Looking for a trickle charger for this winter, I replaced the battery in the 97 xk8 coupe with a proper size (group 49) AGM battery.

any suggestions on a good tried and true trickle charger for AGM batteries? Thanks

 

CTEK - 40-206 MXS 5.0 Fully Automatic 4.3 amp Battery Charger and Maintainer 12V

 

Used this one for over 2 years now with no problems £12,99

e bay number 403936064109

 

Mske sure you use an intelligent battery maintainer, never a trickle charger. DelRay Battery Tender series is tops! I use them on my Harley’s, and never had an issue.

 

I can endorse the Delran Battery Tender Plus 1.5 amp, and the NOCO Gensis 5 (amp), having used both of them for years on multiple cars. Including the 2002 XKR. The CTEK tender is also highly recommended by the users on this forum.

you can’t go wrong with any of these. I would give the nod to the NOCO Gensis 5 if I had to pick only one. The other NOCO’s are fine too, but the “5” is a little more versatile, as it will bring the battery back up to 100% faster without any danger of overcharging.

Z

 

I second the Noco recommendation. Had a Ctek which failed and a quick online search suggested that this is not rare. Have only had the Noco for 15 months so longevity not proven yet.

 

I have one of these in each of my cars. Fairly well-regarded as having effective over-voltage protection, reverse polarity protection, etc etc. won't overcharge the battery.

 

Thank you all for suggestions, I looked into all these maintainers. I was going to go with the Noco and found the genius 10 had a separate setting specifically for agm batteries, however the general consensus of the reviews was that 2020/2021 models were flawless and almost every one sold after that was nothing but problems… again, just basing this off of reviews I read so I have no convincing argument otherwise.
I ended up ordering a battery minder specifically for agm, and will test it out once I get it and report for others to make a choice

 

My NOCO Genius 5 also has the AGM setting, as well as some other options..

Z

PS: I recommended the Genius 5 to several customers last year (2022), they are loving it and reporting no issues yet. I don’t pay any attention to online reviews, good or bad.

 

Mine is a Deltran 4 Amp that accommodates AGM batteries. It continues to do me well for all my AGM needs. Mine is plastic and mounted on the garage wall. I suggest a metal one if prone to back over it .

 

I might be the only forum contributor who’s not always looking where they are going.

I still use the metal cased Delran on our other cars, as I can’t bear to throw it away. It looks hell after being run over a few times but functionally is a beauty.

the Jag’s NOCO Genius 5 with its delicate plastic shell, is permanently attached to the garage wall, well out of harms way.

 

I've posted before about the boilovers and explosions I've had with my classic car batteries plugged into these things. I could tell you which ones I wouldn't buy again, but there's also people who've had no problem with those brands I'm sure. Indeed I had the worst trouble with multiple newer versions of an old reliable. Two keys are important tho. One is you want a "smart" battery charger that actually tests for abnormalities and will shut itself off if anything unusual is detected (it can be frustrating when there is something wrong with your car's charging system or battery and your charger doesn't actually tell you what, just shuts off and blinks at you, but better than burning your car or whole garage down). And two, you want enough amps to cover the maximum ambient or parasitic draw that the car is likely to experience for example if a dome light stays on or some computer module fails to go to sleep. A little 1.5 amp model is fine for an old Triumph TR3 maybe or a battery that gets disconnected when not in use but not for any modern computerized car. I wouldn't go under about 4 amps.

 

Deltran battery Tender, end of discussion. LOL :^) I love having attitude in jest. I really do like the Deltrans though. The most important part is to USE which ever you choose. TM