Thank you for the extensive testing videos on the CTEK. I bought a NOCO Genius 5, and it has some of the same functionality of the CTEK, but the manual is quite poor and it doesn't show the charge profiles like the CTEK. I had to go go their website to get more information. I fell for their slick marketing of being able to desulphate the battery but like you showed here - they only desulphate when the battery voltage is low and I feel it does the same as you have shown- a few quick pulses before moving onto the next stage- so basically useless. As you said sulphation happens across the voltage. Its only after I started bugging the support desk it finally came out that the only way to desulphate the battery is using their recondition mode. There are older model battery chargers/ maintainers that provide a desulpation pulse no matter the voltage and probably do a better job of recovering a battery
Thanks. I have got hold of what seems to be a reasonable 8A charger from China. It claims toe have full recondition mode. I have briefly tried it and I can hear the current spikes even at full charge. I'll run it on the system connect it up soon and do a video. It is on my todo list.
I had a NOCO. The problem was the build quality. The strain relief cracked where the 120 volt main power enters the case. A few mm of both bare conductors were exposed. NOCO show marketing pictures of the charger sitting in the engine bay. That won't end well. I switched to a CTEK polar specifically because of the better build quality that is rated for cold weather (mechanical rating of the materials used for the case, cord insulators, etc).
Great review and test of Ctek battery chargers. I'd like to see you test PulseTech Battery Charger's and PowerPulse passive battery desulfators. I use a PulseTech Power Pulse battery desulfator that you leave on your battery at all times, PulseTech claims that it will extend the battery life up to three times, and uses a patented frequency rather than use voltage spikes.
Is there a battery charger you would recommend? If I could get this ctek charger for 20-30$ then would it be worth it? Or do you feel buying a new battery is the way to go?
Does the desulphation mode not have to be set to "RECOND" on the charger? Also, on my CTEK (same model) the first light that flashes on your demo, is constantly lit once connected - no flashing.
Good question. There are many claims and no explanations and many disclaimers in the documentation. What is happening when a stage LED does not match the documentation. Draw your own conclusions but know that a sulphated VRLA starting battery will always be a sulphated VRLA starting battery. Might as well buy sine snake oil from the market and rub it on the outside of the battery case... just as effective.
I teach engineering and electronics, this is a great video and it is helping me ascertain the best way to keep my 3 vehicles, 2 old road cars and a project car charged. I have an old linear 4A and 8A halfords charger and a constant current 300mA Draper trickle. I tend to use the bulk charging to get the 12.7v or so then trickle it to 14.5 and disconnect and redo a month later. It is a faff and a decent auto charger would have helped.
Hi Hung, the CTEK is pretty brutal but can be effective. It depends on the degree of sulfation. If the car has been used for short trips then a simple full absorbtion/float charge on a monthly basis in the winter will probably at least double the life of your battery. Use the CTEK, dont leave it connected to the power mains for more than you need else it will blow. keep it in a warm dry place and don't use in very humid environments. Never bring it from a cold environment to a warm and power i u straight away because condensation will form and boom. Protect the push button area. One knock on the push button damages the clicky dome and you will have change it so keep it in a box. The CTEK is probably the best at recon but it is shame that it well engineered to suit isn't operating environment. I did an IP65 test to it rating and it just went bang when powered up.
terrific test. thanks. from what i see, it desulfates every time we charge the battery. but, how much? seems just partially to me. then, couldnt we get a device that just desulfates so the battery is completely desulfated?
The jury is out on Desulfation. I have tried it many times over the years without any noticeable success and always ended up buying a new battery. I am doing a real test with a Noco genius 5 and a slightly sad battery. Videos are on channel.
