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Tamworthbay

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It’s a feed for a caravan battery charging circuit so it’s 30a cable with a 10a fuse. The ctek pushes a max of 5 amps in its bulk charge phase...so it’s basically what it was put there to do... just in the opposite direction.

 

And I know the wiring is in tip top condition because I put it in new about 18 months ago. I’d probably be less likely to shove it through the cars original 34 year old wiring.

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I've a Lidl / Ultimate Speed one and the only drawback that if the power is interrupted, it falls back to "off" state, rather than "last" state which then requires a couple of button presses to resume charging.

 

Not sure on what the Ctek does under these circumstances.

 

As pointed out before. An old-school dumb charger and a modern smart charger both have their uses.

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I'm considering buying a set of ramps to make servicing the Mazda 3 and 6 easier. The 6 has an undertray which makes it less straight forward doing an oil change compared to my 45. All 3 of the fleet are going to need some rust treatment/prevention soon. Are car ramps worth getting? Would you need the ramp extensions for a Mazda 3 , 6 and Rover 45?

 

Finally , any recommendations for a particular model / brand ?

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Check very carefully that you can drive onto them without ripping your front airdam off. I have had several sets of drive-on ramps, and they have all been the same angle, which is always just slightly too steep to get them under anything under about 30 years old. I'm sure they would work fine on a Mk2 scrote, but anything newer, forget it.

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I've got a set from machine mart that I bought with the ramp extensions. The extensions did go banana shape when I drove up a Saab 9-5 the first time I used them. Now I tend to jack the car up and lower it onto the ramps.

 

I feel a lot safer going underneath on ramps than axle stands. Far more stable.

 

A good jack helps wonders in jacking a car up too. None of this £25 2 tonne generic jack nonsense. They invariably are unable to get most cars high enough. After recommendations on here, I thoroughly recommend the SGS engineering 3 tonne jack. Even if it's darn heavy to lift out of the garage.

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.

Battery charger :

 

Can anybody recommend a particularly good charger for AGM (absorbed glass mat) battery for maximum life. ?   ..and preferably affordable !

I don't know whether these need special care, slow charging or whatever. First hand advice,  or else a link to a reliable knowledge base, would be appreciated.

 

These batteries are said to be tolerant of  deep cycling and also good as a starter battery, so I bought a couple to use on my boat  (which is from the 70's,  is scruffy, has a motor and a steering wheel, and has cost me more than it worth.. so surely must qualify as Autoshite !) 

 

Thanks.

Bfg

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They look ideal for Modernz, or indeed anything with a lowish airdam..

 

At the price they sell for, I think I need to get my welder out and start making them!

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.

Battery charger :

 

Can anybody recommend a particularly good charger for AGM (absorbed glass mat) battery for maximum life. ?   ..and preferably affordable !

I don't know whether these need special care, slow charging or whatever. First hand advice,  or else a link to a reliable knowledge base, would be appreciated.

 

These batteries are said to be tolerant of  deep cycling and also good as a starter battery, so I bought a couple to use on my boat  (which is from the 70's,  is scruffy, has a motor and a steering wheel, and has cost me more than it worth.. so surely must qualify as Autoshite !) 

 

Thanks.

Bfg

 

I'm a big fan of Optimate chargers... They're not cheap but they're miles better than the Lidl/Aldi/ebay smart* chargers.

 

They're AGM safe and I've used mine to keep the Panasonic AGM battery of my old MX5 going. I've also used it to successfully revive batteries that other chargers had pronounced dead.

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They look ideal for Modernz, or indeed anything with a lowish airdam..

 

At the price they sell for, I think I need to get my welder out and start making them!

 

Exactly what my son thought and said, except he needed them and I was doing the welding.

After careful thought I decided if he could afford a Cobra he could afford the ramps.

There's a fair bit of steel in them though

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ANy wisodom on towbar and electrics for a Discovery 3?  Everything seems v expensive and not much out there?

I just bought a towbar for my Mk4 Mondeo from PF Jones, went for the own-brand one off their eBay shop which was £80, it arrived yesterday and they’ve actually sent me the Witter bar and ball which is £144 on their website, so a bit of a result. Just need to get the twin electrics kit now which is £40 including a bypass relay, but comes with a shoddy looking split charge relay, so probably another £16 on that for the PCT item.

 

To offset this minor result I also bought this, from ECP super mid week bargain bonanza sale. £19.99 down from £46. Been meaning to get one for a while for emergencies and whatnot. It came today.

