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Posts Tagged ‘CTEK’

The Camping & Caravanning Club’s Technical Officer visited us recently. Barry wanted a solar power system on his motorhome and was planning to have a conventional cystalline panel. But, when he saw our ApolloFLEX 100W panel, he realised that, at 3.6Kgs, it weighed less than half than the panel he’d been thinking of. What’s more, performance is a lot better, especially in overcast conditions and when the sun isn’t directly overhead. Another feature of the ApolloFLEX is, because of its very low profile, it’s invisible from ground level and doesn’t affect the aerodynamic qualities of the vehicle.

So, an ApolloFLEX it was, along with the following items:

• Banner 115Ah battery

• NASA battery monitor

• CTEK Dual battery to battery charger

Barry should now be able to go away without needing 230V for days on end and club members will be able to read Barry’s report in the club’s magazine sometime later this year.

We welcomed our first Burstner Ixeo to Daventry recently. It’s being given a long-term test by motorhome magazine MMM and Deputy Editor Rachel Stothert had asked us to install a CTEK battery-to-battery unit in it.

MMM readers will be able to see how the CTEK unit performs in forthcoming issues.

With just a few minutes to look round, we were totally impressed by the Ixeo. It’s only tiny but a really clever overhead bed arrangement means that there’s loads of room for two or even more people.

Respected magazine Auto Express gave out its annual awards recently, featuring products ranging from screenwash to tyres, top-boxes and GPS navigation systems. CTEK’s Multi XS3600 model won the best battery charger category but, things got even better for CTEK; the range as a whole was selected to be “Product of the Year” award. This is what the magazine said:

“Innovation has always been at the heart of the premier prize in our Product Awards, and the CTEK range of smart battery chargers are groundbreakers.  When the units arrived from Sweden, they spelt the beginning of the end for the big, boxy units we had relied on for decades.  By comparison they were tiny, barely bigger than your hand, and many found them hard to take seriously.  How could something that small be better than the traditional large box of tricks?  Plug one in you soon discover it can – and that these little marvels can revive flattened batteries considered beyond hope.

CTEK was the first specialist to bring smart chargers to motorists in big numbers, offering a compact device that could not only rescue batteries from low levels conventional rivals could not touch, but also condition and maintain them once revived.  Don’t look for big charging numbers on the packs, as the key to this new generation is how the current is delivered – precisely matching the power to what the battery can take to avoid gassing and long-term damage. This same precision also pays off when maintiaining power packs on little-used cars such as classics, constantly varying the current to keep the battery healthy and ready for use.

While CTEK chargers have been around for a few years, new pricing makes them a realistic prospect for even more drivers.  The latest XS4003 moves the technology on even further: it can rescue long-dead power packs through an innovative eight-stage process monitored via a series of lights.  Also incorporating the long-running, test-winning XS 3600, the range easily merits our Product of the Year Award.”