As winter sets in, your vehicle’s battery faces its toughest challenge. Cold weather can reduce battery performance by up to 50%, leaving you vulnerable to unexpected breakdowns. Batteries are the number one cause of winter vehicle failures, but with CTEK’s advanced battery chargers, you can maintain a fully charged battery for reliable starts, no matter how cold it gets.

Mark Poole, Sales Manager for CTEK, offers his top tips for winter battery care, and explains how regular charging with a reliable, efficient battery charger is essential in the winter months.  “We may think about checking the car’s oil, brakes, washer fluid and heater, but the humble car battery is often overlooked in our winter preparations.  A few simple checks and a regular maintenance regime is all that’s needed to give you peace of mind that your battery is fit and ready to keep you safely out on the road this winter.

“Drivers need to be aware that cold weather conditions can have an adverse effect on car batteries. A battery can lose as much as 35% in performance when temperatures hit freezing, and up to 50% if temperatures sink below that. Drivers should look out for any signs of change – like the way the car starts, or the operation of the electrical system in general as these can be indications of a weak battery.”

Be ready. Don’t leave it too late. Get your car battery into shape before the temperatures start to drop, as it’s much harder to start your car in freezing temperatures. It can take as much as 2.5 times more power to start a cold engine, so while you’re thinking about getting those winter woollies out of the cupboard, check your car battery too and give it some pre-winter TLC. That way, there’ll be no surprises when you take to the road.

Be charged. There is a very fine line between a fully charged battery and a dead one, and even a small drop in charge can compromise battery health. A car battery is fully charged at 12.72V. Below 12.4V, sulphate crystals can build up, degrading the battery and reducing battery capacity. And below 10.4V, the battery may not even start the car at all. Not only that, driving around in your car will only ever charge your battery to 80% capacity so, to top it up to 100%, you’ll always need a battery charger.

Be winter smart. Charging your car battery at least once a month prolongs its life by up to three times, so buying a reliable battery charger, and getting yourself into a regular battery maintenance routine, makes perfect sense, year round. Regular charging is even more important in the winter though, as things like heated screens and seats, headlights and an increase in short journeys put additional strain on your battery. And, as battery failure can damage or compromise a vehicle’s electronics, a charger is most certainly a worthwhile investment.

A smart battery charger like the CTEK CS ONE uses patented APTO^TM ‘adaptive charging’ to check what type of battery you have (lead acid or lithium), establish how much charge is needed and then safely top it up. The CS ONE is designed to be as simple as possible to use; there’s no need to worry about positive and negative terminals – just plug the charger in, pop the two black clamps on either terminal, and the charger will do the rest.

For the last 20% of charge, the CS ONE gradually reduces the rate of charge so there’s no danger of overload. It will even tell you when it’s finished, and when your battery has enough charge to start the car.

Investing in a charger like the CS ONE, with built-in functionality for both maintenance and troubleshooting, is the smart choice for drivers. The CS ONE does the thinking for you, using adaptive charging to measure your battery’s health then delivering the right level of power to get it working at optimum capacity, with a built-in temperature sensor that automatically adjusts the output voltage for cold conditions. With the CS ONE’s patented technology, you can even recondition your battery to restore battery health.

If you use your car infrequently during the winter months, consider leaving it connected to a maintenance charger, which will keep the battery topped up and ready to go whenever you need it. The groundbreaking CT5 TIME TO GO battery charger and maintainer is easy to use and fully automatic, so it can be connected directly to the battery indefinitely, and it won’t over or under charge.  It also has built-In temperature compensation along with advanced technology to give you three charging and maintenance programs – Normal, AGM and Recond.

The CTEK CT5 TIME TO GO is a world first because it answers the question ‘When will my battery be fully charged?’ This means you can plan your day around your battery charging because the CT5 TIME TO GO gives you an accurate prediction of the remaining charging time in hours. Not only that, it’ll also tell you when you can safely try to start your vehicle before the battery is fully charged.

For more information on winter charging, and what you can do to avoid winter breakdowns, see  https://www.ctek.com/uk/winter-charging-2024