# Aldi 3 stage battery charger on offer again



## maddie (Jan 4, 2006)

http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/2827_8410.htm

If any ones interested they are on offer on the 28 dec !! Brill chargers for £12.50 same as ctec (£40 ish) can charge upto 125 amphrs lead or gel type
terry


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

*Aldi Charger*

Hi, I'm going to stick my head above the parapet, and ask why I would need one, I thought that was the idea of the EHU lead, or is this charger more effective?

Kev n Liz


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## maddie (Jan 4, 2006)

Hi Kev ---no just a good charger for the money,some people take the battery off the van (storage) and like to keep it topped up 
terry


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## TR5 (Jun 6, 2007)

Most charger units in motorhomes will only charge up to 13.6 - 13.8 volts.
They rely on the motorhome being driven regularly to provide a higher charge via the split-charge relay, which usually delivers around 14.4 volts.

Under-charging regularly will reduce the life of a battery, and will not clean off the lead plates fully, thus reducing the output also.

Using a charger which will deliver a boost charge at 14.4 to 14.8 volts occasionally will help to keep the battery in tip-top condition, so if storing for any length of time, it is a good idea to use a charger periodically which will supply this sort of voltage, rather than trickle charge via the installed unit within the motorhome.

Hope this helps.


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

*Aldi Charger*

Thanks to Maddie & TR5

It's good to know that other people don't think my questions are as daft as I do.

Great info in the replies, this site constantly amazes me, with the reply quality, well worth the tenner investment so far.

Maddie, and your mate, what a great conversion, it does my old heart good to see that craftsmanship is still alive and well, congratulations, and if thats an early effort then the MH world better watch out for future versions.

Seasons doodahs to all

Kev n Liz


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## Texas (May 9, 2005)

Merry Xmas to all, we have one of Aldi's chargers, its the squarish one. I keep it connected to the campervan as it hibernates in the garage over the Winter months. 

I also use it on the mower in the Summer months, I have to say it works brilliantly and has given no cause for concern during the last 2 winters.  

Happy New Year!


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## tuftey (Nov 21, 2008)

would i be able to use on my self build when on hook up or using my genny


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## maddie (Jan 4, 2006)

Hi Paul, this is a simple 3 stage charger (what you need) in the van to work on h/u and via genny.The charger in my s/b was over £100 and only does the same job,the only difference being that the van one is turned on as soon as you h/up and the Aldi one you have to remember to push the button (3 times)It can be left on charge as it goes into a idle / top up stage
terry


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

*Aldi Charger*

I think I'll be getting one for myself, as it's smaller than my current (get it) one (sorry) it'll live under the bonnet without having to leave it open.


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## tuftey (Nov 21, 2008)

how strange that if why my van battery let me down cos they balanced themselfs out so not enough amps to start van so my genny has 12v out for batt chargee so i use that now as my zig has broke and my batt charger has broke how strange over crimbo when you carnt get hold of anyone hey


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## Traveller_HA5_3DOM (May 9, 2005)

*Aldi Battery Charger*

I note in the booklet to this charger it talks about disconnecting the battery leads prior to charging. 
Anyone know why this might be necessary or indeed harmful not to disconnect battery. 
I have never done this with any other battery charger and modern vehicles with immobilisers and radio codes do not take kindly to having their supply removed.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Hello Traveller_HA5_3DOM,
These Aldi chargers are very small and I feel they are adequate for the intermittent use in just topping up natural losses in stored batteries at 1 or 2 amps. I have one connected to the engine battery of my Hobby and with all the other parasitic loads like radio memory, camera etc. it does get a little warm.
No problem in the winter months but could become a problem when the temps rise again.

I have also connected one to my Golf when leaving it stored for several months. Once again it was the alarm and radio memories that would have depleted the battery after a couple of weeks if left idle.

Ray.


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## Traveller_HA5_3DOM (May 9, 2005)

Thanks Ray, It just occurs to me that if you use an accessory whilst the system is on charge it could receive 14.7 volts rather than the 13.5 it was expecting. I know my Pace mini box gets quite hot when on hook up, but 5 years down the line it is still going strong. My main reason for getting this charger is that the service battery is not charged by the charging unit fitted to the Cipro so using radio/CD player could reduce ability to start. What I was hoping to do was a permanent fixing to the battery and then just plug in and set the charger to the correct mode.

KD


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Hi again KD,
I would assume the 14+ volts won't be there too often when you are using any 12v applance. As I said the output from these little 'maintainer' type chargers is minimal and turning on a sat or TV would likely keep the actual volts down to just 12+.

My particular set up that came with the van bought second hand last July, is the Aldi maintainer is plugged into a mains outlet within the van and tops up the engine battery whenever it's on 'ground power'.

My previous American RVs usually had all the leisure and automotive batteries close together. It was a simple task to just link the two positive posts together with a short cable link with crock clips when in storage.

