Lidl and Aldi Car accessories

[Hell Razor5543]

Next Sunday (15/01) Lidl are doing a load of car bits (including headlight bulbs, but minus H1, as usual!);

http://www.lidl.co.uk/en/our-offers-2491.htm?id=1044

[Stickyfinger]

Aldi. today....Tap&Die sets...£14 got a set & large packs of Cable ties. DIY WorkTable, picked one up as well

[CitroJim]

Cable ties are always very valuable when you run French cars

[Stickyfinger]

Recommended


Lidl
http://www.lidl.co.uk/en/our-offers-249 ... l&id=40868

[elma]

Not bad for £14.

Aldi had a book for cyclists today, Anstomy of a cyclist, I didn't have time to look but from the cover I'd say it's worth a punt at £3.

[Mandrake]

Has anyone used that particular battery charger or know the specs of it ?

I have no battery charger at all for emergencies like lights being left on and I keep meaning to buy one of these new fangled cpu controlled ones but always baulk at the price when I see them in places like B&Q...

[Stickyfinger]

Yes I have one. Works great, I am however not an electrical wiz

Lots recommend it on Piston Heads web site as it is one of the new "smart" ones. Many use it for winter maintenance charging when laid up.
I have resurrected two dead batteries with it now.

It is good for trickle charging, has 6volt, 12 volt and 12 volt Cold Boost selections.

[wurlycorner]

Ctek chargers are where it's at if you want a pukka electronic one. The 3.8 6-step is fine for normal cars, next model up (higher charge rate and 7-step) is only required for cars with stop/start. Not as cheap as that aldi charger of course, which looks great value for what it is, but you can pick em up new for £47 delivered, which is actually not expensive in comparison to other branded smart chargers (that actually also offer less).

[mickeymoon]

I can't think of a single time in the last 20 years motoring that I've needed a battery charger for!

[CitroJim]

As is normal for me, I have a vintage battery charger that does all the Aldi one does but at 20 times the size but against that it will boost-charge a flat battery very quickly at 20A if needed or at the other end of the scale float-charge a battery at a few hundred mA when needed.

It is just perfect for maintaining the 207 battery in good nick...

[harryp]

Bought one of the tap 'n die sets last year. All HSS and so far seem to be of good quality . (edit) . Tap holder threads sloppy but still have my 'prentice pieces , dies seem to be a mix of 1st and 2nd with no plugs. Dies are non adjustable though (unless you can get a slit ground through them?) so more for thread cleaning "through" holes; but at the price, can't really go wrong.
The Lidl charger looks very interesting, esp the trickle charger to maintain laid up batteries for the monthly 48 hr charge .
Regards

[wurlycorner]

I can't think of a single time in the last 20 years motoring that I've needed a battery charger for!

Granted my needs are driven by having a vast car collection with (each individual having) infrequent use, rather than normal car use - I've never needed to charge the c5 'daily'

[white exec]

I bought a CTEK MXS 3.8 a couple of years back (decent price on Amazon), and leave the XM on it in the garage. The car can sit unused for a week or two sometimes, and it's a great way to always have instant starting. Probably a bit OTT, but one less thing to worry about.

Used to use a basic Einhell transformer-rectifier 12amp charger, but trickle charge was too high to be left connected indefinitely.

The CTEK units are very clever in the way they work, and it's worth reading one of the user booklets or descriptions on their website, if considering an intelligent charger.

[demag]

Jim is that a sphere tester I spy?

Sent from my Wileyfox Swift using Tapatalk

[Mandrake]

Well I picked up the Lidl charger and have it on the battery on the car right now as a test. Seems my battery is not being kept as well charged on my daily commute as I expected!

Perhaps not surprising when the journey is only about 15-20 minutes journey each way followed by another stop/start and 3 minute trip each way, with headlights, rear window heater and fan blower on the whole time!

Will be interesting to see how the cranking is in the morning.