Hey, thanks for you full analysis on the charger. Still interested in you opening up the battery to see the physical sulfation though, that would be cool to see. I bought one myself to see if it could save a motorcycle batery that wouldn't crank the engine anymore but still reads 12.8V with the ignition off. The motorcycle shop on the corner charged it overnight and did a load test. They said it wouldn't hold it's voltage so it's a dud. It's an AGM battery so a replacement would cost at least as much as the charger. Interested to see if this charger could resurrect it by either a normal charge or using the reconditioning mode. There seem to be many people on Reddit who did and got a few more years out of their battery. If it doesn't, I'll at least have a charger to keep the next battery in good condition and an expensive paperweight.
@@razenby Yes it dit! I let it fully charge and run the reconditioning program, and then another full charge overnight. The Yuasa battery keeps giving over 12V when starting the engine. However sometimes at a gas station for example it doesn't start the engine in one go. However after that, it will crank strongly. But still don't fully trust the battery. I think the low charging state did some permanent damage to the battery and it has a lower maximum capacity now. Still saved me 80 bucks on a new battery though and the charger will keep this battery and eventually the next ones in good condition for years to come hopefully.
On you tine is a video with an official of ctek. He said the recond. mode is the best way to desulphate a car battery.and u can do this 2times without stop.one by another
To avoid such problems, you must charge the battery regularly. And must not let the battery drop below certain voltage values.it will be able to sulphate and lose its energy
I own CTEK MXS 7.0. It seem to have developed a problem . I hear the sound of switching repeatedly, and the programme is stuck on the start of Bulk charge but charging not going on . What could be the problem ? A faulty MOSFET?
Could be ... have you checked the fuse in the battery lead. The FETs are easy to check with a multimeter. Usually there are visual signs of distress.Open it up and check for corrosion or any burned or discoloured components. The switching sound might be switch mode the power supply folding back due to overcurrent. Only run it out of the case if you know what you are doing ans are aware of the risks. I have never seen the MXs7.0 my guess it is an overdriven MXS5.0 producing about 6 Amps.
LOL when you started with that nerd voice ... i thought, here we go - because i've watched too many videos seeking little bits of info on this and that.
From what i know ctek is not the best in desulfation.a us company has patented impulse technology which is said on various websites that works with true. Pulsetech is their site.Good views are also about Battery minder chargers.After your experiment it become obvious that ctek is just a better or worse charger.i think they misplaced the method of desulfation, and that it was there.they just want to see if the battery accepts it or not carging.the questin is how can we really desulfate a battery? If i had your knowledge i would try to find out.ty
Patents in the USA are easy to come by. A Patent is no proof of efficacy of the device described within and also not proof of pre-existing knowledge or techniques. It just means the Patent office didn't find anything in their superficial search. The electrical methods outlined have been known and understood for years. If you use on a healthy battery then it is similar to a doctor prescribing a drug with bad side effects to an otherwise healthy patient just in case they get sick.......Much better Keep the battery in good condition by performing a non-destructive regular (~monthly) absorption charge on a vehicle that does short runs or is parked. This is a charge at low current ~(70 to 150mA) until the terminal voltage reaches 14,4V @ 25 deg ambient. Typically this can tale up to 10 hours to complete. During this charge the battery accepts the final ~20% of charge capacity and more importantly the stage at which the remnants of the microscopic amorphous coating of lead sulphate covering the plates is broken down by electrolysis without etching (damaging) the battery plates or dissociative gassing of the electrolyte. If left in place, these crystals act as seeds for growth of larger un-shiftable sulfate crystals that cause permanent damage by obscuring active areas of the battery plate rendering them inactive. If you do short trips in cold weather and you are driving around and using a partially discharged battery. So safe prevention is better than a damaging cure. Give the battery an absorption charge once a month and forget desulphation as is it is an urban myth from years ago when you could safely mistreat heavily built batteries with robust large plates that could be over-voltaged without damage and the electrolyte loss could be replenished with Distilled water. . Modern batteries have minimalist designs are just about designed to last the the warranty period with less than ideal vehicle charging regime. It is all about a huge and lucrative business.