A reminder in the form of a clothes peg on the steering wheel prevented accidental starting with the link in place. Similarly the peg was used when the ariel was extended. 

Ray.


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## maddie (Jan 4, 2006)

Hi all,just to clarify I think all chargers tell you to disconnect battery's before charging :lol: but on mine I just connected it to the battery fed it into the cab.When i feel the engine battery needs a charge I simply plug it in and press the button 3 times and forget it.I often start the engine forgetting to disconnect it but this only drops it in standby mode without harm to either charger or battery (yet) When I unplug h/up lead I remember to unplug the charger :lol: fold the lead and drop it on the shelf under the dash ready for next use :lol: If we are stopping put (very rare :lol: )for a couple of days I plug it in as we use the cd player quite a bit and this drains the engine battery pretty quickly.I know I ought to fit battery master type thing but this solves a v/small problem very cheaply :lol: I have run jump leads from l/b to engine battery to get me out of the crap before :lol: 
terry


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## Traveller_HA5_3DOM (May 9, 2005)

Thanks Maddie, thats very helpful. The Renault Master has the service battery below floor level between the front seats so it should be quite convinient to run the DC leads under the rubber matting and mount the unit within range of a 240v socket.


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## 119585 (Jan 18, 2009)

*Smart-chargers*

"I note in the booklet to this charger it talks about disconnecting the battery leads prior to charging. 
Anyone know why this might be necessary or indeed harmful not to disconnect battery. 
I have never done this with any other battery charger and modern vehicles with immobilisers and radio codes do not take kindly to having their supply removed."

Old-style battery chargers were quite crude, using transformers and rectification which does not provide pure DC as a battery is - hence heat generation and gasing. The net result is that charging a battery connected to the vehicle with this style of charger could/would be likely to damage the vehicles electronics. Smart chargers use switch-mode techniques; these are less likely to damage your electronics. However, not all switch-mode chargers are the same: The Aldi Auto-XS and Lidl TX4 smart-chargers are not the same as a Ctek XS - the Ctek uses higher quality components, and provides for transient suppression (removes mains voltage spikes to prevent surges, sometimes up to 1000v AC) at the input and uses capacitors on the output to smooth the current. This gives very low ripple (nearer to pure DC as a battery is) which means that on-board electronics are not affected and thus the battery can be left connected to the vehicle whilst charging - even through an optional cigarette lighter plug. The Lidl charger has 3-times higher ripple content, the Aldi is not specified, but the circuit does not include smoothing, so is also likely to be much higher: there may be a risk of damage to sensitive electronics if left connected to the vehicle whilst charging. Most vehicle electronics are safe to 16v, so charging with a Ctek to 14.4v (wet) or 14.7v (AGM/gel/cold) whilst connected to the vehicle is safe - it's the purity of the current from your charger that matters. Leaving a charger connected to your battery whilst it's not charging will drain the battery ("back current drain"), although with a smart-charger it's quite small. The Ctek XS3600 and Lidl TX4 provide 3.6 amps charge current in a 3-stage process, the Aldi Auto-XS (revision 7) provides slightly more at 3.8 amps. Ctek also manufacture an XS7000 which provides a twice-as-fast equally-pure charge current of 7 amps through an 8-stage process; it also offers a 'supply' mode to power electronics up to 7 amps whilst the battery is physically disconnected - keeping safe radio codes and memory settings. There are other smart-chargers from Ring Automotive available through Maplins & Halfords. These appear more akin to the Aldi/Lidl though, rather than the better quality Ctek (Ctek are supplied as OEM by Mercedes and Porsche amongst others).

I don't know what your rigs have cost you guys, but given the risk of damage to/replacement of your vehicles electronics, £48 for a Ctek XS3600 against Aldi/Lidl's £13 is perhaps not such a false economy?

keith.


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## maddie (Jan 4, 2006)

Hi Keith,I don't know about all the teccy stuff and numbers,(can be made to add up anything :lol: )but I can say I have had one for above 2 yrs now on constantly whenever on h/u or parked on the drive.Never harmed anything  :lol: .I suppose it is a bit like the 12v tvs the £100 ones work just as good as a £400 one :lol: you pays your money and makes your choice.
I also have a CBE cb513 22 amp onboard charger so could easy fit a battery master type thing but the aldi one works just fine so why bother? Do you sell CTEK CHARGERs :lol: :lol: 
terry
edit ---the Ctek uses higher quality components---- how do you know this?do you know the quality of the components used in the aldi / lidl ones?

heres the tecky stuff on the tronic and I can get the aldi one when I go into my garage if anyone needs it.


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## ChesterfieldHooligan (Oct 26, 2008)

:lol: why upside down !!!! :lol:


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## maddie (Jan 4, 2006)

:lol: :lol: oooops sorry


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