. on the c-tec 10 the supply mode is a feature that allows you to remove the battery and not loose things like radio settings, its not what I would class as a permanent supply for a fridge etc. if your fridge is going to draw a lot get the biggest so it keeps up with the charging..
Oops, that's not how I read it, I better read it again, I thought it said it's for when you rock up and are basically fully charged (95%), to keep the battery topped up for when you leave.
pinched from ctec.. The MXS 10 is a charger that offers state of the art technology. It is ideal for professional use and excellent in workshops, caravans, RVs, boats or cars. The MXS 10 is perfect for solving a broad range of battery problems. It offers features such as battery diagnosis that shows if a battery can receive and retain a charge, a special reconditioning function that restores stratified and deeply discharged batteries, unique maintenance charging and a temperature sensor for optimised charging regardless of the weather conditions. It also has a power supply mode which allows the battery to be disconnected from the vehicle without losing important configurations. The unique display allows the user to follow the entire charging process.
@zed what is the little thin wire on the 10? i see 3 wires on it one 240 in one 12 out, what's the other?
@zed , In practice, you can also use this function to put constant voltage into the system when the battery is still in situ. It's useful if the draw on the system is particularly heavy, for example when ambient is high and the fridge & all other systems are pulling amps. I have used this function during really hot days, up to 45'c, to assist the old Westy fridge. It still made ice, but wouldn't when the charger was in the "normal" charge mode.
