Battery charger at Aldi... is it a smart charger..?

[maxi_77]

Not sure about those figures, mine keeps up fine, I tought it was more like 4 amps max for the Aldi/Lidl ones?

Mine certainly is and as I said it is marginal but I don't need it very often. The picture of this one looked smaller and it was suitable for pretty small batteries and did mention up to 1a for something in the spec. My real point was it doesn't matter how smart it is if the output is too low to charge your battery in a reasonabe time or to keep pace with your usage of power. If you only put in 25% of what you take out whilst parked up it wont take that long to flatten the battery, and both your LB and starter batteries do not like being taken down below 50%.

[bongolow]

Bought one this morning. Here's the full spec from the instruction booklet...

Model - CPL-2054

Charging current -
0.8A for 6V or 12V/1.2Ah - 14Ah
3.8A for 12V/14Ah - 120Ah

Charging voltage - 3.8V-17.7V

For batteries -
6V: 1.2Ah-14Ah
12V: 1.2Ah-120Ah

Functions -
Permanent charging function
Trickle charging
Overheating, short-circuit and reverse polarity protection
Reactivation of deep-discharged batteries (12V only)

Charging programs -
6V:- 7.3V/0.8A for 6V/1.2Ah-14Ah batteries
Motor cycle:- 14.4V/0.8A for 12V/1.2Ah-14Ah batteries
Car:- 14.4V/3.8A for 12V/14Ah-120Ah batteries
Car (low temp):- 14.7V/3.8A for 12V/14Ah-120Ah batteries

[mikexgough]

yep I got another 2 this morning... and these new ones have an LCD display too....and they are very smart chargers.... the LCD display showing the Voltage is a great idea...

[Simon Jones]

One thing to note with the Lidl version is that it will not charge a flat battery or one with very low charge: it simply will not power on. They are great for keeping a decent battery topped up, but you'll need a more traditional charger for those instances where the battery is heavily discharged.

Having said that, I'll be checking out my local Aldi on the way home & this looks to be a handy little unit for keeping the battery in good health over the winter months.

[Northern Bongolow]

good point simon, i noted this when doing flat(ish) ones, it cannot tell if its a bike battery or a flat 12 volt one so does not allow start up/mode select, it has to be above a certain voltage (i think 7 volts) to kick up.

[rita]

good point simon, i noted this when doing flat(ish) ones, it cannot tell if its a bike battery or a flat 12 volt one so does not allow start up/mode select, it has to be above a certain voltage (i think 7 volts) to kick up.

Its not very clever or intelligent then..

[g8dhe]

They used up all the "Intelligence" in the marketing of the product, there was none left for designing the product!

[mikexgough]

good point simon, i noted this when doing flat(ish) ones, it cannot tell if its a bike battery or a flat 12 volt one so does not allow start up/mode select, it has to be above a certain voltage (i think 7 volts) to kick up.

If any of my batteries were down to 7v then they would be binned....rather than wasting time trying to charge them....
I understand where you guys are coming from and yep the 6v/12v does make it an issue for some but if you have a bike then it's a good thing.....
I have hard wired these into long term lay up classics.......but then they have decent batteries in anyway, these chargers keep them "topped" up for 5 or more years......hence my purchase of 2 today....
Mine has been in Bongo for 2yrs now with no issues at all..... Word is that CTEK are doing a budget charger at £22...

[maxi_77]

good point simon, i noted this when doing flat(ish) ones, it cannot tell if its a bike battery or a flat 12 volt one so does not allow start up/mode select, it has to be above a certain voltage (i think 7 volts) to kick up.

If any of my batteries were down to 7v then they would be binned....rather than wasting time trying to charge them....
I understand where you guys are coming from and yep the 6v/12v does make it an issue for some but if you have a bike then it's a good thing.....
I have hard wired these into long term lay up classics.......but then they have decent batteries in anyway, these chargers keep them "topped" up for 5 or more years......hence my purchase of 2 today....
Mine has been in Bongo for 2yrs now with no issues at all..... Word is that CTEK are doing a budget charger at £22...

In a proper test in one of the yachting magazines the Ringsmart chargers came out best value for money and very effective, in that they put a higher level of charge in the batteries than most of the others.

[mikexgough]

In a proper test in one of the yachting magazines the Ringsmart chargers came out best value for money and very effective, in that they put a higher level of charge in the batteries than most of the others.

Nice to have another charger to consider.... thanks for the info.....

Lidl have their CTEK alike charger back next Monday 17th.... £2 more than Aldi one at £14.99...but *runs for cover* from my Classic owning customer reports it seems a better unit than the Aldi, although my Aldi one has never let me down.....yet...