Lidl and Aldi Car accessories

[Dormouse]

So the review I saw in Project Farm suggesting the BRPOM was the best of the cheap boosters tested seems to be correct.

Caveat Emptor - out of interest, how much does each cost? I tend to find with devices of this nature - and much else consumer electronics too - that to buy cheap is to buy twice...

The Hilldow was a customer return and cost £21 on Ebay. The BRPOM is listed as low as £49.99 on Ebay. Beware though - the BRPOM comes in a few variants that look the same but are not the same spec. Mine was a BM502 model.

[CitroJim]

Thanks Dormouse I'm asking as it's a device I've considered purchasing and for such things I'm always keen on real-world experiences of them rather than on-line 'reviews' - of which I have little to zero faith in...

[Stickyfinger]

They have never killed a battery I have used them on Jim....they do not like to give out huge power on really dead ones however.....Used on my Activa for 9+ years now, same battery & did well on the Golf battery that had say for 2 years and is still going strong.

At £12 even if they do not last they are well worth it. I suspect they would last if only used to maintain a good battery.

[Dormouse]

Both boosters took about an hour and a half to recharge using a phone charger. I will try to see if I can get the battery in the car low enough to try the Hilldow tomorrow morning when the car is cold again. Let's see if we can try it on forced start.

[CitroJim]

They have never killed a battery I have used them on Jim....they do not like to give out huge power on really dead ones however.....

Indeed, they will never kill a battery as they fail 'safe' in my experience. An ordinary old-school battery charger will eventually kill a battery if left on for an extended period, even if it's described as a 'trickle charger'. They were designed for old-style batteries you could top-up and replenish with distilled water lost through gassing and slight over-charging. Whilst old-type chargers can be carefully used to charge a modern sealed battery, they must be disconnected as soon as full-charge is obtained and well before the battery is likely to start 'gassing'.

The modern chargers correctly float charge and can be left on for extended periods quite safely. When they die they usually give no charge rather than an excessive charge.

At £12 even if they do not last they are well worth it. I suspect they would last if only used to maintain a good battery.

Precisely, on both counts.

I've not yet given up trying to determine what has failed in your dead one. So far, I've checked all the usual suspects and the one that's failed is still hiding. They are remarkably complex and one is left wondering how they can be sold so cheaply - I suspect a lot of corners are cut in that the components that are expected control charging are a little under-rated and not quite up to heavy duty and extended periods of charging a low battery at a high current. Floating a good battery requires a very low charge current and thus they can manage that with ease over a long period. A flat battery will stress them quite significantly.

As an example, the heatsinks on the power components, the ones likely to get hot when trying to charge a flat or failing battery, are rather small and insubstantial in the cheap ones I've looked at.

And as said earlier, if a twelve quid middle-aisle special lasts a year and then goes tilt, it really owes you nothing...

[Dormouse]

Well, what a difference a day makes.

For those who are interested, the weather station screen grab shows we are +6/7'c compared to yesterday and the really eagle eyed among can confirm that the car is in exactly the same spot and has not moved since yesterday (check the wheels/valve positions and the patterns on the drive )

I had to lower the battery voltage with the headlights.

Admittedly, the conditions are warmer and the battery got a bit of a warm up by drawing some current through it, so, not exactly the same conditions as yesterday. Probably slightly better.

I attached the Hilldow, pressed the boost button until the unit clicked on "Boost" and went to start the car.

The Hilldow did spin the engine this time but not enough to start it. Drats!

The battery is even more depleted. So, reattached the BRPOM, sat in the car, engine started immediately. Hurrah!

It expended a whole 1% of it's charge.

The Hilldow was down to 75% again and took the same hour and a half to recharge as yesterday.

I don't have access to a small petrol car so I am not going to be able to try it on a small engine. Looks like I have a £21 torch and phone power pack.

I have to say, though, the BRPOM is impressive - more so when you find out that it actually cost me under £30.

You win some. You lose some.

[Hell Razor5543]

I have an older version of the charger, and it has lasted for a few years. It is currently elsewhere, having helped Michel.

[CitroJim]

Thanks Dormouse! Yes, warmer down here too - almost balmy

The Hilldow did spin the engine this time but not enough to start it. Drats!

I won't be getting one of those then...

You win some. You lose some.

I wonder if that was why it was a customer return? It's the reason I've returned stuff to Amazon on occasion - stuff that's turned out to be not fit for purpose...

[Dormouse]

I have to admit, it was a bit of a known Fail. I had already read up on the Hilldow before I bought it and knew it was a bit lack lustre in the oomph department. I really only expected it to be a replacement for our 8 year old phone booster pack we kept in the car. It finally decided it would not recharge so the Hilldow was a punt. If it worked as a booster - win, win. If it didn't then we still have a small (expensive ) power pack in the glove box.
The BRPOM was chosen over the popular ( in this country ) NOCO and Topdon for two reasons. One, the NOCO has a lot of "failed" spares or repair units offered on Ebay. Two, I was able to use coupons to get one with 45% off an already reasonable price. That plus the overall reasonable reviews in tests. It never won any tests/reviews - probably because the reviewers were pushing the winners. But it didn't disgrace itself either. The clincher was the Project Farm review where it was in among boosters upto 3 times it's price and still got a memorable mention.

[CitroJim]

So, these failed/spares/returned units on eBay... Is it likely they just need to have new batteries fitted - which often can be obtained easily and relatively cheaply - to make them good again?

[Dormouse]

According to YouTube they can be anything from poor solder joints, dislodged components through to faulty battery packs. In some, it can be as simple as a blown internal fuse. They are usually just returned and never tested. I have tried to find brands with low history of returns. The theory being that the lower the return rate the higher the reliability. It doesn't guarantee performance though.

[CitroJim]

According to YouTube they can be anything from poor solder joints, dislodged components through to faulty battery packs. In some, it can be as simple as a blown internal fuse. They are usually just returned and never tested. I have tried to find brands with low history of returns. The theory being that the lower the return rate the higher the reliability. It doesn't guarantee performance though.

Going by that, I reckon one or even two may well be worth a punt... Thanks Dormouse

Good theory on the return rate

[mickthemaverick]

After I retired from BT in 1990 one of the things I dabbled in was buying pallets of returned electrical goods to Argos and similar. I use to buy from a place in Shrewsbury, collect the pallet with 80-90 items on it and bring it back to my place in Luton. My mate Dave and I would then go through the pallet and test everything. I'd estimate the result was in the ratio 10-15 perfect, 30-50 repairable and 10-25 parts only. We repaired all the economically repairable, sometime with parts from the duds. We then had a stall at a Sunday car boot in Pulloxhill north of Luton where we would sell all the workers for between 10 and 20 pounds a piece. Generally we would take 350 - 400 per sale selling 25-35 items. So one pallet basically fed two sales and we used to pay £250-300 per pallet and £70 return diesel in the van which was bought for our other business, Sure Security.

The appliances varied from irons and kettles through the kitchen range to microwaves and on one occasion a counter top washing machine with a broken drive belt! We did it to top up the income for ourselves so that the Sure Security income only had to cover our engineer's wages and the overheads, plus to have a laugh down the workshop in the evenings!!

[Hell Razor5543]

Aldi have a few car related items this coming Thursday (30/01);

https://www.aldi.co.uk/special-buys/202 ... tor-travel

[Hell Razor5543]

I know that this is neither Aldi of Lidl, but B&M are selling 10L AdBlue (produced by Car Lube) for £10.

Disclaimer: I have no financial interested in B&M, although I do work for a service company who looks after their IT equipment.