Battery failures happen all the time. And if your vehicle, or a customer’s, is stranded on the side of the road somewhere, you’re probably in the market for the best portable car battery charger you can find. But what should you expect from it?
On this page, we’ve compiled a few key points about how these products work, along with our recommendation for the best portable car battery charger available.
The role of a portable charger
A portable charger is a vital addition to any garage or fleet operation. It’s even useful for everyday drivers to have lying around.
However, portable chargers aren’t a substitute for full diagnostics or controlled battery reconditioning. They’re like the paramedics of the battery world; they’re there to get you safely to the place where things can actually be fixed, rather than immediately fix the problem.
What portable chargers do offer is immediate flexibility in the field. When a driver reports a non-start, a portable charger allows your technician to supply a controlled current and bring the vehicle back to life.
From there, as long as there aren’t any significant underlying problems, you should be able to drive the vehicle back to the workshop, where you can use your bigger testers and chargers to diagnose and fix the problem.
Unlike a simple jump power pack, a high-quality portable charger uses smart charging technology to sense the battery’s voltage and automatically adjust its output. This minimises the risk of voltage spikes that are common when using a standard booster pack.
Bridging the gap between roadside recovery and workshop repair
A portable charger, by definition, doesn’t usually need to be connected to the mains power supply, except to charge, of course.
Portable car battery chargers don’t have big enough batteries for deep diagnostic work and full battery reconditioning. These are still jobs for the workshop, because portable chargers simply can’t hold that much charge and deliver it reliably.
A portable car battery charger does mean that you can get the car back to the workshop, and in a much cheaper, more efficient way.
Rather than paying for an expensive tow or risking damage to your car’s electronics with a standard jump starter pack, a portable charger allows you to get the vehicle moving at minimal risk.
Once you’ve got it back to the workshop or garage, you have the time and breathing space you need for a proper test and conditioning cycle.
Why smart portable chargers beat old jump starters for car batteries
As mentioned, a traditional jump starter delivers brute force. On the surface, they’re often effective, especially on older vehicles.
However, with the intricate electronics found in today’s cars, it’s a real risk. Sensitive ECUs, BMSs, telematics systems, and so on don’t respond well to an uncontrolled current surge.
Smart portable chargers like the CTEK CS FREE are your answer.
The CTEK CS FREE is designed for a car’s 12-volt battery systems. It’s compact enough to fit anywhere in your service van, even the glovebox. However, it’s powerful and intelligent enough to deliver a carefully regulated start assist.
Your technicians should be able to recover a vehicle with a discharged battery safely, and without damaging expensive systems or needing to remove the battery.
The CS FREE can also act as a maintenance charger, power bank and adaptive power supply, making it an ideal all-round emergency tool for 12V fleet operations.
What’s great about the CS FREE is that, once you’re back to the workshop with the vehicle, you can plug it into the mains. Your portable car battery charger then becomes a 5-amp smart charger to fully charge and desulphate your battery.
Find the best portable car battery charger with Rotronics
The best portable car battery charger for you depends on what you need. Still, we’ve found that the CTEK CS FREE meets the needs and demands of just about every automotive operation.
Fitted with CTEK’s revolutionary Adaptive Boost charging technology, it’ll automatically recognise what type of battery you’re using (lead-acid, AGM, EFB, GEL and even Lithium LiFeP04) to deliver a safe charge.
Whether you’re a busy delivery fleet or a fast-fit customer-facing garage, the CTEK CS FREE is a low-investment opportunity offering extremely high returns.
So, if your company could use a reliable and multifunctional portable car battery charger, it might be just what you need. Read more about the CS FREE on our product page, and please don’t hesitate to reach out for a friendly chat if you have any questions.
