Hi,

A belated Happy New Year to all here.

Now, has anyone here bought one of the Auto-XS car and motorbike
battery chargers that Aldi have recently been selling for £12.99?

After having a look at the instructions for one in the store, I though
it might be a good idea as a lay-up charger for the 110Ah 'van
battery.  So I bought one.  According to the manual, it is supposed to
charge at 3.8A until the battery voltage reaches about 14.4V, and then
switch to what it calls a maintenance/trickle charge.  Well, it didn't
reach 14.2V before it switched to trickle charge so I exchanged it for
another.  This one gets much closer to 14.4V(14.35) and then continues
to trickle charge as it's supposed to.  Since connecting this one,
I've been monitoring the battery for voltage and electrolyte gassing,
level and specific gravity, and so far it appears to be maintaining
14.45V and there is no evidence of gassing or electrolyte loss(my
battery is semi-translucent which makes checking very easy), and the
SG is rising very gradually in all cells.  So far, it seems to be
doing what I bought it for, quite satisfactorily.

It seems reasonably foolproof as it can't be damaged by short circuit,
reverse polarity or overheating, and the leads remain dead until a
button is pressed on the unit to activate it.  Also, according to the
manual it is also suitable for use with Gel electrolyte batteries.

Just thought I'd share!

Neil

(Reply via NG please)

"Neil"  wrote in message 
news:i3f4o3l2p44uosm28cv2i44388lbh0lbop@4ax.com...
> Hi,
>
> A belated Happy New Year to all here.
>
> Now, has anyone here bought one of the Auto-XS car and motorbike
> battery chargers that Aldi have recently been selling for £12.99?
>
> After having a look at the instructions for one in the store, I though
> it might be a good idea as a lay-up charger for the 110Ah 'van
> battery.  So I bought one.  According to the manual, it is supposed to
> charge at 3.8A until the battery voltage reaches about 14.4V, and then
> switch to what it calls a maintenance/trickle charge.  Well, it didn't
> reach 14.2V before it switched to trickle charge so I exchanged it for
> another.  This one gets much closer to 14.4V(14.35) and then continues
> to trickle charge as it's supposed to.  Since connecting this one,
> I've been monitoring the battery for voltage and electrolyte gassing,
> level and specific gravity, and so far it appears to be maintaining
> 14.45V and there is no evidence of gassing or electrolyte loss(my
> battery is semi-translucent which makes checking very easy), and the
> SG is rising very gradually in all cells.  So far, it seems to be
> doing what I bought it for, quite satisfactorily.
>
> It seems reasonably foolproof as it can't be damaged by short circuit,
> reverse polarity or overheating, and the leads remain dead until a
> button is pressed on the unit to activate it.  Also, according to the
> manual it is also suitable for use with Gel electrolyte batteries.
>
> Just thought I'd share!

As per the Lidl one which has been offered a couple of times in the past 
year, except this one handles 6v batteries as well. They are an exact copy 
of, or actually made by the company selling them for £60 each. I bought one 
of the Lidl units then bought a second one as soon as I worked out what they 
were. Perfect they are, for maintaining batteries at peak.

"Neil"  wrote in message 
news:i3f4o3l2p44uosm28cv2i44388lbh0lbop@4ax.com...
> Hi,
>
> A belated Happy New Year to all here.
>
> Now, has anyone here bought one of the Auto-XS car and motorbike
> battery chargers that Aldi have recently been selling for £12.99?
>
> After having a look at the instructions for one in the store, I though
> it might be a good idea as a lay-up charger for the 110Ah 'van
> battery.  So I bought one.  According to the manual, it is supposed to
> charge at 3.8A until the battery voltage reaches about 14.4V, and then
> switch to what it calls a maintenance/trickle charge.  Well, it didn't
> reach 14.2V before it switched to trickle charge so I exchanged it for
> another.  This one gets much closer to 14.4V(14.35) and then continues
> to trickle charge as it's supposed to.  Since connecting this one,
> I've been monitoring the battery for voltage and electrolyte gassing,
> level and specific gravity, and so far it appears to be maintaining
> 14.45V and there is no evidence of gassing or electrolyte loss(my
> battery is semi-translucent which makes checking very easy), and the
> SG is rising very gradually in all cells.  So far, it seems to be
> doing what I bought it for, quite satisfactorily.
>
> It seems reasonably foolproof as it can't be damaged by short circuit,
> reverse polarity or overheating, and the leads remain dead until a
> button is pressed on the unit to activate it.  Also, according to the
> manual it is also suitable for use with Gel electrolyte batteries.
>
> Just thought I'd share!

