I'm about to implement some garden stuff involving a couple of
120HA leisure batterys - and I need to charge them (there will
be solar, eventually, but for now they'll get wheeled up to the
house to be charged)

Just one at a time though - So looking for something that'll do and
preferably charge them overnight and not mind if I leave it on charge
for a few days, so something with a bit of cleverness in..

I've looked - found loads online with wildly varying prices, but any
recomendation to use or avoid would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Gordon

In article ,
Gordon Henderson wrote:
I'm about to implement some garden stuff involving a couple of
120HA leisure batterys - and I need to charge them (there will
be solar, eventually, but for now they'll get wheeled up to the
house to be charged)

Just one at a time though - So looking for something that'll do and
preferably charge them overnight and not mind if I leave it on charge
for a few days, so something with a bit of cleverness in..

I've looked - found loads online with wildly varying prices, but any
recomendation to use or avoid would be appreciated.

Both Lidl and Aldi do a small SMPS smart charger for about 13 quid. It
will certainly charge a car battery overnight - a larger one may take
longer. It is happy to be left on as it switches to a maintenance setting
after charging. It's basically incredible value. (I have one built in to
my old car - at that price it seemed the logical thing to do)

Lidl had them recently - and my local branch had a few left at the end of
last week.

--
*I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
"Dave Plowman (News)" writes:
In article ,
Gordon Henderson wrote:
I'm about to implement some garden stuff involving a couple of
120HA leisure batterys - and I need to charge them (there will
be solar, eventually, but for now they'll get wheeled up to the
house to be charged)

Just one at a time though - So looking for something that'll do and
preferably charge them overnight and not mind if I leave it on charge
for a few days, so something with a bit of cleverness in..

I've looked - found loads online with wildly varying prices, but any
recomendation to use or avoid would be appreciated.

Both Lidl and Aldi do a small SMPS smart charger for about 13 quid. It
will certainly charge a car battery overnight - a larger one may take
longer. It is happy to be left on as it switches to a maintenance setting
after charging. It's basically incredible value. (I have one built in to
my old car - at that price it seemed the logical thing to do)

Lidl had them recently - and my local branch had a few left at the end of
last week.

Aldi had them last week too.

They charge at 3.8A max, if they're the same as the ones I bought a few
years ago. (Also have a 0.8A reduced setting for small batteries.)
At 3.8A, they'll take 36-48 hours to charge a 120Ah battery.
The chargers automatically switch to trickle charging when charged,
but do test what voltage that is and check with the battery's datasheet.
Regularly overcharging will significantly shorten the battery life.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On Mon, 27 Oct 2014 11:23:59 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:


Both Lidl and Aldi do a small SMPS smart charger for about 13 quid. It
will certainly charge a car battery overnight - a larger one may take
longer. It is happy to be left on as it switches to a maintenance setting
after charging. It's basically incredible value. (I have one built in to
my old car - at that price it seemed the logical thing to do)

Is this the tronic T4X?

Mine still switches on and senses wrong polarity but pressing the
charge button doesn't cause it to cycle through the charge routines,
it may only be a small fault but I haven't opened it to look yet. At
the price I'd still buy another.

AJH

In article ,
writes:
On Mon, 27 Oct 2014 11:23:59 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:


Both Lidl and Aldi do a small SMPS smart charger for about 13 quid. It
will certainly charge a car battery overnight - a larger one may take
longer. It is happy to be left on as it switches to a maintenance setting
after charging. It's basically incredible value. (I have one built in to
my old car - at that price it seemed the logical thing to do)

Is this the tronic T4X?

Mine still switches on and senses wrong polarity but pressing the
charge button doesn't cause it to cycle through the charge routines,
it may only be a small fault but I haven't opened it to look yet. At
the price I'd still buy another.

I had one like that. Opened it and found the button didn't make contact.
Soldered in a new one.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On Wed, 29 Oct 2014 09:54:46 +0000 (UTC),
(Andrew Gabriel) wrote:

In article ,
writes:
On Mon, 27 Oct 2014 11:23:59 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:


Both Lidl and Aldi do a small SMPS smart charger for about 13 quid. It
will certainly charge a car battery overnight - a larger one may take
longer. It is happy to be left on as it switches to a maintenance setting
after charging. It's basically incredible value. (I have one built in to
my old car - at that price it seemed the logical thing to do)

Is this the tronic T4X?

