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Old 18th February 2019, 08:24   #21
ziggy72
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I bought one last week just in case i ever need one. It may never come out tbe packaging but you never know. Im sure it will do the job if called upon. The 2 ton trolley Jack for £19.99 went in the basket too and is keeping the battery charger company in the shed.
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Old 18th February 2019, 09:02   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dorchester2 View Post
Maybe... but you made me smile.
Mind you we are talking about dedicated AGM chargers or at least chargers able to do a truly good job on AGM batteries.

Did I write the more expensive the better? No or I was misread.
But buying the cheapest anyone can maximize his chance to get junk.
I often saw individuals or local authorities going for the cheapest then after a short while forced to buy what should have been bought in the first place. In the end the mean & tight solution may sometimes happen to be the more expensive. And I must confess that not being ever so clever I was sometimes trapped in that silly game... But I'm a bit of a grown up now!

Anyway talking of electronics, I'm willingly inclined to trust you when you say that a rather simple device may comes at a modest cost... as a shed work.

However I'm sure you know:
- that there are different categories & qualities in electronic components from the strongest & the more reliable to the weakest,
- that the devil lies in details and it takes time & money to built a good & reliable device,
- that any product should be carefully tested before going to the store,
- and that's something to copy any device without any particular deep skills or knowledge and another one to pay even a modest study board with a few qualified engineers to innovate & upgrade what existed previously. Without that we would have been stuck in the iron age...

Back to the main subject an actual true AGM battery is rather expensive: never ever did I see any way under £130 with a sufficient power exceeding the minimum value for our 75 & ZT. Mine is a 70A 720Ah Banner one (Austrian). But Bosch or Varta can do that as well but at a similar price.

What would be the use with so expensive a battery to go for a cheap rubbish charger?
I demand the best for my pride & joy!
And my 25 has got an AGM Banner battery as well.
That's absolutely wonderful. However, when you have a lovely fully charged battery, and so does the OP, do you take any comfort from the fact that you paid 15x the price for the same result?

I bought a cheap (£24.99 at the time) Halfords battery charger and maintainer about 20 years ago. It's charged all manner of batteries in that time including the AGM item in my Harley, and many from a very low state of charge.

Yes, you may well get additional "quality" from your charger, but the service my cheap Halfords item has given me is absolutely adequate for my needs. If I had bought the same item as you, I would need to live to 160 years old for it to be worth the difference in price. Do you think your charger will last 140 years?

We can poo poo the OP's choice, or come to the logical conclusion that the item he's bought might just be perfectly adequate for his needs.
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Old 18th February 2019, 09:11   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ross R75 View Post
Yes, you may well get additional "quality" from your charger, but the service my cheap Halfords item has given me is absolutely adequate for my needs. If I had bought the same item as you, I would need to live to 160 years old for it to be worth the difference in price. Do you think your charger will last 140 years?

We can poo poo the OP's choice, or come to the logical conclusion that the item he's bought might just be perfectly adequate for his needs.

Time will tell us.
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Old 18th February 2019, 09:12   #24
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Surely, Ross, we Rover drivers think beyond "adequate" and it is the desire for quality that lifts us above the rest - the infidels!

Note that no one poo poo'd the OP's choice. He asked a question and it was answered without any judgement by anyone. Although it does sounds as if your charger is s***.
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Old 18th February 2019, 09:51   #25
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Hmmmmmm....different charging regimes or wet lead acid v AGM? Does your alternator miraculously identify the battery is AGM and therefore changes its output to suit?

Heat nd gassification kill AGMs. The 2 normally go hand in hand. But they are fairly robust. Iv Ben running over 2500ah solar AGM bank to years and never had a problem. ( bugga! Shouldn't of said that )
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Old 18th February 2019, 09:58   #26
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Well, gentlemen, I am the OP and seem to have opened a right can of worms, but I am glad it has opened a good open debate.

My old (Halfords) battery charger has served me well for around 15 years and is still fine. I now have a car with an AGM battery and recently bought my wife a car with a EFB battery, so I am concerned that my current charger was not suitable. I wrote to the HELP pages of CAR MECHANICS magazine who replied that I needed a charger with micro-processor control, and actually said that the Clarke CB03-12 at £29.99 from Machine Mart would be suitable. (I am not sure if it is, as it is rated up to 45AH batteries and not the 95 AH I need).