Hello again.justi little help please.if i please sometging...can you made for me thoese modification on ctek..is briliant i love it but i can not do it myself...
@@dacomaniac That is a design fault. The tact switch that is under the button breaks if the switch gets knocked or damp. Check the switch with a multimeter see the CTEK MX 3600 repair video on this channel where you can see the switch tested and replaced
I don't know. As far as I can imagine (which is very limited) it would just look like an electric board in a clear case. You will not be able to see the angry little electro pixies at work unless you take some hallucinogenics first...
Recond mode is explored in the other videos on the CTEK on this channel. It just overcharges the battery. On a Macro scale, overcharging dissolves lead at the surface of the plates undermining the Lead Sulphate crystals and they fall off exposing an active plate surface this increasing the capacity and reducing the source impedance of the battery.
I thought the same thing. Previous recond video i could not physically see if recond mode was used. As we could not see the charger.. But i trust this dude nobody will go through this effort to not have recond mode on 🤦🏽♂️. Thank you for the video you saved me money. Just going to buy the Bosch c3 charger its 3.8 amp and much cheaper. Any thoughts on the Bosch c3?
What a clever guy, keep up the awesome work and thanks for your time and effort doing this video we all appreciate it, all the very best
Glad you enjoyed it
Thank you for the extensive testing videos on the CTEK. I bought a NOCO Genius 5, and it has some of the same functionality of the CTEK, but the manual is quite poor and it doesn't show the charge profiles like the CTEK. I had to go go their website to get more information. I fell for their slick marketing of being able to desulphate the battery but like you showed here - they only desulphate when the battery voltage is low and I feel it does the same as you have shown- a few quick pulses before moving onto the next stage- so basically useless. As you said sulphation happens across the voltage. Its only after I started bugging the support desk it finally came out that the only way to desulphate the battery is using their recondition mode. There are older model battery chargers/ maintainers that provide a desulpation pulse no matter the voltage and probably do a better job of recovering a battery
Thanks. I have got hold of what seems to be a reasonable 8A charger from China. It claims toe have full recondition mode. I have briefly tried it and I can hear the current spikes even at full charge. I'll run it on the system connect it up soon and do a video. It is on my todo list.
I had a NOCO. The problem was the build quality. The strain relief cracked where the 120 volt main power enters the case. A few mm of both bare conductors were exposed. NOCO show marketing pictures of the charger sitting in the engine bay. That won't end well. I switched to a CTEK polar specifically because of the better build quality that is rated for cold weather (mechanical rating of the materials used for the case, cord insulators, etc).
Great review and test of Ctek battery chargers. I'd like to see you test PulseTech Battery Charger's and PowerPulse passive battery desulfators. I use a PulseTech Power Pulse battery desulfator that you leave on your battery at all times, PulseTech claims that it will extend the battery life up to three times, and uses a patented frequency rather than use voltage spikes.
Great suggestion!
Is there a battery charger you would recommend? If I could get this ctek charger for 20-30$ then would it be worth it? Or do you feel buying a new battery is the way to go?
If you could buy this for $30 then that is a good price. if your battery is failing then buy a new battery,
Does the desulphation mode not have to be set to "RECOND" on the charger? Also, on my CTEK (same model) the first light that flashes on your demo, is constantly lit once connected - no flashing.
Good question. There are many claims and no explanations and many disclaimers in the documentation. What is happening when a stage LED does not match the documentation. Draw your own conclusions but know that a sulphated VRLA starting battery will always be a sulphated VRLA starting battery. Might as well buy sine snake oil from the market and rub it on the outside of the battery case... just as effective.
I teach engineering and electronics, this is a great video and it is helping me ascertain the best way to keep my 3 vehicles, 2 old road cars and a project car charged. I have an old linear 4A and 8A halfords charger and a constant current 300mA Draper trickle. I tend to use the bulk charging to get the 12.7v or so then trickle it to 14.5 and disconnect and redo a month later. It is a faff and a decent auto charger would have helped.
