Trickle charging a stop-start battery

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Rog

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Not driving much due to lockdown, so have charged my wife's Ibiza battery no problem.

I want to charge the A4 but using ordinary chargers is not advised with an AGM battery. I have a charger which has a trickle mode. about 3A max. I can't see that causing any damage for a few hours.

What do you think and has anyone anyone tried it?
 
Ctek.
 
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Maypole
£24
Had mine on all week.
Smart chargers are what you need.
With a dedicated AGM mode.
Not a regular charger.
 
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amazon direct is £20.49 although temp out of stock, I've ordered in the past and always have honored the price.
 
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2020 04 30 110852
 
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Always used a CTEK.
Battery in one of our cars is 5+ years and going strong.
Rather than always on I give it a good 24 hrs worth when not used over a weekend.
When away for a week or longer they both go on chargers.
In the S4 the connections are simple and obvious.
Also I have coded the auto start-stop to be permanently off - a most annoying feature used by OEM's to squeeze the last two decimal places out of their claimed consumption figures.

Dingah
 
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Also use ctek on both our cars, but mine has the most time on charge as my partners car is still used twice weekly. Also means my dashcam can stay on all the time.
As far as the cheaper charger is concerned, I cannot believe it is that cheap without some lesser quality components. It's up to an individual however, we purchased Audi's not Fords for a reason...
 
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cuke2u said:
Also use ctek on both our cars, but mine has the most time on charge as my partners car is still used twice weekly. Also means my dashcam can stay on all the time.
As far as the cheaper charger is concerned, I cannot believe it is that cheap without some lesser quality components. It's up to an individual however, we purchased Audi's not Fords for a reason...
Click to expand...

What's that reason then?
 
cuke2u said:
Read the line above it...
Click to expand...

Aaah lesser quality components.
Totally agree pal.
I only like to buy once, buy the best.
And in that train of thought I chose the maypole.
An English long established company with a good heritage.
Maybe the guts and fillings are not English, (not 100% , but surprised if they are English) but anyway, the amount of units sold and feedback, kind of make 20 odd quid tangible.
Should it fail, then yes, I shall opt for the Swedish ctek version with higher spec Chinese internals.
Not to go on my Volvo or ford either.
 
Rog said:
I want to charge the A4 but using ordinary chargers is not advised with an AGM battery. I have a charger which has a trickle mode. about 3A max. I can't see that causing any damage for a few hours.

What do you think and has anyone anyone tried it?
Click to expand...

If you are only giving it a boost charge for a short time to top up then this will be ok. I've done that in the past and there was no harm done, but you wouldn't want to charge it for an extended period or repeatedly like this. An AGM type smart charger is what you really need.

I can recommend the Maypole 7423A from Amazon mentioned above as I have just been using it and it works well, does the job perfectly. It has an AGM mode so is ideal and just over £20 what is there not to like?
 
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Thanks for all the replies. I bought the Maypole and both cars absorbed a lot of charge. I now have confidence that I can prevent the batteries from deteriorating during these strange times...
 
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I've just bought a Maypole 7423A smart charger and looking for some further advice for using it on my 2018 2.0TFSI Avant. I connected it to the under bonnet terminals with the ignition off and the display was showing 12.3v with one solid charge bar pulsing on two. I left it for approx 30 mins but was aware that every time the unit changed the voltage there was a relay (?) or circuit being activated. After several seconds it would reset and go off until the next voltage variation. I also noticed that the P on the S-Tronic was being illuminated during the activation period. I was concerned that I might be damaging the electronics so disconnected. Is this how it works and I should have left it to fully charge or am I doing something wrong? Bit of a lengthy question but would appreciate some help. Many thanks!
 
Something to consider - not all the stop-start cars have AGM batteries. I had an EFB in mine from the factory.
 
Thanks for the replies. Appreciated. I fully charged my wife's 2008 B7 manual Cabriolet that was showing two charge bars on the unit without any issues over a five hour period so it appears it is working. The STD and AGM modes were correctly displayed in both vehicles. I contacted Maypole about the activated circuit on my Avant and the reply was that as the battery was in deep discharge I should remove and fully charge it. Presumably not using their charger. As I still can't establish why the 'P' was being illuminated I will do what I should have done in the first place and get a CTEK 5.
 
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steve w said:
Thanks for the replies. Appreciated. I fully charged my wife's 2008 B7 manual Cabriolet that was showing two charge bars on the unit without any issues over a five hour period so it appears it is working. The STD and AGM modes were correctly displayed in both vehicles. I contacted Maypole about the activated circuit on my Avant and the reply was that as the battery was in deep discharge I should remove and fully charge it. Presumably not using their charger. As I still can't establish why the 'P' was being illuminated I will do what I should have done in the first place and get a CTEK 5.
Click to expand...
I have the CTEK, and now a Maypole for our fiesta :whistle2: I can't ever remember seeing the 'P' illuminated on mine but I don't think I have ever looked. I have been using the CTEK since last April with no ill effects though..
 
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