ALDI Battery Charges

[Silver993tt]

3DP said:

Silver993tt said:

The Aldi chargers also come with a 3 year guarantee.

Which is useful when your £70 battery dies early.

Just noticed it also doesn't come with a permanent connection with Tamiya adaptor, so by the time you buy one of those seperately, you've paid more than you would for an Oximiser.

These adaptors are £2 from Maplins, or much less online if you buy a multi-pack (they always come in useful). At the end of the day it's your choice but to criticise Aldi product quality is totally wrong. They do a great deal of research into their promotions and buy huge quantities with the capability of selling all of it which is why the can offer such great prices. Their food products are also fantastic.

[3DP]

Silver993tt said:

3DP said:

Silver993tt said:

The Aldi chargers also come with a 3 year guarantee.

Which is useful when your £70 battery dies early.

Just noticed it also doesn't come with a permanent connection with Tamiya adaptor, so by the time you buy one of those seperately, you've paid more than you would for an Oximiser.

These adaptors are £2 from Maplins, or much less online if you buy a multi-pack (they always come in useful). At the end of the day it's your choice but to criticise Aldi product quality is totally wrong. They do a great deal of research into their promotions and buy huge quantities with the capability of selling all of it which is why the can offer such great prices. Their food products are also fantastic.

They are about £8 if you want to buy a fused one from the battery with a waterproof connector - not just the tamiya connector and splice.

I have no view on the quality of Aldi but am slightly cynical when a budget supermarket sells a discounted generic brand motorcycle/car accessory for marginally less than a known quality item.

I do shop at Costco, but prefer to buy quality brands at their discount bulk buy prices than own/generic brands.

[moanthebairns]

what the fk is a tamiya connector.

someone explain this sparky pish to me I only understand clunky st.

What do I need one for.

[3DP]

moanthebairns said:

what the fk is a tamiya connector.

someone explain this sparky pish to me I only understand clunky st.

What do I need one for.

Basically, this is what we are talking about.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OPTIMATE-Accumate-12V-Wa...

Allows you to connect your conditioner/charger to the battery on a bike without removing seat or accessing the battery. The Tamiya connector is the standard type of male/female connector that these chargers use.

No idea if Tamiya invented it, but it's the type of connector that Tamiya used from the 1970s onwards and everyone calls them this.

[Silver993tt]

moanthebairns said:

what the fk is a tamiya connector.

someone explain this sparky pish to me I only understand clunky st.

What do I need one for.

it's a connector that you permanently leave on the battery. To put on charge, you simply plug the charger end of the connector (male/female) into the one hanging off the battery (which is also male/female). Alternatively use the crocodile clips but then you need to access the battery itself which on some bikes in very easy, on others a bit more effort.

[moanthebairns]

Ah, im all good. My Garage doesnt have power to it so I have to take the battery out anyway.

Thanks though.

[srob]

moanthebairns said:

Ah, im all good. My Garage doesnt have power to it so I have to take the battery out anyway.

Thanks though.

You need a bike like mine, with no battery. Far simpler

[3DP]

moanthebairns said:

Ah, im all good. My Garage doesnt have power to it so I have to take the battery out anyway.

Thanks though.

This is where the cheap connectors that 993tt mentions come in useful. As these conditioners carry very little current and volts, you can buy cheap thin armoured cable and put a Tamiya connector on either end. If you have a garage with no power, you can run the extended cable with tamiya connectors from the charger to your garage. The wire is thin enough to close in house windows and close in car doors or bonnets too.

I used to charge my old TVR that used to sit on the drive via this method. Optimate indoors with an extended cable and tamiya connector out of the house window and into the TVR passenger footwell.

[MonkeyBusiness]

Sat on the train reading RIDE magazine. If you subscribe for 6 months (£22) you get a free Oxford Oximiser 900.

[moanthebairns]

3DP said:

moanthebairns said:

Ah, im all good. My Garage doesnt have power to it so I have to take the battery out anyway.

Thanks though.