I think stores in different areas have different offers. We have a fairly 
new Aldi and I was there on Saturday for the first time.

I didn't see any battery chargers, but they had inverters. There were two 
different ones all in the same place behind a sign saying £14.99. One of 
them said 150 watts and the other said 300/600 watts. (300 constant 600 
peak?) We asked an assistant who said they were all £14.99, but when we 
arrived at the check-out with the bigger one it came through at £24.99 so we 
put it back.

Does anyone have any experience of them?

Neb

"Neil"  wrote in message 
news:i3f4o3l2p44uosm28cv2i44388lbh0lbop@4ax.com...
> Hi,
>
> A belated Happy New Year to all here.
>
> Now, has anyone here bought one of the Auto-XS car and motorbike
> battery chargers that Aldi have recently been selling for £12.99?
>
> After having a look at the instructions for one in the store, I though
> it might be a good idea as a lay-up charger for the 110Ah 'van
> battery.  So I bought one.  According to the manual, it is supposed to
> charge at 3.8A until the battery voltage reaches about 14.4V, and then
> switch to what it calls a maintenance/trickle charge.  Well, it didn't
> reach 14.2V before it switched to trickle charge so I exchanged it for
> another.  This one gets much closer to 14.4V(14.35) and then continues
> to trickle charge as it's supposed to.  Since connecting this one,
> I've been monitoring the battery for voltage and electrolyte gassing,
> level and specific gravity, and so far it appears to be maintaining
> 14.45V and there is no evidence of gassing or electrolyte loss(my
> battery is semi-translucent which makes checking very easy), and the
> SG is rising very gradually in all cells.  So far, it seems to be
> doing what I bought it for, quite satisfactorily.
>
> It seems reasonably foolproof as it can't be damaged by short circuit,
> reverse polarity or overheating, and the leads remain dead until a
> button is pressed on the unit to activate it.  Also, according to the
> manual it is also suitable for use with Gel electrolyte batteries.
>
> Just thought I'd share!
>
> Neil
>
> (Reply via NG please)

Hi Neil

I had one when they were out last time(£9.99) and while it worked it was 
fine
but came to it one day and just nothing, took it back, no more stock so got 
my money
back !

so hope it lasts !!

Metwo

On Mon, 7 Jan 2008 20:50:00 -0000, "Harry Bloomfield"
 wrote:

>
>"Neil"  wrote in message 
>news:i3f4o3l2p44uosm28cv2i44388lbh0lbop@4ax.com...
>>
>> Now, has anyone here bought one of the Auto-XS car and motorbike
>> battery chargers that Aldi have recently been selling for £12.99?
>>
>
>As per the Lidl one which has been offered a couple of times in the past 
>year, except this one handles 6v batteries as well. They are an exact copy 
>of, or actually made by the company selling them for £60 each. I bought one 
>of the Lidl units then bought a second one as soon as I worked out what they 
>were. Perfect they are, for maintaining batteries at peak. 
>

Thanks for that Harry.

You prompted me to dig out the leaflet for a certain silver coloured
battery charger, and I do believe you are correct - the resemblance is
remarkable!

As for the test of the one connected to the 'van battery, the specific
gravity is now 1.3 in all cells with no loss of electrolyte.  The
trickle charge which was a constant 78mA, has now stopped
automatically.  Looking at the manual and also the leaflet for a
"similar" looking charger suggests that the battery will continue to
receive pulses at 78mA in response to measurements of the battery
condition for as long as the charger remains connected.

I'm quite impressed, so I've just gone out and bought another for the
AGM and gel cell batteries I've got here.

Neil

(Reply via NG please)

On Tue, 8 Jan 2008 14:32:24 -0000, "METWO" 
wrote:
>
>Hi Neil
>
>I had one when they were out last time(£9.99) and while it worked it was 
>fine
>but came to it one day and just nothing, took it back, no more stock so got 
>my money
>back !
>
>so hope it lasts !!
>
>Metwo 

So do I!  For what it delivers it seems very good value!

Neil

(Reply via NG please)