CTEK Lithium XS Battery Charger: UK Review
Here is where you’ll get everything you need to know, in our CTEK Lithium XS battery charger UK review.
This where buyers like you can double check if it’s right for you and see the best place to buy it.
This is a lithium battery charger, it’ll charge lithium batteries, specifically LiFePO4 technology (aka lithium iron phosphate). This is the industry standard, if you have a lithium vehicle battery, it’ll almost certainly be LiFePO4, but check this if you have any doubt.
CTEK have been producing battery chargers for lead-acid batteries for years, but this is their first charger for lithium batteries.
Check out the current price on Amazon, right here.
How good is it, really?
Ask and ye shall receive. Read on…
Here are the key details:
CTEK MXS7.0
- Voltage: 12V
- Battery types: Lithium, (LiFePO4) only
- Dimensions: 28.4L x 14.6W x 5.4H cm
- Weight: 0.6kg
The CTEK Lithium XS Battery Charger: What To Like…
Robustness and Quality
If you’ve heard of CTEK then you’ll know their products have a reputation for excellent quality, strong and robust items. If you haven’t then now you know.
Their products don’t break down and they can handle themselves in all kinds of extreme weather conditions. In short, they’re built to last.
The Lithium XS is no different.
Super Clever 8-stage Charging Process
Lithium charging has some unique characteristics.
This process is the most sophisticated on the market. Other charger makers have processes that show awareness of the different steps required to safely and effectively charge, but CTEK show the most depth of understanding, to our eyes.
Speed of charging
CTEK’s battery chargers are the fastest on the market, even quicker than NOCO (here’s a comparison of NOCO vs. CTEK); this is the fastest lithium battery charger you’ll find.
Lithium love!
It’s built specifically for Lithium batteries. This is a really significant advantage over other chargers like NOCO’s Genius models, which are made for lead-acid batteries, with an additional mode for Lithium batteries.
These other chargers will charge lithium batteries effectively enough, but the CTEK XS 8-stage charging process is engineered from the ground up only for Lithium batteries.
What does that mean? It means the charging process is kinder to your battery, is better equipped to handle any problems that crop up when charging.
As a result, that keeps your battery in better working order. Vehicle batteries are just like our human bodies – treat them well, with love and care, and they’ll work better! On that note…
Extend Your Vehicle Battery Life
We know a few business owners that use lithium batteries for their vehicles, and they swear that when they started using the CTEK Lithium XS battery charger, their vehicle batteries started last longer.
You can put this down to the loving-kindness of the CTEK 8-stage charging process (aka the understanding of battery chemistry and sophistication of the CTEK engineers to create this process).
This CTEK Lithium charger gets tons of rave reviews online and you’ll see a fair few people mentioning this battery life-extending result.
Lithium XS: What Not To Like?
It’s not cheap.
You can get the lower cost NOCO Genius 5 UK, that is also a 5 Amp battery charger by NOCO and works for lithium batteries.
Just be aware of the points we made earlier, lead-acid/lithium chargers will certainly charge your battery, just not as carefully and well as this lithium-specific charger.
Doesn’t charge lead-acid batteries
So if you have vehicles with both lead-acid and lithium batteries, you’d need to also buy a lead-acid battery charger (such as this CTEK 10 Amp charger), if you get this one.
Or there’s the NOCO Genius 10 UK charger, suitable for both lead-acid and lithium, giving higher 10 Amp charging (but it’s not lithium-specific).
Any Other Important CTEK Lithium Details?
Set and Forget
It’s a fully automatic charger and maintainer. That means you don’t need to know anything about the charge status or health; and you don’t need to work out when to stop it, with fear of overcharge. You just attach it and it does the rest.
Maximisation Step
This is a special bit of tech by CTEK that we, as battery geeks, like. It will round out the maximum level of voltage that can be achieved by the battery during the charging process.
Basically, it’s making sure your battery can still achieve a higher level of charge in future. Batteries naturally find it harder and harder over time to reach that maximum voltage and this step is future-proofing your battery.
IP65
That means its fully splash-proof and dustproof, built for the elements.
All The Latest Safety Features
No need to disconnect your battery from the vehicle, you can just attach it. It also has reverse polarity protection, is spark-proof and short-circuit proof.
CTEK Lithium XS battery charger: Summary
All in all, it’s an excellent charger, well-made, tough, robust, impressive technology, and kind to your lithium battery (it’s made for it, after all). But it’s not cheap and you can’t charge lead-acid batteries. If you’re okay with that, this is the lithium battery charger for you.
Where To Buy It?
Best price is on Amazon (link below), since they have to compete with both other sellers of the CTEK Lithium XS and other vehicle lithium chargers.
And unlike some UK sellers, if you buy direct from CTEK on Amazon UK, it comes with a UK plug.
Check it out on Amazon here.
