The CS ONE is the smartest battery charger CTEK has made, and it is being launched now in New Zealand. Motor Equipment News was given a unit to try out and we came away impressed.
So, what makes it so smart? Firstly, there are no buttons to press and except for a couple of specialised applications it’s a connect and forget unit. You don’t even have to worry about which lead goes where – they are both black and the CS ONE works it all out for you (With the exception of a couple of specialised use modes)! When connected it analyses the battery and selects the correct charging profile based on the battery chemistry, battery capacity and charge state for any 12V battery, whether lead-acid or lithium based. If the battery has a faulty cell and can’t be charged it will let you know. The CS ONE has an inbuilt temperature sensor to adjust charging rate to optimise charging for low or high temperatures. It can charge at between 2-8 amps. There is a very simple display to show charging progress or when a deeply discharged battery is charged enough to start the vehicle.
CTEK call these smarts APTO – Adaptive Charging Technology, which increase safety and performance of the charger. The CS ONE charges, maintains and reconditions batteries, it goes beyond traditional multi-step charging and can be left connected to the battery indefinitely, so your car is always ready to go by providing charging periodically as needed for maintenance. Maintenance charging can extend battery life during vehicle storage by up to three times.
If you are looking to use on a low use vehicle where you want to maintain it you can buy accessory cables with U-shaped terminal connectors and an extension cable so the connection to the battery is always available. A wall mount, carry case and rubber protector are also available.
In addition there is a free CTEK App available for Android and IOS phones which connects to the charger via Bluetooth and allows some additional functions such as RECON to restore battery health, WAKE UP for Lithium batteries with under voltage protection (UVP) or to bring deeply discharged lead-acid batteries back to life and SUPPLY to turn your CS ONE into a 12V power supply.
The CS ONE is towards the top of the consumer battery charger market in terms of pricing (RRP $429), it comes with a five-year warranty and provides the smarts to make your battery maintenance simple, it covers all the charging basics so would be a good investment if you use a charger with reasonable frequency.
