Lidl Battery/trickle Charger.

[Paulus17]

Well after getting our other new Battery back from our other Rav,and buying another new one for the existing Rav, i needed to keep ithe spare in good condition all the time it's not been used.

So after taking advice from Jim, Firmac,i decided to go for This from Lidl.

Thought it might be of use to those owners who keep a spare Battery for thier Ravs.

Also picked up a set of wipers while we was there ;)

[dervdave]

Well after getting our other new battery back from our other Rav,and buying another new one for the existing Rav, i needed to keep ithe spare in good condition all the time it's not been used. So after taking advice from Jim, Firmac,i decided to go for This from Lidl. ;)

I `ve had one at least 3 yrs they`re a bargain price C Tek

[local hero]

That looks really good Paulus, i have a couple of battery/trickle chargers, does anyone know if the lidl one is suitable for a caravan leisure Battery?..Stew

[Paulus17]

That's good to hear Dave

It was recommended to me as i was looking at getting a TC for the spare Battery,but didn't want to pay out too much for one.So thought for the price of this one was worth a gamble.

Stew-I told a caravaning friend about this and he reckons the caravaning forums are raving about how good they are.??

[local hero]

Cheers Stew

[dervdave]

Yeah I was going to say I couldn`t see any reason why they shouldn`t do the job, for the price you can`t go wrong.

[Jamesbelfast]

Just remember the charger on sale is limited to use on a Battery capacity of 120 A/h or less. Most diesel batteries will have a higher rating.

Caveat Emptor - Buyer Beware

[IanXT4]

I think its fine for larger batteries (over 120 AH) as long as you realise its maximum charge current is approx 4 amps. Thus for a very discharged large Battery its going to take a long time. Ie a discharged Battery requiring restoration of say 80AH at 4AH might take approx 20 hours. Also if the Battery is totally flat you might find that 4AH not be enough to kick start the charging, but this might be the case with even larger chargers.

However for most cases you are just topping up a partially flat battery (ie a slow starter/failed starter) or wanting to leave the battery on trickle, in these cases the charger should be OK.

I have used one of these connected for weeks with no problems, it ensures that the car battery is not slowly discharged by the alarm.

[dervdave]

Just remember the charger on sale is limited to use on a battery capacity of 120 A/h or less. Most diesel batteries will have a higher rating. Caveat Emptor - Buyer Beware

Charged up everything I put it on ;)

[darkt]

Hi, just seen this post and a Battery charger will not charge any thing more than it's rated for. Years ago a Battery charger would charge near enough any thing but the newer ones have built in circuit protection to avoid damage to batteries and the charger,

So you may find that it may not charge any thing over 120AH .

[local hero]

The batteries on our rav diesels are rated 95A/H so should be ok....

[atkinson2k]

Hi, just got one of these chargers today - instructions say to disconnect the Battery before charging - anyone know if you need to do this or can you charge with the Battery still connected ????

I use an OPTIMATE charger on my Lotus which can be used with the Battery still connected but the charge is only 0.6A

and the Liddle one is 3.8A

Would hate to do any damage the the Rav.

cheers

[dervdave]

Hi, just got one of these chargers today - instructions say to disconnect the battery before charging - anyone know if you need to do this or can you charge with the battery still connected ???? I use an OPTIMATE charger on my Lotus which can be used with the battery still connected but the charge is only 0.6A and the Liddle one is 3.8A Would hate to do any damage the the Rav. cheers

I didn`t disconnect the batteries although to be totally safe its reckoned you do.

These chargers sense the volage before actually starting to charge. ;)

[IanXT4]

Hi, just got one of these chargers today - instructions say to disconnect the battery before charging - anyone know if you need to do this or can you charge with the battery still connected ????

I use an OPTIMATE charger on my Lotus which can be used with the battery still connected but the charge is only 0.6A

and the Liddle one is 3.8A

Would hate to do any damage the the Rav.

cheers

This was covered a while ago in this thread

http://www.toyotaown...er&fromsearch=1

In summary the Lidl charger contains many safe guards and I have used one for the last couple of years on partially discharged batteries with no problems. I have wired a dedicated charging socket in the car that allows me to put the car on charge without lifting the bonnet.

I would only consider isolating the Battery if it was totally discharged ie flat. In these circumstances batteries may need a kick to get charging again, but I doubt (from experiance) if the Lidl chargers automatic regenerate mode could achieve this anyway. (I use my trusty old (1990's) spark maker).

[atkinson2k]

Thanks for the feedback - like the idea of a dedicated charging socket - will be wireing one in today for when the car

is not getting used.

cheers John

[bitman]

i have two of them and they even charged the big boys of my previous hilux with no problems other then it takes a bit of time.

and i never disconnected the batteries when charging.

[Tech01]

Unless you're going to use a massive rapid-charge-booster (the kind that garage workshops wheel about to fast-charge vehicles that won't start), there is no need to disconnect the vehicle's Battery before connecting a charger of modest output.

Most DIY/retail chargers (whether conventional transformer-rectifier type, or newer electronic ones) are only capable of charging at 12A maximum, and many of them are only rated at 4A or 6A. Some are designed for long term 'trickle charging', to keep the Battery topped up, and the output on these is also usually no more than 6A, and will reduce automatically to 1A or less.

All these are tiny currents. The vehicle's alternator will usually pump anything up to 75A into the Battery, immediately after a start. After a few minutes, this reduces to 15A or so, and then down to less than 5A as the battery voltage recovers.

All 12v battery chargers have an output voltage of 13.8 - 14.5v (or thereabouts). The difference is how much current (in Amps) they can deliver - and hence how quickly they can charge a battery.

The battery's capacity is rated in Ah (Amp-hours), and usually marked 45Ah, 70Ah, 120Ah, etc. To work out how long a battery charger will take to do its job (on a flat battery), simply divide the Ah capacity figure by the A figure of the charger, eg

80Ah battery divide by 5A charger = 16 hours charge time

120Ah / 4A = 30h

etc.

Will a tiny 3A charger successfully charge a large 120Ah battery? Yes, of course, but it just takes much longer (40h).

With normal chargers (i.e. those not specifically designed to be left trickle-charging for days/weeks/indefinitely), whatever the state of the battery, an "overnight" charge (8-15 hours) won't do the battery any harm, even if it wasn't flat to start with. But you can over-charge (this heats the battery and can start to evaporate its contents), so don't leave standard chargers connected for much more than 24 hours, if you have the choice.

Chris