Aldi charger heads up

There's an optimate type jobby in Aldi tomorrow morning. £13 a piece.

http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/58_4632.htm

 

And jolly decent it is too.

The best buy was a box of 382 assorted "O" rings ranging from 3.1 - 49.5mm
for about £3.

A close second was those little gel pack type warming things, two for a
pound.

 

It does exactly what it says on the tin.
800mA (or 4A for a car battery) until charged then it switches to 75mA.
It's not as good as a real Optimate as it doesn't kill the battery if
you leave it connected without mains power.

The instructions tell you to disconnect the battery from the vehicle
before charging, which is a nuisance so I'll ignore it.

 

I bought a couple on Thursday (thanks for the heads up Doki) and have
only tried them on fairly well charged batteries so far and they seem
to drop back charge wise as you say.

And not as good as the Optimate as you have to press the mode button
to get it going (whereas the Optimate starts doing it's thing
automatically, handy if the Optimate on the inside of the house and
you just hook up the bike on the front and forget to press the
button?). In the Aldi one's instructions they mention that is to
prevent sparks so it could be a good idea I guess.

Hmm, until I read the instructions a couple of times I wasn't sure
what was indicated or what did what. Are the legends on the top very
dark / undistinguishable on all of them (or is it just my eyes getting
worse)? :-(

One thing I'm not sure about is it sounds like there is a relay in
there and when I connected it to the old CB250 battery (it had been
left flat for a good year) it starts to charge it then I can just hear
the relay cycling. Not sure if that's part of it's battery
'regeneration' process or that it's just caught in a loop but I didn't
like to leave it on to find out? The Optimate tries to charge it (and
does to a point) but marks it as 'weak'.

I found out later on Thursday a biker mate was looking for something
similar but when he went to the Hoddesdon (Herts) Aldi this morning
they had all gone, as with the Stevenage branch. Luckily the one at
the bottom of my sisters road in Upminister had some so she got him a
couple for me (if anyone is still looking for one). ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

 

Went into my local Aldi, couldn't find them, so asked the assistant. She
had no idea what I was talking about, and neither did the manager. This was
at 0910 on Thursday morning. Guess we got left out in Sudbury.

Bill

 

If this is any consolation, nor did the manager of the store I bought
them from the previous day (Hoddesdon).

Apparently the manager of the Stevenage branch knew he had had them
and they there were none left.

Upminister had some as per this afternoon if you fancied a ride out!
;-)

All the best ..

T i m

 

Same here. I've never disconnected the vehicle battery before, but is
there any special reason to do so? Vehicle in question is an Isuzu
diesel, with not much in the way of electronics.

 

Ok, thanks. Left charging anyway...

 

<fx> sound of front door opening as he goes to check charger

Look OK...

 

Its not unkown for the regulating components in chargers to fail ,
bunging an unregulated voltage into modern car electronics is not good
, screws the ecu , thier way of covering arse


If you are going to charge on vehicle then the negative charger cable
should be connected to the car body or engine structure not the battery



















--

 

Often stated yet rarely supported with even the weakest of anecdotal
evidence from the a mate of a bloke someone met down the pub.

I am not familiar with that one, why?

 

Strangly enough in my local van dealer beginning of december , one
brand new 20k van having all the electronics changed because the owner
let the battery go flat , just stuck on his charger and fried everything
for the sake of 2 minutes with a spanner it just isnt worth the effort

Havent a clue some advisse i was given by a mechanic 20 plus years ago
same if your jump starting from a slave battery

Knowing the cost of a replacement ecu is it really worth it

--

 

I have fond memories of when Hog got a jump-start for his ShiteOldBMW,
not realising that the friendly trucker who gave him the boost had 24v
electrics....

 

Er, as negative is earth (on virtually all vehicles these days), why
should this make any difference????

 

It's to stop you creating sparks near to the battery.

Battery, hydrogen, sparks, BOOM, face full of acid.

Connect positive to positive first make the negative connection or last
of the negative connection, if jump starting away, from the battery.

 

Oh yes, but the poster seems to imply it won't fritz electronic stuff
that way.

 

I thought It was to move any possible spark location away from the top
of the battery, where there may be volatile gases.

 

The only thing I can think of and I haven't thought this through, is to
do with the common rail positive supply and remote switching and control
units used on some modern vehicles. But that doesn't really figure.

 

IIRC, the only casualty afterwards was the quartz clock. Lucky b'stard.

 

So the final connection, if sparky, isn't anywhere near the hydrogen gas
from the battery.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

"A scone and tea at half past three
Makes the day a little brighter
Keep your cakes and fancy tarts
And stick them up your shiter."