Mine still switches on and senses wrong polarity but pressing the
charge button doesn't cause it to cycle through the charge routines,
it may only be a small fault but I haven't opened it to look yet. At
the price I'd still buy another.

I had one like that. Opened it and found the button didn't make contact.
Soldered in a new one.

I've opened it up, seems to have 4 soldered contacts, the two left
ones have permanent continuity as do the two right ones but no
continuity L to R even when the button is pushed. It is 6.2mm square

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/tactile-switches/4791508/

seems to be a lookalike match but no circuit diagram given for the
contacts.

Any ideas?

I doubt my hand is steady enough or eyesight good enough to play with
surface mounts but worth a try.

AJH

wrote:

On Wed, 29 Oct 2014 09:54:46 +0000 (UTC),
(Andrew Gabriel) wrote:

In article ,
writes:
On Mon, 27 Oct 2014 11:23:59 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:


Both Lidl and Aldi do a small SMPS smart charger for about 13 quid. It
will certainly charge a car battery overnight - a larger one may take
longer. It is happy to be left on as it switches to a maintenance
setting after charging. It's basically incredible value. (I have one
built in to my old car - at that price it seemed the logical thing to
do)

Is this the tronic T4X?

Mine still switches on and senses wrong polarity but pressing the
charge button doesn't cause it to cycle through the charge routines,
it may only be a small fault but I haven't opened it to look yet. At
the price I'd still buy another.

I had one like that. Opened it and found the button didn't make contact.
Soldered in a new one.

I've opened it up, seems to have 4 soldered contacts, the two left
ones have permanent continuity as do the two right ones but no
continuity L to R even when the button is pushed. It is 6.2mm square

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/tactile-switches/4791508/

seems to be a lookalike match but no circuit diagram given for the
contacts.

Any ideas?

I doubt my hand is steady enough or eyesight good enough to play with
surface mounts but worth a try.

AJH

lidl/aldi battery charger repair

http://preview.tinyurl.com/k8uqkeg


-

In article ,
wrote:
Mine still switches on and senses wrong polarity but pressing the
charge button doesn't cause it to cycle through the charge routines,
it may only be a small fault but I haven't opened it to look yet. At
the price I'd still buy another.

It's most likely the button switch itself.

--
*The statement above is false

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Mon, 27 Oct 2014 10:40:54 +0000 (UTC), Gordon Henderson wrote:

I'm about to implement some garden stuff involving a couple of
120HA leisure batterys - and I need to charge them (there will
be solar, eventually, but for now they'll get wheeled up to the
house to be charged)

Solar - 240 AHr - done the sums? To get that sort of energy from PV
means they ain't going to be small or cheap. Wheel barrow to a mains
charger in the garage may suddenly have a lot more appeal. B-)

To charge over night (10 hrs) it's going to be quite a chuncky mains
charger as well, 12+ amps required... Can't help on a particular
charger but there is a chip that does all the "clever" stuff,
polarity, too flat, automatic "bulk" then "float" voltage switching,
etc so you should be able to find something.

--
Cheers
Dave.

In article o.uk,
Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Mon, 27 Oct 2014 10:40:54 +0000 (UTC), Gordon Henderson wrote:

I'm about to implement some garden stuff involving a couple of
120HA leisure batterys - and I need to charge them (there will
be solar, eventually, but for now they'll get wheeled up to the
house to be charged)

Solar - 240 AHr - done the sums? To get that sort of energy from PV
means they ain't going to be small or cheap. Wheel barrow to a mains
charger in the garage may suddenly have a lot more appeal. B-)

Yes - I've done the sums. The plan isn't to deplete the batteries
completely through the day/night and not use the, every day either.
This is just a worst case/winter scenario.

All part of a plan to provide some lighting and a bit of work
"stuff" in the summer house for a couple of hours a day at max.
and some garden cameras taking stills every now and then.

It's all controlled by some smarts I'm in the process of building myself,
I'm just being lazy about making my own charger.

To charge over night (10 hrs) it's going to be quite a chuncky mains
charger as well, 12+ amps required... Can't help on a particular
charger but there is a chip that does all the "clever" stuff,
polarity, too flat, automatic "bulk" then "float" voltage switching,
etc so you should be able to find something.

