Justin Case Posted January 16, 2014 Posted January 16, 2014 Now that I'm looking to get my car back on the road, I need first of all to charge up the battery, which is as flat as the proverbial I don't need anything fancy just one able to charge it up enough to start it and then to keep it topped up over the winter months. This sort of thing must be meat and drink to the Average Autoshiter so any suggestions please for something cheap and cheerful rather than cheap and nasty. I'm within reasonable distance of all the usual high street suspects, so something that I could go out and buy and start using this weekend would be a bonus Thanks.
twosmoke300 Posted January 16, 2014 Posted January 16, 2014 Go to your local car boot and get a good quality metal bodied 4 or 6 amp jobbie. They are so much better made and last longer than the new ones. Most of the ones I have bought were between 2 and 5 pounds.Failing that the ones from aldi aren't bad and have 3yr warranty. Won't charge a dead dead flat battery though . Needs 1.5v in it. cobblers 1
Timewaster Posted January 16, 2014 Posted January 16, 2014 Be very way of "intelligent" chargers. I bought a sip charger that senses if it is a 6 or 12v battery. In reality if you connect a totally flat 12v battery it thinks it is a 6v and charges to about 7.5v and cuts out.If you reconnect it, it thinks it's a charged 6v and just sits there. Utter shit. A solution to a problem no one had! dome, saucedoctor, mercrocker and 3 others 6
Mr Livered Posted January 16, 2014 Posted January 16, 2014 The latest Craptical Plastics had a group test of battery chargers. "Best Buy" was the CTEK MXS 7.0, which apparently costs a hundred quid from Halfrauds. The "Best Budget Buy" was the Ring Smart Charger, £65, again from Halfrauds. There was hardly anything under 50 quid.
Guest Tony Hayers Posted January 16, 2014 Posted January 16, 2014 I've had this MM one for about 8 years - http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/charger Not had any problems with it and its had a fair amount of (ab)use. The 150 amp boost option is handy to have, just to get a motor started quickly.
skattrd Posted January 16, 2014 Posted January 16, 2014 CTEK chargers are gr9, but expensive. I borrow one occasionally should I need one as cheap chargers are just crap.With the chod I keep at home I now keep a 10mm spanner in each car and when I park it up I disconnect the battery. I've got quick release battery clamps on the Lancia , so no spanner required. Generally if one needs charging I'll jump start it for another then go for a drive in it.
costadelglosta Posted January 16, 2014 Posted January 16, 2014 I've recently bought an small Aldi smart-ish charger and it is very good for the price.
dome Posted January 16, 2014 Posted January 16, 2014 Be very way of "intelligent" chargers. I bought a sip charger that senses if it is a 6 or 12v battery. In reality if you connect a totally flat 12v battery it thinks it is a 6v and charges to about 7.5v and cuts out.If you reconnect it, it thinks it's a charged 6v and just sits there. Utter shit. A solution to a problem no one had! I had the same problem with one of the £15 Lidl/Aldi Smart chargers-they're good for the money and apparantly a CTEK underneath but if the battery is really low it spits its dummy out. I dug out my old school one to kick the battery into life and after a while swapped it to the smart charger.
wackywacerwill Posted January 16, 2014 Posted January 16, 2014 Shocking an old bat with a set of leads of a decent battery seems to give enough boost to get my cheapo lidl smart* charger working it's magic though 9 times out of ten I can't find any of the many jump leads I have about the place so just got in with the cheap halfords battery cooker. We have a optimate jobbie at work which seems to do a grand job of reviving dead batteries. I don't class 65 rubs as budget!
Micrashed Posted January 16, 2014 Posted January 16, 2014 I have a CTEK 3.6MXS and its fine, its even revived a totally dead 80ah leisure battery that I use to run the boiler with.Was about £27 when I bought it.
purplebargeken Posted January 16, 2014 Posted January 16, 2014 I have a selection depending on the weather, my mood and my ability to remember where I left the bastards. I have a car boot sale £5 metal bodied thing which looks retro and seems to work for general stuff. I have one of the Halfrauds smart chargers and it works a treat. I simply cannot fault it. Mrs. PBK won an AA smart charger/maintainer which also seems to do the job quite well.
mat_the_cat Posted January 16, 2014 Posted January 16, 2014 I'd go for a cheap standard charger, say 5-10 amp output for actually charging it up, and then a low current (2 amp or so) float charger to keep it topped up over long periods. A standard charger will shorten the life of the battery if left connected.That's probably cheaper than buying one charger which is capable of doing both.
CortinaDave Posted January 16, 2014 Posted January 16, 2014 I have a halfords bog standard job. It's been gr9. Bought it five or so years ago - same as this one- http://bit.ly/LllcOl I've even revived a battery that had been stone flat for two years with it. I'd 100% recommend.
brickwall Posted January 16, 2014 Posted January 16, 2014 I got one in a clearance sale that does 4 - 12 amps with recondition, temp and cell check and all that stuff. I just bung it on 6 amps.
