# CTEK D250S



## moragg (Jun 6, 2009)

I've been thinking about buying a Sterling Battery to Battery charger for our van at some point. We do mostly wild camping here in Scotland, Aires in France, so we're not really on hook up much.

The Sterling appeals to me as it would keep our leisure battery (210ah Lifeline AGM) charged after just a short drive.

Then I was reading this months Practical Motorhome and Dave Newell was recommending a new CTEK D250S charger, which appears to do similar things to the Sterling I think.

http://www.ctekchargers.co.uk/ctek-d250s.php

Has anyone tried CTEKs new charger, would it do the job as well as the Sterling?

Thanks guys.


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## javea (Jun 8, 2007)

I must admit that I have no technical knowledge whatever regarding battery charging and have been thinking about the Stirling. Interested in your post and found the following very interesting presentation on Youtube. Seems to do everything that you would want. Interested in what the more knowledgeable members have to say about it.


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## Losos (Oct 28, 2009)

moragg said:


> Then I was reading this months Practical Motorhome and Dave Newell was recommending a new CTEK D250S charger, which appears to do similar things to the Sterling I think.


I just read the technical description of the CTEK D250S and *I can not see where it says that the unit will not start charging the leisure battery until the starter battery has been brought back to full charge.*

The Sterling unit does *first *replace the energy taken on starting the vehicle and *only then switches to the leisure battery*. I think it's important that after starting your vehicle any B2B unit first recharges the starter battery.

For example if you were doing a number of short trips the starter battery may never get to full power if the alternator is also charging the leisure battery which is how the technical description of the CTEK D250S appears to work.

I have a Sterling unit and highly recommend it, I can also recommend their after sales service too.


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## moragg (Jun 6, 2009)

Hmm, thanks, I'll go and read Practical Motorhome again see if it's mentioned in there. 

The size of the CTEK also appeals, being smaller means more room for wine when coming back from France 8)


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## javea (Jun 8, 2007)

The video, and written reviews on the Ctek do seem to suggest that it charges the vehicle battery first and then reverts to the leisure batteries.

To confirm I have sent an email to Ctek asking them to confirm the operation of the charger and will post the response when it is received.


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## Andysam (May 10, 2005)

Losos said:


> I just read the technical description of the CTEK D250S and *I can not see where it says that the unit will not start charging the leisure battery until the starter battery has been brought back to full charge.*


37 secs in on the YouTube clip- it states when the starter battery reaches 13.8v (full) then it starts to charge the aux battery.


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## snailsontour (May 1, 2005)

CTEK only delivers 20A compared with the Sterling's 50A. You would need to drive for two and a half times as long to recharge your battery to the same level.

I'm biased though, five years with a Sterling B2B and it has proved excellent.
Bob


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## Bagshanty (Jul 24, 2005)

I have just bought and installed a CTEK D250S Dual for my Rapido. I chose CTEK over Sterling precisely BECAUSE it is 20 amp rather than 40 amp. This means I can use existing wiring, making installation a great deal simpler. Agreed, it won't charge as fast as the Sterling, but on the other hand, I have bought it and installed it - if I had waited until I was ready to install the cables and stuff required for the Sterling it would NEVER get fitted.

I had hoped to use th MPPT solar panel controller element of it, but the CBE control panel and distribution box has an ignition controlled relay, disconnecting the input when the ignition is off, so I have reverted to the original SP controller. I could connect differently to allow the MPPT solar panel controller to operate, but then I would lose the ammeter on the cbe control panel

I'll try to remember to let you know how it goes in practice


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

Losos said:


> moragg said:
> 
> 
> > Then I was reading this months Practical Motorhome and Dave Newell was recommending a new CTEK D250S charger, which appears to do similar things to the Sterling I think.
> ...


From Cteks Website

"The D250S DUAL recharges 
the Starter battery quickly 
to 100%, which guarantees 
trouble-free engine starts"


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## organplayer (Jan 1, 2012)

*organplayer*

VanBitz fitted Sterling b to b charger together with Strikeback alarm and Webasto dsl heater. The whole installation works very well. L/batt dropped to 12.3v, and after 15mins with engine running and the Sterling b to b charger working, the l/batts were showing a reading of 13.7v. an hour after the engine had been turned off and dsl heater still on. A super bit of kit.


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