I've just tried to recharge the battery on my son's Corsa, but the Aldi charger refuses to budge from 'standby'. I thought, at first, that the voltage remaining in the battery may have been too low for the charger to operate, but it wouldn't work even after the car had been jump started and the battery had been sufficiently boosted to be able to restart the car.
I then tried the charger on the battery of my wife's Focus - the battery is good. Again, the charger refused to move from the 'standby' mode.
Am I doing something wrong, or is the charger duff and fit only for the recycling bin? If it's the latter, I'll shortly be asking for new charger recommendations!
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Aldi have a good returns policy - sounds like it needs to be returned.
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Have you got a multi meter to see if the charger is giving any output voltage, or any current is being drawn while the charger is connected to the battery?
Also, does the charger have a fuse on the output side that might have blown?
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The mode switch failed on mine, I now have a CTEK charger which defaults to the last used mode at switch on.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Wed 16 Jan 13 at 15:40
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Thanks for the replies, chaps.
The charger is somewhere near the end of its 3-year guarantee period but, alas, I can't find the receipt. I suspect that, as it was Aldi, the receipt also carried some grocery items and was discarded in error. ISTR it only cost about £13, but then, it was only used about half a dozen times.
I've just checked the output voltage with the multimeter - and there doesn't appear to be any. The unit appears to be a sealed chunk of plastic with no access to serviceable parts, so it looks as though it is bugled!
As this thread is headed "Aldi charger...", it may be best if I start a new thread asking for recommendations. I'd be very grateful, ON, if you could comment on how you are getting on with the CTEK; externally they look fairly similar to the Aldi/Lidl ones though, as they are 4 times the price, I expect they are rather better.
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I think I had the same thing happen when mine was new. A quick charge with an old style charger solved the problem. It has functioned properly ever since!
Suggest that you try by leaving it on and connected overnight to see what happens. You can always claim on your fire insurance :)
I think that there is a thread somewhere.
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"I think that there is a thread somewhere."
Yes, I thought there'd been one - but I couldn't find it.
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>> "I think that there is a thread somewhere."
>>
>> Yes, I thought there'd been one - but I couldn't find it.
>>
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?t=5343&v=f
But not the one that I remember contributing to.
Last edited by: pmh on Wed 16 Jan 13 at 16:20
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Ah, thanks for the link.
I'm slightly confused because, as I read it, ON has had trouble with the CTEK charger and was championing the cheaper ones.
The fact is, there's no voltage indicated at the clips - and I'm making the assumption, therefore, that it's had its day. Am I right?
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>>The fact is, there's no voltage indicated at the clips - and I'm making the assumption, therefore, that it's had its day. Am I right?<<
Maybe - it depends how intelligent it is! It may be monitoring the flat battery to see what it can determine about it?
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Have a read through this thread, it is the most recent one.
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?f=2&t=12888
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My LIDL one's been playing up as well. The mode switch is a press button that's supposed to cycle through the different modes. I now have to give it a hefty thump to make it change modes. I took it apart to see if a squirt of contact cleaner would help - it didn't.
ps. I had to use my 'security bit set' to open it up. A couple of the screws were 3-winged phillips type heads.
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>>
>> The fact is, there's no voltage indicated at the clips - and I'm making the
>> assumption, therefore, that it's had its day. Am I right?
>>
No, both lidl and aldi chargers check for a minimum voltage and for correct polarity before the 'on' button lets some volts through to the clips.
Doesn't mean your charger isn't goosed tho ...
Have you tried the charger on the working car battery?
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"Have you tried the charger on the working car battery?"
Yep - I tried it on my wife's Focus battery (see original post), but it didn't appear to be working. I gave it half an hour - how long do you think I should allow it to make up its mind?
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>> - how long do
>> you think I should allow it to make up its mind?
>>
30 seconds.
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Agreed. Sure it's not the fuse in the plug? If not it sounds as if it's scrap.
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Lidl have got them atm....about £14...IIRC
Ted
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Try holding down the mode key for about 10 seconds.
Both my Lidl and CTEK 3600 chargers have been doing the same thing, get the OK light that means its connected correctly, but both of them just sit there whilst i vainly press mode button.
Holding down mode key for a short while fired both up in short order.
I wondered if it was symptom of the cold, neither has done this before and now both, well they are all but identical, except the branded item was 3 times the price.
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Oh, dear I wish I had not chucked away my old Davenset charger when I bough my Lidl one as the old one had a nice long lead from charger to the crocodile clips. The Lidl leads are a trifle too short for my use and another metre or so of lead, cut off from the Davenset one would have done nicely, soldered or twisted onto the Lidl leads.
I will have to find some suitably coloured Black/Red wire from somewhere (strip some mains flex) to extend the Lidl leads to a more convenient length
I should add that my new charger is fixed to the garage wall.
Last edited by: Oldgit on Fri 18 Jan 13 at 11:53
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I'll have one more attempt with the old charger and try holding the mode button down for longer. I'm just wondering if, at the price of a Lidl/Aldi charger, I should simply get another one and accept that they give up the ghost after a few years, or splash the cash and get a 'quality' one.
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>> or splash the cash and get a 'quality' one.
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Buy cheap, pay twice. My ALDI charger died, I now have a CTEK.
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>> I now have a CTEK.
>>
Which has developed an identical fault to the Lidl jobbie in the case of mine albeit workable around at the moment in both cases.
I suspect like modern cars things like this are designed to work for the warranty period, and then you buy another.
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>> I suspect like modern cars things like this are designed to work for the warranty
>> period, and then you buy another.
That's a tad pessimistic, gb. My LHB is still going strong and is over 10 years old. And I must have had my Halfords battery charger for half a lifetime!
