[Jeff Jersey]

In light of my limited driving needs, and the cold weather now upon us, and the BMW's appetite for battery power, it looks like it would be a good idea for me to get a battery charger ("trickle charger") for my 2025 X1 28i. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good one of those? Thanks.

[Hartside]

You won’t go wrong with a CTEK MXS 5. Great charger and can be left connected without issue. The BMW official charger is a rebranded CTEK with mark up

[schnell325]

Ctek 👍🏻

[paulockenden]

Ctek is popular here in the UK. Hopefully they are available in the US.

[markronnie]

Noco are great & safe chargers. Fully electronic & portable

[paulockenden]

Originally Posted by markronnie

Noco are great & safe chargers. Fully electronic & portable

Aren’t Noco portable starters rather than battery chargers?

[edit: ah, I see they do both]

[Jeff Jersey]

Thanks for the suggestions! I will look into both of them and order one this weekend.

[markronnie]

Just a note you should consider.
With all the tech being added to newer vehicles over the past 7 years or so, it is no longer advisable / recommended to use standard jumper cables as in years past.
Using a fully Automatic Smart electronic charge is the way to go.
CTEK plugs in to standard outlet & is fully Automatic Smart electronic charger/tender.

NOCO offers 2 types
1. portable Smart (battery powered) which you need to charge every once in a while.
2. Smart electronic versions that can also be used all the time as a tender

[Jeff Jersey]

IS the battery in my 2025 X1 28i a "lead-acid AGM battery"?

[markronnie]

Originally Posted by Jeff Jersey

IS the battery in my 2025 X1 28i a "lead-acid AGM battery"?

I’m sure it’s an “AGM”
AGM Batteries are sealed, so they don't need to be refilled with electrolyte like a flooded battery.

If it is an AGM, set the charger as such or it might not fully charge the battery.

[Jeff Jersey]

Thank you sir

[KingSize.Hamster]

CTEK is my choice. They are the OEM supplier for a lot of car manufacturers' chargers anyway. It works well for me

[DestinationMoon!]

Any cheap charger with a gel or AGM setting work. Trickle of it's always plugged in or 10 amp if occasional. The 25 dollar ones from China work fine

The ICE X1 has an unusual battery profile. I've never had any battery problems but I track the voltage and it's different than any other car I've owned. It's rarely over 12.3 at the lighter or the battery terminals. Others report the same thing

[KingSize.Hamster]

Cheap/simple trickle chargers just blindly keep sending current/power through. I wouldn't do that to a car battery. Maybe you could put a smart plug and set some schedule on the trickle charger to reduce the impact there.

I think paying a little more for a proper CTEK charger is a relatively inexpensive way to get a battery charged properly. One could always just sell the CTEK charger out down the road anyway.

[kenrok1]

never had the need to use on a car but motorcycle wise Battery Tender has always been good, I know they do make for auto batteries as well. whichever brand you choose I think the important thing is to look for is something that specifically says for maintaining / maintenance vs just "cheap charging" type which KingSize.Hamster mentioned

[DestinationMoon!]

Originally Posted by KingSize.Hamster

Cheap/simple trickle chargers just blindly keep sending current/power through. I wouldn't do that to a car battery. Maybe you could put a smart plug and set some schedule on the trickle charger to reduce the impact there.

I think paying a little more for a proper CTEK charger is a relatively inexpensive way to get a battery charged properly. One could always just sell the CTEK charger out down the road anyway.

Not the ones I have from black and Decker. They turn off and back on. I keep 2 cars on them for 6 months at a time and the batteries last 6 or 7 years. Been doing this for 15 years. The cheap Chinese chargers 5 plus amps, not trickle - have and end point and shut off

[KingSize.Hamster]

Originally Posted by DestinationMoon!

Not the ones I have from black and Decker. They turn off and back on. I keep 2 cars on them for 6 months at a time and the batteries last 6 or 7 years. Been doing this for 15 years. The cheap Chinese chargers 5 plus amps, not trickle - have and end point and shut off

Then that's a good budget unit. Good stuff !

Not all lower-priced stuff is crap of course. I use a lot of lower-priced stuff from China

[DaveMc]

I use the C-Tek MXS-5.0 too. Pretty much the same as the BMW offering (rebranded C-Tek) but cheaper. I find that I can feed the weather resistant two pin (dc)socket through from the inner wheel arch louvres into the engine bay and can then connect it via the crocodile clips to the remote +/- battery posts and then fully close the bonnet (hood). I also have Nocos, which apparently use an inferior current control, but their connectors being a good bit larger, won't fit through the louvres I mentioned. I sit the unit on top of the L/H front tyre and connect the mains plug into a weatherproof a/c extension lead. In fact it's on now.
Got mine from Amazon, when it was on 'an offer' "camelcamelcamel" will give you the Amazon price history to know when you are getting a good deal if you're bothered.
My 24 M35i X1 uses a AGM battery and I use that setting when charging. Hope that's useful.