Battery charger

[Smeeagain]

Yep, thats why they're called charging points ........ 

[omodos]

CTEK MXS 5.0 GREAT ITEM

[centurion]

cheers... FYI - bought one from Lidl for £12.99 [on offer from 19.99  ] and it had worked a treat.

I also tested the same on the bike and all I could say that it's been brilliant so far. 2 years guarantee, did a job on two distinct batteries/V's for just over a tenner... brill.

[omodos]

well am still waiting for them to start selling the Lidl one here in Cyprus, in the meantime bought the ctek, and it is great.....you will find mixed reviews on the aldi and lidl chargers, but no harm owning one I guess ...whe i get it will try it on my OEM battery that last 9 years! tried the ctek but it stated to get real hot.....so didnt wanna risk damaging it, so will use the lidl charger once i get one

[storminmike]

[quote="centurion"]
cheers... FYI - bought one from Lidl for £12.99 [on offer from 19.99  ] and it had worked a treat.

I also tested the same on the bike and all I could say that it's been brilliant so far. 2 years guarantee, did a job on two distinct batteries/V's for just over a tenner... brill.
[/quote]

...are they still doing them?

[centurion]

Yup found couple in the West Ealing store... Guess others would have them too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[storminmike]

Thanks

[centurion]

...just to mention that while on charge it went tits up.  )

** car was on Oxford bike charge for couple days [yes couple days ] and just about reached 90ish %

[chrisn7]

It all depends on what you want to achieve with a charger. I use the CTEK as suggested elsewhere for everyday use, and they are excellent for this purpose. However their best use is simply to bring a battery up to charge slowly, and keep it that way, and as such are ideal for leisure batteries and classic car situations.

However if you want to do any diagnosis or coding then you need something a little more manly such as this Ring charger, as it essential to maintain voltage in these circumstances. Most BMWs draw plenty of amps once the ignition is on, so you need a device that can cope:

http://www.skidrive.co.uk/accessories/p ... tno=RCB320

[omodos]

hmm that ring device looks pretty good , hahaha despite numerous emails and pestering asking lidl when they will put the battery charger on the shelves here in cyprus they refused to comment, telling to check their leaflets on a regular basis-well i checked the web and seemed to see a pattern develop over the last couple of years, the charger is almost always for sale end jan-start of feb in the uk, and spain and france.....goes on sale 2 feb here, gonna get one as a backup...anyone know if their alternator /battery tester is any good or can be connected to the charge points ok?(i guess access to the  battery in rear was made impossible for a reason)

http://www.lidl.com.cy/en/offers.htm?action=showDetail&id=25254

[storminmike]

[quote="centurion"]
...just to mention that while on charge it went tits up.  )

** car was on Oxford bike charge for couple days [yes couple days ] and just about reached 90ish %
[/quote]
oooops :'(

I saw one of those in Lidl...it said max 120amps....that's too small isn't it?

[Smeeagain]

[quote="omodos"]
hmm that ring device looks pretty good , hahaha despite numerous emails and pestering asking lidl when they will put the battery charger on the shelves here in cyprus they refused to comment, telling to check their leaflets on a regular basis-well i checked the web and seemed to see a pattern develop over the last couple of years, the charger is almost always for sale end jan-start of feb in the uk, and spain and france.....goes on sale 2 feb here, gonna get one as a backup...anyone know if their alternator /battery tester is any good or can be connected to the charge points ok?(i guess access to the  battery in rear was made impossible for a reason)

http://www.lidl.com.cy/en/offers.htm?action=showDetail&id=25254
[/quote]
I bought one of these and works ok I guess but it's just a traffic light system so either works or doesn't - ie it confirmed a flat battery was flat and a full battery was full. - I wouldn't rely on a £1.99 device to tell me an alternator is charging properly or expect much from it
Smee

[omodos]

good point...thanks

bought the lidl charger today rated at 3.8a and can handle up 120ah batteries in ref to the earlier  query.......have put it on my old oem battery that is showing 8.4 volts......had the ctek mxs5.0 on this same battery and it was overheating didnt want to risk wrecking that at cost quite a bit more.....will report back later if the lidl one burns up or detects battery is bad and stops charging...and how about using the lidl one on the jump/charge points? anyone done this in their x5?

[storminmike]

[quote="omodos"]
good point...thanks

bought the lidl charger today rated at 3.8a and can handle up 120ah batteries in ref to the earlier  query.......have put it on my old oem battery that is showing 8.4 volts......had the ctek mxs5.0 on this same battery and it was overheating didnt want to risk wrecking that at cost quite a bit more.....will report back later if the lidl one burns up or detects battery is bad and stops charging...and how about using the lidl one on the jump/charge points? anyone done this in their x5?
[/quote]

Yes...please report back....it was the 120ah max listed that made me wonder if it was any good. A previous poster has bought one but was it the same model?

[X5Sport]

If your battery is reading 8.4V it's completely beyond recovery and has most likely a short in at least one cell - which will cause the CTEK to overheat - probably more than one.  Throw that battery in the recycling centre!

Any battery showing less than 10.2V is dead and should be scrapped!  Trying to recover it is a waste of time.

The under bonnet charge points should be the only ones used if the battery is on the car.

Richard