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      09-05-2021, 09:54 PM   #1
modat
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Battery maintainer for winter

Hey all,

Seeing that summer is over I wanted to get a battery maintainer for the winter. anyone have any recommendations?
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      09-17-2021, 05:23 PM   #2
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ECS Tuning had an OEM BMW charger that works for acid or lithium for ~ $83. Best price I've seen--and OEM.
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      11-13-2021, 07:27 PM   #3
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CTEK is often rebranded by many OEM. Porsche for sure but I'm guessing others as well. I have the 7002 but the MXS 5.0 is more common and a little bit cheaper. Be careful of knockoffs. I'm not sure if I'd fully trust one from Amazon.
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      11-14-2021, 02:44 AM   #4
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Need a CTEK for Lithium 12v I believe….
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      11-16-2021, 09:56 AM   #5
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My service advisor said I didn't need a dedicated lithium charger if I was going through the charge point in the engine bay - Reason being the car's 12v system handles the load properly. The only situation where you need a dedicated charger is if you are going directly to the battery which he said wasn't the recommended process on these newer cars.

Anyone else heard this advice?
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      11-16-2021, 02:37 PM   #6
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Interesting
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      11-17-2021, 01:37 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jonahk View Post
My service advisor said I didn't need a dedicated lithium charger if I was going through the charge point in the engine bay - Reason being the car's 12v system handles the load properly. The only situation where you need a dedicated charger is if you are going directly to the battery which he said wasn't the recommended process on these newer cars.

Anyone else heard this advice?
I've heard this explanation for charging. This might cause confusion because a terminology issue where battery chargers and battery maintainers mean slightly different things. Battery chargers are to be attached to the car for a short time while the battery is charged to some level. Battery maintainers are meant to keep the battery charged at some preferred level over a longer period of time.

Battery chargers might charge at a constant voltage whereas battery maintainers do not. For the lead-acid batteries, sometimes those maintainers might go through the battery reconditioning steps with varying charge profiles which aren't ideal for a lithium battery. It's not going to destroy the battery, but might reduce battery capacity in extreme examples.

So a constant voltage regular battery charger hooked up to the lithium battery through the engine bay would be fine, but only temporarily. The lithium battery maintainers would be the ones to get to safely keep attached to the car long term. Things I've read about lithium batteries in general is that long term storage of them should keep it charged to 50%, but I'm not sure if car lithium battery maintainers keep it that low.
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      12-28-2021, 04:03 PM   #8
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So the, "CTEK - 40-206 MXS 5.0 Fully Automatic 4.3 amp Battery Charger and Maintainer 12V", says it's compatible with lead and AGM batteries. Will a lithium battery fall under the AGM category?
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      12-28-2021, 04:17 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GixY2K View Post
So the, "CTEK - 40-206 MXS 5.0 Fully Automatic 4.3 amp Battery Charger and Maintainer 12V", says it's compatible with lead and AGM batteries. Will a lithium battery fall under the AGM category?
No, lithium batteries are not AGM. Compatible maintainers should say they're for "lithium (LiFePO4)" batteries.
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      12-31-2021, 03:47 PM   #10
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So, after reading in the e-manual that it is a good idea to charge your Lithium battery if the car sits for a month or more, I went ahead and purchased the charger/maintainer from the dealership for $99 +tax.

Note: After not driving my M4 for 2-3 weeks, it took the charger 4hrs +/- before it reached 80% charge, and another 1-2hrs to reach 100%.
Also, two things the parts guy mentioned. These batteries cost around $2K. But that they've only replaced 2 since 2014 (that he knows of).

So, here's what you get in the charging kit:
Attached Images
   
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Last edited by GixY2K; 01-18-2022 at 11:08 AM..
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      01-01-2022, 02:49 AM   #11
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Hmmm 🤔 wonder who makes that….
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      02-24-2022, 01:21 AM   #12
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I use this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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      03-04-2022, 02:33 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 330indy View Post
Hmmm 🤔 wonder who makes that….
Looks like any run of the mill chinese charger.
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