Thanks,

Gordon
Ps. Garden is 60m from house and running mains down to it would involve
a lot of armoured cable and wayleave over 2 other properties )-:

And from having used armoured cable the cost brings tears to the eyes and
even quite chunky stuff seems to lose a lot of volts as well if you use any
kind of current.
Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________


"Gordon Henderson" wrote in message
...
In article o.uk,
Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Mon, 27 Oct 2014 10:40:54 +0000 (UTC), Gordon Henderson wrote:

I'm about to implement some garden stuff involving a couple of
120HA leisure batterys - and I need to charge them (there will
be solar, eventually, but for now they'll get wheeled up to the
house to be charged)

Solar - 240 AHr - done the sums? To get that sort of energy from PV
means they ain't going to be small or cheap. Wheel barrow to a mains
charger in the garage may suddenly have a lot more appeal. B-)

Yes - I've done the sums. The plan isn't to deplete the batteries
completely through the day/night and not use the, every day either.
This is just a worst case/winter scenario.

All part of a plan to provide some lighting and a bit of work
"stuff" in the summer house for a couple of hours a day at max.
and some garden cameras taking stills every now and then.

It's all controlled by some smarts I'm in the process of building myself,
I'm just being lazy about making my own charger.

To charge over night (10 hrs) it's going to be quite a chuncky mains
charger as well, 12+ amps required... Can't help on a particular
charger but there is a chip that does all the "clever" stuff,
polarity, too flat, automatic "bulk" then "float" voltage switching,
etc so you should be able to find something.

Thanks,

Gordon
Ps. Garden is 60m from house and running mains down to it would involve
a lot of armoured cable and wayleave over 2 other properties )-:

On 27/10/2014 11:17, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Mon, 27 Oct 2014 10:40:54 +0000 (UTC), Gordon Henderson wrote:

I'm about to implement some garden stuff involving a couple of
120HA leisure batterys - and I need to charge them (there will
be solar, eventually, but for now they'll get wheeled up to the
house to be charged)

Solar - 240 AHr - done the sums? To get that sort of energy from PV
means they ain't going to be small or cheap. Wheel barrow to a mains
charger in the garage may suddenly have a lot more appeal. B-)

Indeed. You have to be seriously off grid before solar PV becomes at all
cost effective. Most PV powered devices round here - mainly radar active
please go round the bend roadsigns are invariably dead in the water on
cold frosty winters mornings when they might do some good.

They are perky enough in mid summer though when not needed.

Wind power might be a more cost effective solution.

To charge over night (10 hrs) it's going to be quite a chuncky mains
charger as well, 12+ amps required... Can't help on a particular
charger but there is a chip that does all the "clever" stuff,
polarity, too flat, automatic "bulk" then "float" voltage switching,
etc so you should be able to find something.

Batteries will mostly tolerate a some of abuse on a C/10 charge rate but
moving them around will be a royal PITA.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:
On 27/10/2014 11:17, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Mon, 27 Oct 2014 10:40:54 +0000 (UTC), Gordon Henderson wrote:

I'm about to implement some garden stuff involving a couple of
120HA leisure batterys - and I need to charge them (there will
be solar, eventually, but for now they'll get wheeled up to the
house to be charged)

Solar - 240 AHr - done the sums? To get that sort of energy from PV
means they ain't going to be small or cheap. Wheel barrow to a mains
charger in the garage may suddenly have a lot more appeal. B-)

Indeed. You have to be seriously off grid before solar PV becomes at all
cost effective.

Strangely enough I'm not that interested in it being cost effective.
It's a combination of a "can I?" type of experiment and "wonder if it
might work" type of thing. I don't care at this point if I never save
money on it because that's not the aim. I'm considering it part of my
hobby and who knows what I've spent in the past on my hobbys...

For me, if I have to wheel a battery up to the house every time I visit
the garden, then it's a fail, but anything less than that is a bonus.

Gordon

On 27/10/2014 14:22, Gordon Henderson wrote:
In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:
On 27/10/2014 11:17, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Mon, 27 Oct 2014 10:40:54 +0000 (UTC), Gordon Henderson wrote:

I'm about to implement some garden stuff involving a couple of
120HA leisure batterys - and I need to charge them (there will
be solar, eventually, but for now they'll get wheeled up to the
house to be charged)

Solar - 240 AHr - done the sums? To get that sort of energy from PV
means they ain't going to be small or cheap. Wheel barrow to a mains
charger in the garage may suddenly have a lot more appeal. B-)

Indeed. You have to be seriously off grid before solar PV becomes at all
cost effective.