Des Posted January 16, 2014 Posted January 16, 2014 The Lidl / Aldi chargers have ressurected the long departed for me better than Voodoo ever did, as long as you can get the battery to 8 or 9 voltsish the things go into a deep discharge recovery mode and make a pact with Satan for some pulsing current that breaks up the sulphimication of the plates. The Aldi one has an lcd voltmeter display which is helpful. costadelglosta 1
The Moog Posted January 17, 2014 Posted January 17, 2014 Lidl have them in now http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/SID-04263765-5B77AA83/www_lidl_uk/hs.xsl/our-offers-2491.htm?action=showDetail&id=9103
Mr Livered Posted January 17, 2014 Posted January 17, 2014 Lidl have them in now http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/SID-04263765-5B77AA83/www_lidl_uk/hs.xsl/our-offers-2491.htm?action=showDetail&id=9103 What are the chances of that one being any use, rather than complete junk? (serious question, anyone know?)
plasticvandan Posted January 17, 2014 Posted January 17, 2014 get the oldest one you can find.shite chargers for shite batteries.still got the one my dad bought second hand 30 years ago.and it still always works,and is 6v/12v
mat_the_cat Posted January 17, 2014 Posted January 17, 2014 What are the chances of that one being any use, rather than complete junk? (serious question, anyone know?)If you buy it, check that the charging voltage drops once the battery is fully charged. Ideal charging voltage for a 12 V lead acid battery is between 13.8 and 14.7 V (there are advantages and disadvantages to each end of that range). So a simple, cheap charger can do that fine, but relies on you taking it off charge once it's finished otherwise excessive gassing can occur and shorten the life of the battery Once it's fully charged, ideal charging voltage to keep it topped up drops to around 13.5 V maximum, with some variation depending on temperature - better chargers will compensate automatically. But like what's been said above you may not want/need the absolute best for your battery, and it might be arguably 'better' just to buy a new battery slightly more often than spend £100 on an all singing, all dancing charger! I have a few of these as they are a good price for keeping things topped up, but for larger batteries they can't quite reach 100% charged hence stay in the charging stage rather than the maintenance stage. Smaller/petrol car's batteries are fine. But they would be useless for charging up a battery from flat unless you have several days! EDIT - looking at the Lidl one it doesn't say about leaving it connected, but if you can that's a great price. It's whether the different charging rates are automatic or manually selected, but for that price who cares? Justin Case 1
Justin Case Posted January 17, 2014 Author Posted January 17, 2014 Lidl have them in now http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/SID-04263765-5B77AA83/www_lidl_uk/hs.xsl/our-offers-2491.htm?action=showDetail&id=9103 Thanks for the link, I have now bought one. Thanks also to the Autoshiter who offered me a charger, much appreciated Mr Livered, I hope to be able to say in a day or two whether or not it works; I have also bought a £2.99 battery/alternator condition checker from Lidl. The battery is a newish heavy duty Varta, so I hope that it will charge up ok. If on the other hand the charger, battery or car go up in a cloud of smoke than I will of course resort to the time-honoured Autoshite method of hammering a larger charger over the Lidl one
wackywacerwill Posted January 17, 2014 Posted January 17, 2014 I'll add to my previous post as I had left the derv clio on charge for all of my 12 shift on the work optimate the other day so felt a sense of smugness at the ability to sort the bulbs and re wire the speaker leaving the lights and stereo on respectively. This was without the motor running and the lamps were on (side lights) for only a few minutes and the stereo then on for maybe about 15 tops. I went to fire it up to head to the supermarket for some fuel and groceries, would it start, would it fuck. Naturally my estimation of the previously high regarded work charger has dwindled somewhat though I fully realize there may be other factors involved.Amazingly I found some leads though predictably the van had gone flat too. Spent around 45 minutes looking for one of the two chargers before stumbling upon the cheap halfords over 1.8 and diesel version in the caravan. Clio ready to fire in 20 mins on the fast setting and van sounds healthy after about 4 hours on the normal setting. I've disconnected the van as it has a drain somewhere and will flat again if left for 2 weeks, not using it much of late.When I find some I'll insulate the clio one with some carpet to see if that helps ward off the chill.The lidl one I've not had a problem with and I like that it can be left on without worry of doing damage. Traditional ones get the charge in quicker though which is often helpful. Overall I'm happy with the two cheap ones, not least because it doubles the chance of finding one when I need it.
fordperv Posted January 17, 2014 Posted January 17, 2014 I was gutted when my oldskool metal bodied charger I got from my dad gave up the ghost, my choice of weapon at the moment is an equip branded 4 amp jobbie which I've had for a good few years it does a good job so I'm happy
mat_the_cat Posted January 18, 2014 Posted January 18, 2014 Well, I was so impressed by the price of the Lidl one I went out and bought it! Even better, I did the food shopping at the same time and sneaked it on to the joint account. Result Got home and connected it up to a battery to test it: I'll let it off being around 0.2 V out, but if it performs as described in the instructions I'll be well happy. Decent length leads too.
Asimo Posted January 18, 2014 Posted January 18, 2014 Nearby this GT6, a Vectra and their garage were destroyed this week. The fire is said to have started with a battery charger. One of my dads battery chargers went up in smoke, but it was outside so no harm done. Useful things but not without a fire risk. http://autoshite.com/topic/7706-one-shite-picture-per-post/page-284
overrun Posted January 18, 2014 Posted January 18, 2014 Aldi, Auto XS branded one for £15. It's great.Every inch as good as, or better, than my mates £70 C-Tec.
twosmoke300 Posted January 18, 2014 Posted January 18, 2014 Yeh we've got a couple of aldi ones in the family.I just showed sorn me's post to the missus cos she calls me ocd for not leaving anything electrical on at the workshop.Oh and no welding after 4pm.fell out with an old boss about that once. Fuck em , I'm the boss and tea boy now. jbz2079 1
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