 

Dogshit. Takes fucking ages to blow up even a low profile tyre, the gauge is full of shit and they have inexplicably put this hunk of plastic around the valve which serves no purpose other than to obstruct you getting it attached to the tyre

 

2/10 would not buy again

 

 

post-20353-0-41755200-1518731963_thumb.jpeg

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does anyone have a Makita cordless impact wrench? 

 

I have an old Snap On CTU4850 which does the job, but is getting on a bit and the batteries are starting to fade - they are old ni-cad packs.

 

I am already invested in the Makita LXT 18v stuff with drills, grinder etc, so would just be buying the bare tool.

Looks like the DTW1002z is the top model - its claimed torque figures are way above the snap on, but it is also a chunk heavier too.

 

Has anyone used one before? 

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Check very carefully that you can drive onto them without ripping your front airdam off. I have had several sets of drive-on ramps, and they have all been the same angle, which is always just slightly too steep to get them under anything under about 30 years old. I'm sure they would work fine on a Mk2 scrote, but anything newer, forget it.

 

I have 2 long pieces of old timber decking, and 2 shorter pieces.

 

these are placed on the bottom 2 steps on my ramps, thus making them less steep. Works a treat even on low cars.

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Mebby not what you want but there's a guy on Ebay who fits new batteries into a Snap On 18v one for about £50 or a bit less supply only. I keep threatening to do mine but it only died because it didn't get used often enough.

 

Aye, I have seen that.....Im in two minds about it all. I have had shit experiences with replacement batteries in the past - granted a few years ago now, but useful life was short on the new cells, plus the general age of the gun itself means a failure could be round the corner...already had the switch changed on it.

 

A new Makita would be nice, its apparently over twice as powerful as the one I have and I already have the batteries....but its a fair wedge of wodge.

 On the other hand I could probably still get over a ton selling the snap on....

I dunno. In my usual style I will probably ponder this for months and still not make a decision.

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About 5 years ago for £30 I bought a disgustingly manky CTU 4850 complete from the van, a p/x they'd taken in. At the time they did a fixed price £55 refurb which I went for, when it came back it had new casings on so looked the bollocks. It then made £188 on Ebay.

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Im going to fight my fears and teach myself to solder.

 

Any recommendations on which iron to buy??

For fairly small stuff the gas ones are good, I find the lead on electric ones a pain. The one I have was about £12 from Aldi. Something like this, though mine had more bits and bobs with it.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DRAPER-78774-SELF-IGNITING-REFILLABLE-BUTANE-LIGHTER-GAS-SOLDERING-IRON-TORCH/273065051332?hash=item3f93f204c4:g:zwMAAOSwPDBaEXb5

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does anyone have a Makita cordless impact wrench?

 

I have an old Snap On CTU4850 which does the job, but is getting on a bit and the batteries are starting to fade - they are old ni-cad packs.

 

I am already invested in the Makita LXT 18v stuff with drills, grinder etc, so would just be buying the bare tool.

Looks like the DTW1002z is the top model - its claimed torque figures are way above the snap on, but it is also a chunk heavier too.

 

Has anyone used one before?

I'd be very interested too. I've invested into the LXT range and awfully tempted with that impact wrench. Like you said, it's pricey, but Makita stuff is generally solid and the specs aren't full of lies.

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Im going to fight my fears and teach myself to solder.

 

Any recommendations on which iron to buy??

What are you going to solder? If general electronics then get a decent iron. I.e. genuine Hakko, Weller or Metcal. Make sure it's genuine too. Loads of fakes about.

 

The Hakko FX888D is a great, professional iron at a good price. It's a Japanese design and manufactured iron. The official UK distributor is here: http://www.dancap.co.uk/soldering/fx888D.html

Yes their website is awful but it's a small mom and pop type outfit that mostly deals with big manufacturing companies, so it doesn't matter to them too much. You can get it elsewhere, but it's more expensive.

 

Buy a good soldering iron once and you will never have to buy another again. A good iron will suddenly make soldering so much easier and you'll suddenly find it's not that hard.

 

Cheap irons just can't get enough heat to the tips quick enough and the tips themselves are crap quality.

 

My personal setup is two Wellers. They weren't cheap but I bought them when I was back in Uni (~2008) and I don't regret it. If I was buying now I'd choose the Hakko.

b9907b89cc81a0acd5ffaf105406c762.jpg

 

Hot air rework is another useful tool and skill. But that's a different ballgame and one for another day...

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