Strangely enough I'm not that interested in it being cost effective.
It's a combination of a "can I?" type of experiment and "wonder if it
might work" type of thing. I don't care at this point if I never save
money on it because that's not the aim. I'm considering it part of my
hobby and who knows what I've spent in the past on my hobbys...

Seriously you should consider wind power rather than solar PV then.

I considered solar PV for my greenhouse irrigation system which in the
end uses a 7Ah battery recharged once a month in summer but it was way
more cost effective than a solar PV array powerful enough to drive a
pump. Most "solar fountains" are pathetic but the pumps in them are
actually really rather good when on a decent power supply!

For me, if I have to wheel a battery up to the house every time I visit
the garden, then it's a fail, but anything less than that is a bonus.

Gordon

You will need a charge controller to allow the summer charging regime to
avoid damaging the battery if it is meant to work at all in winter.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

Martin Brown wrote:

Seriously you should consider wind power rather than solar PV then.

Most of the illuminated road signs powered by 18" windmills seem to have
disappeared ...

In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:
On 27/10/2014 14:22, Gordon Henderson wrote:
In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:
On 27/10/2014 11:17, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Mon, 27 Oct 2014 10:40:54 +0000 (UTC), Gordon Henderson wrote:

I'm about to implement some garden stuff involving a couple of
120HA leisure batterys - and I need to charge them (there will
be solar, eventually, but for now they'll get wheeled up to the
house to be charged)

Solar - 240 AHr - done the sums? To get that sort of energy from PV
means they ain't going to be small or cheap. Wheel barrow to a mains
charger in the garage may suddenly have a lot more appeal. B-)

Indeed. You have to be seriously off grid before solar PV becomes at all
cost effective.

Strangely enough I'm not that interested in it being cost effective.
It's a combination of a "can I?" type of experiment and "wonder if it
might work" type of thing. I don't care at this point if I never save
money on it because that's not the aim. I'm considering it part of my
hobby and who knows what I've spent in the past on my hobbys...

Seriously you should consider wind power rather than solar PV then.

This isn't about being a greenie/off-grid warrior/saving money, or
anything else. It's about a hobby project to add a bit of comfort to the
garden and maybe make it a place I can do a couple of hours work in (I
mostly work from home). Provide some LED lighting, a Wi-Fi link to the
house and possibly charge a mobile phone. I have a river at the bottom
of my garden and I've even considered that, but there isn't enough fall
or depth in summer to make it worthwhile. I've even considered using
mains water - unmetered, high pressure - 9 bar here, but that just doesn't
feel right. The 2 x 200w panels I have planned for the shed roof will
be sufficient for what I want, but in the mean-time, wheeling them to
the house once every few days will be fine.

I have 2 batteries, the plan is to use one until done, then the
electronics auto switches to the 2nd and goes "beep" to tell me one
needs charging. Every device connected to the system has individual power
control and will be powered down when not in-use. A bit like your mobile
phone which turns off peripherals when you're not using it to extend
the battery.

I leave the house, push the "Garden On" button, a signal is sent via a
separate low-power radio link to the garden to turn on - which it starts
to do, then by the time I arrive, enough is booted & running for me to
do something.

I considered solar PV for my greenhouse irrigation system which in the
end uses a 7Ah battery recharged once a month in summer but it was way
more cost effective than a solar PV array powerful enough to drive a
pump. Most "solar fountains" are pathetic but the pumps in them are
actually really rather good when on a decent power supply!

A "Water Feature" is on the cards at some point - and it may well be a
"Solar" one, but with the panel & batteries removed and plumbed into
the shed supply. I've done that already for the fairly lights - some are
stupidly cheap to buy with a solar panel & little internal NiCd and easy
to remove and hook into the system.

For me, if I have to wheel a battery up to the house every time I visit
the garden, then it's a fail, but anything less than that is a bonus.

Gordon

You will need a charge controller to allow the summer charging regime to
avoid damaging the battery if it is meant to work at all in winter.

I think I've found a suitable solar one designed for dual-batteries. Just
looking for a decent mains one for now.

