Odyssey AGM battery - Will my old trickle charger still work?

[Tomikaze]

I'm not a battery specialist. Rennline told me their official stance was I should buy an Odyssey trickle charger. I have a Porsche branded battery maintainer that I bought back in 2007. Looks just like a CTEK charger. Not a lot of fancy buttons on it. Just on/off and motorcycle or car battery to choose from. Will this be safe for my new AGM battery?

[Keith Newby]

It should work. I use a "battery tender" trickle charger on all my batteries, AGM or flooded without issue. I think the only time you need a dedicated charger would be for Lithium Ion batteries.

[10/10ths]

.....I have owned Odyssey batteries and run them in my motorcycles and my vehicles.

The tech help guy at Odyssey told me that their batteries require a little bit higher voltage when charging compared to other AGM batteries and other lead acid batteries.

He said if I did not use their maintainer, the Odyssey would not perform optimally.

I ended up buying their big charger and their smaller maintainer.

I ended up switching to LiFPo batteries in my motorcycles and have other AGMs in my cars.

I don't know if the Porsche/Ctek will hurt, but I do know that your maintainer should be one with an AGM setting. I have a Ctek with that setting. I think the Porsche "Pro" model does, also. It's a tad bigger than the original Porsche branded CteK one they first offered.

Soooooooo.........Yes, but I didn't actually notice any real benefit to the Odyssey charger overall as I switched to Li-ion soon after.

I know that doesn't help much, but FWIW, the Odyssey guy said you should. But then you would expect that. Their charger DOES indeed charge to a higher voltage, so I did see that.

[jaykay]

I have used cteks (motorsports version and basic version) on Odysseys (PCS 925) for years with no apparent ill effects. In fact my current one may have been in service for 7+years. It was load tested a specialty shop a couple years back and had no issues.

I have the car plugged in most of the time it is sitting and really take care of it though.

Yes I am probably running on borrowed time

[mikefocke]

I used the simple ctec/Porsche-labeled no buttons model on an Odyssey in my '01S for at least 5 years and it did a perfect job in that it kept enough of a charge on a battery to start the car in cold weather but that battery was in a car where the battery was always fully charged when stopped.

Since I had a separate charger from the same era, I used the charger on any run down batteries and saved the maintainer for hibernation duties.

Optimal, maybe not. But it worked for me.

[Topless]

Originally Posted by Tomikaze

I'm not a battery specialist. Rennline told me their official stance was I should buy an Odyssey trickle charger. I have a Porsche branded battery maintainer that I bought back in 2007. Looks just like a CTEK charger. Not a lot of fancy buttons on it. Just on/off and motorcycle or car battery to choose from. Will this be safe for my new AGM battery?

Maybe. It probably won't "damage" the battery specifically but if you want 100% capacity and longest life from your AGM, use an AGM rated charger. This will add that extra 10-15% capacity that might make a difference when using a lightweight battery.

[jaykay]

Oh yes the ctek does have an AGM mode. Using anything other than this type of trickle charger will kill an Odyssey.....in one season. This is my personal experience.

[JFP in PA]

According to the BCI (Battery Council International (BCI) is a not-for-profit trade association formed to promote the interests of the international battery industry) AGM and flooded cells charge differently . For AGM batteries it is recommended to use a charger, current limited to 20% or 0.2C of the batteries capacity at a charging voltage of between 14.6 – 14.8V DC. For flooded lead acid batteries, the typical charging voltage is between 2.15 volts per cell (12.9 volts for a 12V 6 cell battery) and 2.35 volts per cell (14.1 volts for a 12V 6 cell battery). These voltages are appropriate to apply to a fully charged battery without overcharging or damage.

Some of the better quality maintainers have specific settings for AGM or flooded cell batteries.