lidl smart battery chargers.

[OneForTheRoad]

£13.99 in shop now.

 

[OneForTheRoad]

theres also a battery and alternator tester .. £2.50 ish .

 

[Will]

If it’s the same as the one I have, someone got me one around 8 years back and it’s been very good.

Very useful and superb VFM.

 

[brucemillar]

These chargers are very good. I use one each on my 124 & C55 which are both laid up for winter. They have several modes for 'maintenance charging' that include Car, MotorBike, leisure Battery etc and a nice LED Digital Display that gives you a an instant view on your battery health/charge/ I have not seen the Alternator Tester, but at that price you could hardly go far wrong.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

Bought one of the testers for £2.99, worth a punt at that.

 

[AMGeed]

^ Too late to get one today..... I'll be off to Lidl in the morning for a tester. The chargers are great value and mine is still fine after 3 years of use.

 

[brucemillar]

I could not resist. Popped in (big lie) went in and whilst there bought a Battery Alternator Tester = £2.99 and a Cordless Battery Operated 6w Soldering Iron = £5.99

I do not expect or need a lifetime of soldering, from this iron @£5.99 if it does a couple of radio jobs then it has more than paid for itself. As a price comparison, I just bought from Maplin three soldering iron tips for my butane Solderpro Iron. These are £17.00 just for the tips!!!

Not sure if it is a Sunday thing? But my Lidl was very well stocked with goodies today. Sets of Universal Car Mats £6.00. Again if you just want a set of reasonable looking black carpet mats, you will struggle to get them under that price. I also note that that they are doing a fair range of building tools, Laser Levels, drills, sanders. Again if you just want to get a job done and are not expecting a lifetimes service then these things are worth a punt.

 

[homersimpson]

It's always worth keeping an eye on Lidl for thier workshop gear. Missus picked me up a cordless Dremel today... only 17.99..!

 

[ordessa]

£13.99 in shop now.

DAFT question about these...

I got one last time.. if the battery IS flat.. and you want to charge...do you still have to remove the car terminals (scare stories of fried electrics!)
I'm sure it makes sense... but then you dont when you jump start a car..
Steve

 

[brucemillar]

If your battery is completely flat - zero voltage? Then it is unlikely that any intelligent charger will work. They all look for a small voltage to do their handshaking before they will charge.

To get around this you need to get a small charge into your flat battery either using a battery booster or a jump start/jump leads from another good battery. Just enough to get +3vdc into the battery so it can handshake with the charger. This is not a Lidl thing!! It is how all/most maintenance chargers work and can lead to people throwing away good batteries in the mistaken belief that they cannot be charged. Also remember that fully discharged battery can take 48+ hours, to fully charge on a maintenance charger.

 

[AMGeed]

^+1 on the above info. The smart chargers need some life in a battery or they won't charge it at all.

 

[AMGeed]

DAFT question about these...

I got one last time.. if the battery IS flat.. and you want to charge...do you still have to remove the car terminals (scare stories of fried electrics!)
I'm sure it makes sense... but then you dont when you jump start a car..
Steve

No need to remove the cables from the terminal posts. Just check and double check they are on the correct poles before turning the charger on.
Bruce's advise above is very important when trying to charge a really flat battery.

 

[ordessa]

yes sorry..I didnt mean a DEAD flat battery....understand the physics of that one...it was a "phrase"...
its the how to charge in situ.... and Q: answered thankkyou AMGeed

 

[MancMike]

It's always worth keeping an eye on Lidl for thier workshop gear. Missus picked me up a cordless Dremel today... only 17.99..!

While there are bargains to be had, an £18 Dremel-like rotary tool will have no useful torque to maintain RPMs, it'll stop whenever you touch it to anything. I've had loads of them before biting the bullet and getting a quality Dremel 8200, that has massive torque, you'd snap a disc trying to stop it in the workpiece.

 

[MancMike]

They all look for a small voltage to do their handshaking before they will charge.

It's also the reason nothing happens if you touch the charger terminals together, or to bodywork, etc. You hook up to the battery and a second later, it kicks in. It's the same with my charger/maintainer, and my li-ion jump starter. You could touch the terminals to your tongue without regretting it.

 

[Pcn1]

Picked up my Lidl charger last nite.
Lots of positive (no pun ) feedback from many users of these on different forums.
And as I mentioned elsewhere, I had 2 CTEK's die on me so I wasnt happy to try a 3rd !

 

[slade1]

While there are bargains to be had, an £18 Dremel-like rotary tool will have no useful torque to maintain RPMs, it'll stop whenever you touch it to anything. I've had loads of them before biting the bullet and getting a quality Dremel 8200, that has massive torque, you'd snap a disc trying to stop it in the workpiece.

You are right, I got a rechargable One from Aldi and it is pretty useless no torque.

 

[merc85]

Interesting enough the instructions say to remove one of the cable's before charging

 

[gbjeppm]

I bought a Lidl one a few years ago, it lasted around 18 months before dying on me, maybe I was unlucky.

But at that price, they are almost disposable.