Thanks
which charger would you recommend for a good desulfation even when the battery is decently charged (>=80%)?
Hi Hung, the CTEK is pretty brutal but can be effective. It depends on the degree of sulfation. If the car has been used for short trips then a simple full absorbtion/float charge on a monthly basis in the winter will probably at least double the life of your battery. Use the CTEK, dont leave it connected to the power mains for more than you need else it will blow. keep it in a warm dry place and don't use in very humid environments. Never bring it from a cold environment to a warm and power i u straight away because condensation will form and boom. Protect the push button area. One knock on the push button damages the clicky dome and you will have change it so keep it in a box. The CTEK is probably the best at recon but it is shame that it well engineered to suit isn't operating environment. I did an IP65 test to it rating and it just went bang when powered up.
terrific test. thanks. from what i see, it desulfates every time we charge the battery. but, how much? seems just partially to me. then, couldnt we get a device that just desulfates so the battery is completely desulfated?
The jury is out on Desulfation. I have tried it many times over the years without any noticeable success and always ended up buying a new battery. I am doing a real test with a Noco genius 5 and a slightly sad battery. Videos are on channel.
can you tell if this use a range of high frequencies or just 1? if so, which is it ? thanks
It is just a pulse of current in recon mode. It is regular and just ticks away forever.
Hey, thanks for you full analysis on the charger. Still interested in you opening up the battery to see the physical sulfation though, that would be cool to see.
I bought one myself to see if it could save a motorcycle batery that wouldn't crank the engine anymore but still reads 12.8V with the ignition off. The motorcycle shop on the corner charged it overnight and did a load test. They said it wouldn't hold it's voltage so it's a dud. It's an AGM battery so a replacement would cost at least as much as the charger.
Interested to see if this charger could resurrect it by either a normal charge or using the reconditioning mode. There seem to be many people on Reddit who did and got a few more years out of their battery. If it doesn't, I'll at least have a charger to keep the next battery in good condition and an expensive paperweight.
Did it work?
@@razenby
Yes it dit!
I let it fully charge and run the reconditioning program, and then another full charge overnight.
The Yuasa battery keeps giving over 12V when starting the engine. However sometimes at a gas station for example it doesn't start the engine in one go. However after that, it will crank strongly. But still don't fully trust the battery. I think the low charging state did some permanent damage to the battery and it has a lower maximum capacity now.
Still saved me 80 bucks on a new battery though and the charger will keep this battery and eventually the next ones in good condition for years to come hopefully.
On you tine is a video with an official of ctek. He said the recond. mode is the best way to desulphate a car battery.and u can do this 2times without stop.one by another
To avoid such problems, you must charge the battery regularly. And must not let the battery drop below certain voltage values.it will be able to sulphate and lose its energy
I own CTEK MXS 7.0. It seem to have developed a problem . I hear the sound of switching repeatedly, and the programme is stuck on the start of Bulk charge but charging not going on . What could be the problem ? A faulty MOSFET?
Could be ... have you checked the fuse in the battery lead. The FETs are easy to check with a multimeter. Usually there are visual signs of distress.Open it up and check for corrosion or any burned or discoloured components. The switching sound might be switch mode the power supply folding back due to overcurrent. Only run it out of the case if you know what you are doing ans are aware of the risks. I have never seen the MXs7.0 my guess it is an overdriven MXS5.0 producing about 6 Amps.
Ctek states battery voltage should be no less than min 2v for charge or desulphication to start.
If the terminals have dropped to 2V then you will need 'miracle mode' as the battery is already totally ruined..
LOL when you started with that nerd voice ... i thought, here we go - because i've watched too many videos seeking little bits of info on this and that.
haha That's my real voice!!!
From what i know ctek is not the best in desulfation.a us company has patented impulse technology which is said on various websites that works with true. Pulsetech is their site.Good views are also about Battery minder chargers.After your experiment it become obvious that ctek is just a better or worse charger.i think they misplaced the method of desulfation, and that it was there.they just want to see if the battery accepts it or not carging.the questin is how can we really desulfate a battery?
