[MrFergus]

Does anyone use a trickle charger on their A5, S5 or RS5?
I’m planning to get one for my vehicle early August. I intend to store my car over the six winter months - November to April - so want a means of keeping my battery in good health.
When I get it I’ll let you know which one I went for and if its easy to use and does what it should.

 

[TonyP]

Not for my Audi, but I use a Ctek one for my motorbike and it has kept the battery in good condition for the last few years.

 

[MrFergus]

Tony, good to know, Ctek are one of the brands I’m looking at. Easy to use I presume? Plug and play?

 

[TonyP]

Yeah, just connect up and job done. The one I got came with both battery clamps or a permanent connection with a plug on the end which connects to the charger.

 

[julianwhitta]

+1 for the Ctek. I do a complete charge cycle on my beast a couple of times a year, and leave it on trickle for a few days each time. The Ctek performs faultlessly, and my 7yo battery has never once had an issue.

 

[A5 Blue]

I've recently started using an Optimate:-

https://www.optimate.co.uk/products/optimate-5?category=OptiMate+Chargers

Have used them on bikes for over a decade, but have recently started using it on the car as mine stands for 2 wks or so & I was starting to get issues with Energy Management being active.
Using the Optimate has stopped the issues.

 

[Pulsarlaser]

+1 as I decided to maintain rather than replace mine- even though its still the original, so I first got one of these Ancel testers to check it's still ok, and then optimised it with a Ctek 5.0 on a regen cycle:
ANCEL BA101 12V Auto Battery Tester 100-2000 CCA 220AH AGM GEL Battery Analyzer
CTEK MXS 5.0 12v Car Bike Caravan Smart 8Step Fully Automatic Battery Charger

 

[MrFergus]

So these devices seem to get nothing but positive reviews from you guys. I intend to use my one like A5 Blue but potentially over a 6 month period. I like the idea of a permanent fused connection lead for ease of use.

 

[MrFergus]

Just got my Ctek battery trickle charger and have it fitted to test. Reading the instructions it’s straight forward. Select the mode and let it work through 8 different conditioning steps. There is a “Recond”, recondition mode to optimise and restore a dead battery. I’ll see how it performs long term when the RS goes into winter hibernation 31st October.

 

[SimonRoma]

Like you guys I have always used these for my bikes and sometimes I have also used them on the car and van. I find the CTek to be excellent products I have never had any problems. I started with the basic one and more recently I have 2 of the 5.0 versions and they are simply great. My bike batteries now last up to 6 years (Yuasa) against 2 to 3 without using the trickle chargers.
Note that CTek also supply these to many car and bike manufacturers, and with the brand name of the manufacturer they usually cost much more!!

 

[ajmerphull]

I bought my 2015 A5 in 2017 and at times it would be parked up for 2-3 weeks during winter until in the winter of 2021 I started getting signs of battery not holding a charge so I guessed the original battery needed replacing being it was 6 years old. I bought a Bosch S5 from Tayna in March 2022 and this winter as the car is parked up more often than usual due to working from home and only using the car on a weekend every couple of weeks, could the battery have deteriorated, because now less than 12 months old, I've had a couple of instances with low voltage and yesterday it was less than 9v and needed to jump start. Strangely though I did use the car during the week and started ok and no issues, so was surprised the battery was dead.

Can anyone recommend the best option, firstly how to check if the batter is still in good condition, secondly the best float charger.

Thanks in advance.

 

[MrFergus]

Well I’m an advocate of the Ctek but I’d maybe try find out if you have a parasitic drain.

How to Diagnose Parasitic Drain on Your Car Battery - Powertron Battery Co

Are you struggling with battery failure? You recently purchased a perfectly good new battery, and it’s dead within some months. While your first instinct may be to give a piece of your mind to the customer service line of the battery’s manufacturer and make use of that warranty, there could be...

powertronbatteryco.com

 

[ajmerphull]

Thanks I will have a read and try this... I'll also have a look at the CTEK chargers too.

 

[JohnS4]

Did you code the new battery?

 

[ajmerphull]

Did you code the new battery?

I did have the battery updated in the Battery Management settings by Stealth in Southam.

If I remove the negative terminal to check parasitic current will that reset the battery management setting?

 

[ajmerphull]

Well I’m an advocate of the Ctek but I’d maybe try find out if you have a parasitic drain.

How to Diagnose Parasitic Drain on Your Car Battery - Powertron Battery Co

Are you struggling with battery failure? You recently purchased a perfectly good new battery, and it’s dead within some months. While your first instinct may be to give a piece of your mind to the customer service line of the battery’s manufacturer and make use of that warranty, there could be...

powertronbatteryco.com

I had a 100 mile run on Saturday and when I got back I checked to see if alternator was charging the battery and I got 14.8v while idle, (which I guess proves it's not the alt, right?) this dropped to 12.2v with the engine off, but Sunday morning it just about started.

 

[JohnS4]

I did have the battery updated in the Battery Management settings by Stealth in Southam.

If I remove the negative terminal to check parasitic current will that reset the battery management setting?

I don’t think so.

 

[ajmerphull]

I went out at lunch to check any parasitic current leaking and battery was dead, considering I'd just got back from a 100 mile run 24 hours ago.

 

[ajmerphull]

It's laughable because Tayna state that a battery discharging is not a fault and is normal behaviour of a battery to which I agree, but I am not suggesting the battery is discharging I'm stating the battery is not holding a charge because when it's charged it immediately drops voltage, 4v in less than 24 hours to the point I can't start the car.

Then I got a lesson in how the alternator works.

 

[DrGER]

We don't drive our '14 A4Q that much since changing jobs in early 2018, so when the car is parked in our garage for more than a few days, I have our starter battery connected to a CTEK like this: A Permanent CTEK Battery Charger/Maintainer Install
Of course, it helps to have an enclosed garage for the permanent installation. --g