Lidl battery charger

[paulsy69]

Hi All
I have just purchased a battery charger from Lidl and I was wondering if anybody knows if they are any good ? It looks similar to a C-Tek one but a lot cheaper £14.99
Paul

 

[otherclive]

Hi All
I have just purchased a battery charger from Lidl and I was wondering if anybody knows if they are any good ? It looks similar to a C-Tek one but a lot cheaper £14.99
Paul

They are fine. Several Forum members have the Aldi version. Assume it’s the smart charger equivalent to CTEK.

 

[Jcloughie]

I bought one from either Lidl or Aldi years ago, Says it is a smart charger. I have not used it a lot but it seems excellent.

John

 

[Woodentop]

Just be aware that cheaper units such as those from Aldi or Lidl do not self restart in the event of mains failure - as some of the more expensive units do. Also they are usually dual voltage, 6 and 12, so make sure you set the correct mode.

Otherwise they work for ever.

 

[RogerL]

Hi All
I have just purchased a battery charger from Lidl and I was wondering if anybody knows if they are any good ? It looks similar to a C-Tek one but a lot cheaper £14.99
Paul

Excellent value - not quite as good as a CTEK but at a quarter of the price.

 

[Hutch]

Excellent value - not quite as good as a CTEK but at a quarter of the price.

Yes good value I forgot to get one today, when food shopping, last week Lidl were doing a torque wrench and also three sockets 17, 19 and a 21 mm for wheel nuts /bolts, probably still available.

 

[Beachball]

I will buy one next time at Lidl very good value

 

[Gozza2]

Thanks all, I don't need one at the moment but at that price it's worth getting one to have a spare - I should be passing Lidl on my way home this evening!

 

[Buckman]

I will buy one next time at Lidl very good value

The charger or the torque wrench?

 

[Beachball]

The charger or the torque wrench?

I would say the battery charger

 

[Buckman]

I would say the battery charger

I thought you were buying a new car so surely no need for a battery charger as the car will come with a breakdown policy anyway?

I still have a normal lead acid battery charger from about 20 - 30 years ago that is still going strong however apparently it cannot be used to charge the car battery which is AGM or the caravan battery which is AGM.

 

[Beachball]

I thought you were buying a new car so surely no need for a battery charger as the car will come with a breakdown policy anyway?

I still have a normal lead acid battery charger from about 20 - 30 years ago that is still going strong however apparently it cannot be used to charge the car battery which is AGM or the caravan battery which is AGM.

Just remember my wife got a car so it will come handy as a backup

 

[Buckman]

Just remember my wife got a car so it will come handy as a backup

We let the breakdown people sort out those sort of problems for us if OH's car has battery issues. Batteries are a bit too heavy for us to carry inside the home. Mayday are very good at jump starting her car on the odd occasions.

 

[Beachball]

We let the breakdown people sort out those sort of problems for us if OH's car has battery issues. Batteries are a bit too heavy for us to carry inside the home. Mayday are very good at jump starting her car on the odd occasions.

Well our next door neighbour had her son stopping and the day he was going home could not start his car he said can you help me so he got the biggest pair of jump leads it reach from his car to mine . and next minute it was running .

 

[Buckman]

Well our next door neighbour had her son stopping and the day he was going home could not start his car he said can you help me so he got the biggest pair of jump leads it reach from his car to mine . and next minute it was running .

So no need for a charger? I have once or twice used the previous Jeep to start OH's car using jump leads which I always carry in the Jeep next to the tow rope, air compressor and toolbox. Probably a bit of overkill?

 

[stirlingwine]

Just be aware that cheaper units such as those from Aldi or Lidl do not self restart in the event of mains failure - as some of the more expensive units do. Also they are usually dual voltage, 6 and 12, so make sure you set the correct mode.

Otherwise they work for ever.

Yes, every time you turn the power on you have to select mode. The third mode is AGM or icy weather which I like. My Ctek doesn’t have any such option but probably detects and adjusts itself

 

[stirlingwine]

Yes good value I forgot to get one today, when food shopping, last week Lidl were doing a torque wrench and also three sockets 17, 19 and a 21 mm for wheel nuts /bolts, probably still available.

I bought the torque wrench. It looked cheap. The knurled locking screw in the end looked dodgy. I suspected the wrench was over-torqueing, then it stopped clicking altogether. I returned it for money back.
After a bit of research I bought this one for more than twice the price. Happy with it, it looks precision made, and don’t want to take any chances with wheel nuts, especially Knaus which are higher torque than my cars. https://www.amazon.de/Torque-Wrench...9&sprefix=torque+wrenche+vanpo,aps,165&sr=8-7

 

[Stratton]

I have one of the "smart" chargers from Lidl. I found it very easy to use, someone said earlier that these chargers are 6 & 12 volt and you should make sure the correct voltage is selected - the Lidl unit just needs connecting and then decides the voltage of the battery it's connected to - couldn't be simpler. I was though surprised at how long it took to recharge my battery. The battery was down to about 10 or 15% charge when connected and took almost 48 hours to fully charge, even then the charger was not showing fully charged. As it was a 5 amp charger I was thinking that somewhere around 20 hours would see my 105 amp battery charged up. I'm assuming that the charger probably reduced the charging rate as it charged the battery and it's fully charged level was being reached. Any thoughts anyone?

 

[otherclive]

It’s not just 4 into 100 gives 25 hours less the basic level of charge. Smart chargers go through specific cycles that takes longer than a conventional battery charger. 4 amp rate is pretty low for such a large battery if it were a car battery, but for leisure battery purposes it’s fine.
This explains

The best smart battery charger 2025

Smart battery chargers are instrumental to car battery health and performance. Read on to see what we recommend to keep your battery healthy

products.carmagazine.co.uk

 

[Woodentop]

A battery (in fact most rechargeables of any sort) need at least 10% longer than the maths says. 100Ah charged at 5A will need around or slightly over 22 hours

 

[paulsy69]

I have tried out my new Lidl charger on my old caravan battery and left it charging over night , it shows 13.8 volts , I will check it during day to see if voltage drops . I’m impressed with charger so far .

 

[Stratton]

It’s not just 4 into 100 gives 25 hours less the basic level of charge. Smart chargers go through specific cycles that takes longer than a conventional battery charger. 4 amp rate is pretty low for such a large battery if it were a car battery, but for leisure battery purposes it’s fine.
This explains

The best smart battery charger 2025

Smart battery chargers are instrumental to car battery health and performance. Read on to see what we recommend to keep your battery healthy

products.carmagazine.co.uk

Thanks very much for your response. I thought it was likely the smart charger was smarter than me and was just doing its job. The link was very helpful and informative perhaps I should have read it before I bought my Lidl Charger though it was half the price of the recommended Ring one! Thanks again.