(No Aldi near me, alas)

Cheers,

Gordon

Gordon Henderson wrote:
I'm about to implement some garden stuff involving a couple of
120HA leisure batterys - and I need to charge them (there will
be solar, eventually, but for now they'll get wheeled up to the
house to be charged)

Just one at a time though - So looking for something that'll do and
preferably charge them overnight and not mind if I leave it on charge
for a few days, so something with a bit of cleverness in..

I've looked - found loads online with wildly varying prices, but any
recomendation to use or avoid would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Gordon

I've used several Numax chargers and found them good. Google Numax
charger. Most types have a fan which is good, and they are 'intelligent'.

Bill

On Mon, 27 Oct 2014 10:40:54 +0000, Gordon Henderson wrote:

I'm about to implement some garden stuff involving a couple of 120HA
leisure batterys - and I need to charge them (there will be solar,
eventually, but for now they'll get wheeled up to the house to be
charged)

Just one at a time though - So looking for something that'll do and
preferably charge them overnight and not mind if I leave it on charge
for a few days, so something with a bit of cleverness in..

I've looked - found loads online with wildly varying prices, but any
recomendation to use or avoid would be appreciated.

I've never seen CTek get anything but very good recommendations - we've
got one (MXS5 - 5A) in our camper, and it does the job required just
fine. Clever enough that it'll figure out if the battery needs a gentle
recondition, as well as the usual trickle/maintenance mode. Varying
sizes, depending on what sort of charge time you want.

Cleverness?
Surely with lead acid if you get the voltage and current right the current
reduces to practically nothing when they are fully charged. I used this
technique for years on a lawnmower battery I used to run stuff from back
in the 80s.
Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________


"Gordon Henderson" wrote in message
...
I'm about to implement some garden stuff involving a couple of
120HA leisure batterys - and I need to charge them (there will
be solar, eventually, but for now they'll get wheeled up to the
house to be charged)

Just one at a time though - So looking for something that'll do and
preferably charge them overnight and not mind if I leave it on charge
for a few days, so something with a bit of cleverness in..

I've looked - found loads online with wildly varying prices, but any
recomendation to use or avoid would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Gordon

Brian Gaff wrote:
Cleverness?
Surely with lead acid if you get the voltage and current right the current
reduces to practically nothing when they are fully charged. I used this
technique for years on a lawnmower battery I used to run stuff from back
in the 80s.
Brian


The problem is that a safe (fixed) voltage will actually not charge a
battery fully.

Bill

In article ,
Bill Wright wrote:
Brian Gaff wrote:
Cleverness? Surely with lead acid if you get the voltage and current
right the current reduces to practically nothing when they are fully
charged. I used this technique for years on a lawnmower battery I
used to run stuff from back in the 80s.
Brian


The problem is that a safe (fixed) voltage will actually not charge a
battery fully.

The theory for charging lead acid is constant voltage. Constant current
for Ni-Cad, etc.

The very accurate voltmeter on my car hardly varies from 13.8v.

--
*Letting a cat out of the bag is easier than putting it back in *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

The theory for charging lead acid is constant voltage. Constant
current for Ni-Cad, etc.


I had taken "leisure batteries" to mean SLA where I'd understood a
different profile was needed for a full charge and long life: constant
current constant charge voltage lower float charge. No?

--
Robin
reply to address is (meant to be) valid

In article ,
Robin wrote:
The theory for charging lead acid is constant voltage. Constant
current for Ni-Cad, etc.


I had taken "leisure batteries" to mean SLA where I'd understood a
different profile was needed for a full charge and long life: constant
current constant charge voltage lower float charge. No?

13.8v constant voltage will charge them nicely.

--
*Velcro - what a rip off!*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 27/10/2014 10:40, Gordon Henderson wrote:
I'm about to implement some garden stuff involving a couple of
120HA leisure batterys - and I need to charge them (there will
be solar, eventually, but for now they'll get wheeled up to the
house to be charged)

Just one at a time though - So looking for something that'll do and
preferably charge them overnight and not mind if I leave it on charge
for a few days, so something with a bit of cleverness in..

I've looked - found loads online with wildly varying prices, but any
recomendation to use or avoid would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Gordon


ALDI have a 3 state charger on their specials at moment ~£16

3 state chargers are far better than dumb chargers ...