This is where the cheap connectors that 993tt mentions come in useful. As these conditioners carry very little current and volts, you can buy cheap thin armoured cable and put a Tamiya connector on either end. If you have a garage with no power, you can run the extended cable with tamiya connectors from the charger to your garage. The wire is thin enough to close in house windows and close in car doors or bonnets too.

I used to charge my old TVR that used to sit on the drive via this method. Optimate indoors with an extended cable and tamiya connector out of the house window and into the TVR passenger footwell.

my garage is almost 2 and a 1/2 miles from my house. that might not be a cost effective way

[3DP]

moanthebairns said:

my garage is almost 2 and a 1/2 miles from my house. that might not be a cost effective way

Does it have a window?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12v-Solar-Panel-Battery-...

[hman]

moanthebairns said:

3DP said:

moanthebairns said:

Ah, im all good. My Garage doesnt have power to it so I have to take the battery out anyway.

Thanks though.

This is where the cheap connectors that 993tt mentions come in useful. As these conditioners carry very little current and volts, you can buy cheap thin armoured cable and put a Tamiya connector on either end. If you have a garage with no power, you can run the extended cable with tamiya connectors from the charger to your garage. The wire is thin enough to close in house windows and close in car doors or bonnets too.

I used to charge my old TVR that used to sit on the drive via this method. Optimate indoors with an extended cable and tamiya connector out of the house window and into the TVR passenger footwell.

my garage is almost 2 and a 1/2 miles from my house. that might not be a cost effective way

cant believe your'e being so negative

[The Tramp]

I'll like the Pistachio nuts from aldi.....

Now you can all sleep easy tonight....

[J B L]

I recently bought one of Lidl's cordless drill with 2 batteries for 1/3 of the equivalent budget brand at B&Q. Remove the sticker and you'd think it's a Bosch.
They are German shops and sell in Germany. They have to be TÜV approved I think so if they were selling tat they would already be out of business over there, which they aren't. Good enough for me.

[3DP]

Anyone fancy their £15.99 torque wrench? I wonder what its calibration tolerences are and how accurate its calibration would be in 5 years time?

[tr7v8]

3DP said:

Anyone fancy their £15.99 torque wrench? I wonder what its calibration tolerences are and how accurate its calibration would be in 5 years time?

The same as another torque wrench that has been kicked around your garage. When Practical Classics tested a load a while ago the most expensive wasn't the most accurate & the cheapest wasn't the worst.

[moanthebairns]

3DP said:

Anyone fancy their £15.99 torque wrench? I wonder what its calibration tolerences are and how accurate its calibration would be in 5 years time?

I used to calibrate torque wrenches as part of my job many moons ago as a lab technician testing dangerous goods.

We had a static meter that we used to calibrate our wrenches off every 3 months.

Ones that were never used never showed any variation, ones that had be dropped and used every day were sometimes 2 or 3 nm off. That was only 3 months after 5 years I guess they wouldn’t be worth a fk.

[moanthebairns]

3DP said:

moanthebairns said:

my garage is almost 2 and a 1/2 miles from my house. that might not be a cost effective way

Does it have a window?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12v-Solar-Panel-Battery-...

I have one of them they are to put it bluntly st.

[tr7v8]

3DP QED
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/360...

[srob]

3DP said:

Anyone fancy their £15.99 torque wrench? I wonder what its calibration tolerences are and how accurate its calibration would be in 5 years time?

You'd certainly get what you pay for, but that may well be range, rather than accuracy. I suspect that if you took it down to your local decent garage/workshop (probably a main dealer or someone) they'd have a calibrated torque meter that you could test it on. You could make a mark if it's miles out if you're using it for a set use over and over and just nip back and ask them to re-check it occasionally - it's a two second job to check.

I suspect that as someone's said, if you tried anyone's several year old wrench it'd be miles out. Our meters (at work) are sent away anually to be checked then most of the wrenches are self calibrated/checked before each use, although some get sent away anually too. Apparently some of the electronic ones you can adjust to allow for out of cal.