However, we only got a few months out of a rather trendy looking kettle that Mrs CS bought a while ago.
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>> However, we only got a few months out of a rather trendy looking kettle that
>> Mrs CS bought a while ago.
Wow, that nearly as long as a certain member keeps his car battery.
You know, I don't understand all this angst about what charge to use, and as for wearing them out, I honestly cant remember the last time I had to charge a Battery or use a battery charger.
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I was thinking the same thing. . I never have owned a battery charger in my life. When a battery packs up or sounds like it is about to I buy a new one. Modern batteries seem to go on for ever. Last one lasted 7 years and the Skoda Octavia battery is in its sixth year.
Agree about the kettles - we bought a very expensive chrome Italian job form JLP that lasted barely a year. Replaced with plastic job costing a fifth of the price!
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I thought it was just me. I've had one pack up in 10 years. Are there that many problems with people's charging system or is it a hang up from years ago when cars needed loads of DIY?
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The 5 year old Yuasa battery on my Lancer was showing signs of age late last year, so I bought a new one locally but, when I got it home I noticed that the terminals were around the wrong way.
I returned it and the replacement looked ok, until I got it home and realised it was too big for the tray.
I took it back and got a refund intending to purchase one from Europarts but, I decided to charge the 'old' one using a proper charger www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Decker-Battery-Charger-Diagnostics/dp/B0013242I0
and all is well, for now.
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>>Wow, that nearly as long as a certain member keeps his car battery.
Just wait till your battery expires when you least expect it.
A stitch in time...
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You darn your batteries? Blimey.
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>>or sounds like it is about to
But they don't these days; that's the problem.
>>we bought a very expensive chrome Italian job form JLP
I don't need to ask which one. We bought exactly the same from JL last year. It was returned to them after just a few months.
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"But they don't these days; that's the problem."
Failure is certainly more abrupt, certainly with diesels but the solution is the same. Buy a new battery.
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>> However, we only got a few months out of a rather trendy looking kettle that
>> Mrs CS bought a while ago.
>>
>>
I buy our kettles in Wilkinsons, two at a time. Their budget 1.7 litre cordless jug kettles cost £4.18 and last about two years. I can't understand why anyone would pay some of the eye watering prices demanded for a basic utensil.
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A friend was using an old-fashioned kettle on a gas hob for years when she decided to treat herself to a posh, new, copper-looking, electric kettle.
You can guess what her husband did with it when wanted a brew.
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I decided to throw caution to the wind and invest in a new Lidl (13.99, Ultimate Speed) charger - thanks for the heads-up, Ted. My logic for this was that, for a start, the Lidl would do everything that I wanted a charger to do - charge both 6 and 12v batteries, trickle charge, and bring them back from the dead. I figured that with a 3 year guarantee, I could get 4 of these (i.e. at least 12 years guaranteed use) for the price of a 'quality' charger - which could fail anyway. The trick is to keep the receipt in a safe place - probably best left in the box with the instructions.
Around Saturday lunchtime, I set the new charger onto my son's old Corsa and by this morning it was showing 'fully charged'; excellent!
A couple of hours later, I thought I'd set up the old (defunct?) Aldi charger with the now charged battery and hold down the 'mode' button for 10+ seconds. As reported by GB, after a period on 'standby' the thing appeared to fire up, albeit indicating that it was connected to a part-charged battery on a motorbike. I'll investigate further tomorrow.
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Same here, mine seems to be locked in to the 6V mode.
Is there a way to kick it up to 12V mode, even though the battery is only showing 6.5V?
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Put a conventional charger on in parallel for 5 minutes and the Aldi will jump into car mode.
Or jump leads to another battery. Works every time.
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I agree - you need to get the voltage up to about 9v or so before the 12v mode will kick in.
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Thanks dudes... I can't believe they didn't include an override function in there for car batteries that have run down really low. Crazy!
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Inspired by the resurrection of this thread, I took the old Aldi charger down from the shelf and gave it one final test this afternoon. It definitely didn't work, and it definitely wasn't a duff fuse; I should have thrown it away months ago!
I couldn't resist having a look inside the casing though and, as I didn't have one of BTT's 'security' bits, I took a large hammer to it - mainly because I wanted to salvage as much as possible of the crocodile leads. The plastic case was amazingly tough, but there is absolutely no doubt - the charger will not work now!
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Our Northern fleet manager came over from Leeds this morning to show me where our new storage unit is. While here, he offered me a 4 month old 900 watt battery booster pack with 240v inverter, pump and light. Nice bit of kit, speshly as mine is a bit demic atm. No charger yet, but I can charge it through the battery clamps. As a bonus, it was free !
The story was that our valeter's van had been smote up the back at about 30mph while parked. The booster pack had suffered damage...but only to the negative clamp. The firm had bought a new one in anticipation of the insurance claim. I've got a clamp already.
While on the subject of batteries, I've just been into town and bought a 56AH battery for daughter's Puma. At £55 inc vat and a Yuasa, I thought the price was good.
My man mostly supplies Shield batteries. I have one on the Jowett. It hasn't been used for about 18 months and is Tippexed with the date April 2010. It was still showing 12.8 volts ! Shield have a website if anyone's interested.
HO
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>> It was still showing 12.8 volts !
Chances are it'll drop like a stone as soon as you try using it.
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>>Shield batteries
Erm, how come they reckon they've bin going (the Co.) since 1910 and I've never erd of em.
I worked on c10,000 cars from 1978-92 and I can't for-the-life-of-me recall ever having seen a Shield battery.
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Batteries last almost for ever. Ten years at least. Only time I've ever wanted a battery charger was when somebody left the interior light on. Passing cab gave me some electricity for a fiver which was much quicker and easier, even if I'd had a charger.
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Aldi battery charger..... - rtj70
