Maypole 4A Dual Voltage 6/12V Electronic Smart Car Battery Charger Fully Automatic 5 Stage Charging Cycle Lead Acid AGM

I already own a CTEK MXS 5.0 trickle charger, which I use on my wife's vehicle. After my 318D AGM battery gave up the ghost decently- due to lack of use during the pandemic as I work from home - and was replaced, I started shopping around for a cheaper trickle charger. The CTEK is excellent, but at around £60 I couldn't afford another one. I came cross this MayPole charger quite by accident, saw the good reviews and decided to give it a go. On opening the package, I was very impressed with the unit itself as well as the manual which was in very clear English. The unit looked and felt like a high quality product. The clear backlit display with the digital display of the charging voltage is a welcome feature (the CTEK has only LEDs). The unit comes with both crocodile clip and ring terminals (if you want a semi-permanent solution), and connects to the lead from the unit via a standard SAE connector (again a welcome change from the CTEK which uses it's own proprietary connector). I plugged it in, and given my AGM battery was relatively well charged to start with, it started charging at 'Stage 2' and within a few hours transitioned to the 'Stage 3' or float phase, with a float voltage of 13.8V being maintained consistently throughout (exactly as recommended for float charging of 6-cell AGM batteries). It's been rock solid since I plugged it in a week ago. I really don't see a difference between this MayPole and the CTEK chargers, except this one is about a third in price. Highly recommended. I wish I had come across this before I bought my CTEK. On another note, don't let your AGM battery lose charge - as they say it's next to impossible to recover these batteries once they've lost their charge beyond a certain threshold.

Been looking for a good charger maintainer for awhile brought 4 for my vintage cars which are 6v and 12v simple to use and reads the charge in the battery and tells you if the battery is any good . clear digital reading and simple to use

This must be the 5th charger I have bought. Okay, you would expect them to get better over the years....but this is perfect. It has a clear, digital indicator...it shows your battery strength...it can give a full charge or a trickle...and it can be used 'normally' with crocodile clips OR wired in. I wanted to be able to charge two cars...a Smart where the battery is very tricky to get to (its under the passenger footwell so the carpet has to be stripped back to get to the battery) and a Mercedes 220 where it's under the bonnet - but tight. This charger comes with two leads. One can be permanently wired in with a neat/safe socket left tucked away, ready for use. The other lead has quality, compact crocodiles. If you have a car where you want to wire the lead permanently to the battery....one at a time, you undo the nuts which loosening the existing battery leads, AND MAKING SURE that the positive (red) lead cannot touch any metal other than the positive battery terminal. Put the washer-sized connector over the exposed screw (making sure you connect red to red, black to black) and then FULLY tighten each nut back up. In some cars, my Smart included, this will be a fiddly job....you may need a flexible socket set. And you can very easily lose the nuts as you screw them off the battery terminals. Do the job slowly and in good light. Once connected up, gently trail the extension (which is about 35 cms long) to a point where your charger will connect to it as and when you want to charge the battery. Normally, the lead will be tucked neatly away with the charger only taken to the car when a charge is needed. The alternative method of connection is the usual crocodile. Again, there has been some thought. Modern engine bays can be very cluttered...these clips are small enough to go neatly on the battery terminal or have the negative fastened to a nearby earthing point. This is a lovely, practical product. Whoever created it deserves a medal.

Easy to use 12v/6v battery charger, just connect to the battery switch on, will automatically select battery type, or use the mode button to select battery type if is a AGM, or you want winter charging mode. Works well screen changes from green to red when charging, and shows a symbol of a battery same as on your phone for the state of charge, very pleased with it, but if your 12v battery is really flat, it tries to select 6v mode and will not charge the battery, the mode button will not work to change to 12v, I had to use my old charger to top it up first before it will charge, the battery was almost dead flat, for the price it is good value.