If i had your knowledge i would try to find out.ty
Patents in the USA are easy to come by. A Patent is no proof of efficacy of the device described within and also not proof of pre-existing knowledge or techniques. It just means the Patent office didn't find anything in their superficial search. The electrical methods outlined have been known and understood for years. If you use on a healthy battery then it is similar to a doctor prescribing a drug with bad side effects to an otherwise healthy patient just in case they get sick.......Much better Keep the battery in good condition by performing a non-destructive regular (~monthly) absorption charge on a vehicle that does short runs or is parked. This is a charge at low current ~(70 to 150mA) until the terminal voltage reaches 14,4V @ 25 deg ambient. Typically this can tale up to 10 hours to complete. During this charge the battery accepts the final ~20% of charge capacity and more importantly the stage at which the remnants of the microscopic amorphous coating of lead sulphate covering the plates is broken down by electrolysis without etching (damaging) the battery plates or dissociative gassing of the electrolyte. If left in place, these crystals act as seeds for growth of larger un-shiftable sulfate crystals that cause permanent damage by obscuring active areas of the battery plate rendering them inactive. If you do short trips in cold weather and you are driving around and using a partially discharged battery. So safe prevention is better than a damaging cure. Give the battery an absorption charge once a month and forget desulphation as is it is an urban myth from years ago when you could safely mistreat heavily built batteries with robust large plates that could be over-voltaged without damage and the electrolyte loss could be replenished with Distilled water. . Modern batteries have minimalist designs are just about designed to last the the warranty period with less than ideal vehicle charging regime. It is all about a huge and lucrative business.
@@razenby thank you so much....
@razenby respect, this is the best comment about car battery charging, 150 or 200 mA ? Greathings from Sunny Beach Bulgaria
Hello again.justi little help please.if i please sometging...can you made for me thoese modification on ctek..is briliant i love it but i can not do it myself...
Is your CTEK blown?
@@razenby i hope not.but dose not work the mode button....i cannot set the program of charge..nothing
@@dacomaniac That is a design fault. The tact switch that is under the button breaks if the switch gets knocked or damp. Check the switch with a multimeter see the CTEK MX 3600 repair video on this channel where you can see the switch tested and replaced
Shame you didn't do RECOND. I was interested to see what that miracle is doing there
I have had a few requests.. Ill do that after the completion of the ongoing NOCO Genuis review
@@razenby that would be great if you could 👍
at least we can then compare it to NOCO 5 "repair" mode ;)
@@duncho1 True
@@razenby is the test of redone done?
Ctek mxs 5 stage 4 take sooooo long to complete
Software timer and a few LEDs has replaced Smoke and Mirrors!
has anyone ever putt these battery gubbins in a transparent case, so you can actually see these chargers at work?
I don't know. As far as I can imagine (which is very limited) it would just look like an electric board in a clear case. You will not be able to see the angry little electro pixies at work unless you take some hallucinogenics first...
could you put it in recond mode plz, then test it
Recond mode is explored in the other videos on the CTEK on this channel. It just overcharges the battery. On a Macro scale, overcharging dissolves lead at the surface of the plates undermining the Lead Sulphate crystals and they fall off exposing an active plate surface this increasing the capacity and reducing the source impedance of the battery.
I thought the same thing. Previous recond video i could not physically see if recond mode was used. As we could not see the charger.. But i trust this dude nobody will go through this effort to not have recond mode on 🤦🏽♂️. Thank you for the video you saved me money. Just going to buy the Bosch c3 charger its 3.8 amp and much cheaper. Any thoughts on the Bosch c3?
@@lovendhranaidu5606 Ill do that next when I have finished the ongoing NOCO Genius5 review.
Recond-mode works really well for me!
@@orfeous How do you know?