The same afternoon I saw the Aldi charger that we are speaking about. It says it has micro-processor control and suitable for AGM batteries, and as it was the last one on the shelf I decided there was not a lot to lose (impulse buy, actually).
I actually agree with a lot of the comments against the Aldi charger as I am normally the first to buy quality items for my cars (always sticking to Michelin tyres and Bosch batteries as they have served me well). This is why I invited comments before trying the charger on my AGM battery.

The charger seemed to work fine on my already charged spare lead-acid battery. I tried it on my wife's EFB yesterday afternoon but after several hours it was still not showing fully charged and I had to abandon the experiment as the car was needed (and still is).

So, the jury is still out and I have no idea if I will trust the Aldi charger on the AGM battery in my BMW 520d. The batteries on these start/stop cars are an absolute fortune.

I still look forward to reading any more suggestions/comments/advice and thank everyone for their comments up to now.

Last edited by tourer; 18th February 2019 at 10:00..
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Old 18th February 2019, 10:02   #27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Daveluck View Post
Hmmmmmm....different charging regimes or wet lead acid v AGM? Does your alternator miraculously identify the battery is AGM and therefore changes its output to suit?

Heat nd gassification kill AGMs. The 2 normally go hand in hand. But they are fairly robust. Iv Ben running over 2500ah solar AGM bank to years and never had a problem. ( bugga! Shouldn't of said that )

The answer to your question is yes - modern alternators are very sophisticated. This is why you should not replace a wet battery with an AGM thinking that it is a drop-in replacement because of the same physical size/connections.

Have you ever wondered why modern cars need to be calibrated to the installed battery?

https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/..._glass_mat_agm
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Old 18th February 2019, 10:23   #28
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mss View Post
The answer to your question is yes - modern alternators are very sophisticated. This is why you should not replace a wet battery with an AGM thinking that it is a drop-in replacement because of the same physical size/connections.

Have you ever wondered why modern cars need to be calibrated to the installed battery?

https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/..._glass_mat_agm
Lol! No not really.
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Old 18th February 2019, 12:40   #29
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ross R75 View Post
That's absolutely wonderful. However, when you have a lovely fully charged battery, and so does the OP, do you take any comfort from the fact that you paid 15x the price for the same result?

I bought a cheap (£24.99 at the time) Halfords battery charger and maintainer about 20 years ago. It's charged all manner of batteries in that time including the AGM item in my Harley, and many from a very low state of charge.

Yes, you may well get additional "quality" from your charger, but the service my cheap Halfords item has given me is absolutely adequate for my needs. If I had bought the same item as you, I would need to live to 160 years old for it to be worth the difference in price. Do you think your charger will last 140 years?

We can poo poo the OP's choice, or come to the logical conclusion that the item he's bought might just be perfectly adequate for his needs.
ROSS !!!--What's happening here ???--I find that I am in total agreement with you.--


And for you other folk.-----I have an AGM battery as standard on my motor bike. It's a small battery compared to the batteries on cars. However the charge rate at the battery terminals when the engine is running shows 14.4 volts.

The first battery, being charged at this voltage, lasted EIGHT years.
The current one at the moment is going strong at two years.


How does this equate with the AGM having to be charged delicately with a special charger ???


PS. I know, personally, people buying various items at a high price because, they tell me, the item MUST be of better quality. --

There's nowt as queer as folk.--
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Old 18th February 2019, 13:30   #30
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I have one of the Aldi CTEK copies which are amazing for the price. IIRC someone did a tear down on one and reported on the forum. And it wasn't all bad news. I don't think I'd trust to have it being shaken and knocked about a lot: Mine is fixed to the garage wall with a lead adapted to a trailing socket from the bike and it works a treat for that. It also charges car batteries (and helps recover them) when using some Croc clips. I'll be replacing the bike battery with an AGM soon and will (if I remember to) report back on my findings on charge rate etc when I do.


N.B. The current bike battery is ancient and was on the bike when I purchased it 4 years ago. And anyone knowing bikes will also know that the batteries get a much harder time in bike with heat and vibration then they do in the majority of cars.
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