# Beware LIDL Car Battery Charger



## PG Monkey

I thought it was a bargain at £13.99 (it's Ultimate Speed branded) and claims to do 6V and 12V batteries up to 120Ah.

I got one, it didn't work at all (dead on arrival). 

Went back for a replacement and the lights came on. But it wouldn't deliver a charge. Tried three different batteries (two cars and one older battery that's in the shed) and it didn't work with any of them.

Got a refund from LIDL (they told me to call a premium rate number, no thank you!) and got a CTEK MXS 3.6 charger on the advice of my trusted independent garage mechanic. 

Very happy with the CTEK and even though it cost more, it has a 5 year guarantee. It looks similar to the LIDL one but actually works, which is nice. Also says you can connect it while the battery is connected to the car. The LIDL manual says you have to disconnect the car terminals which can be problematic if you don't know your radio code.

Wish I'd paid attention to the reviews the LIDL charger had before I bought it as I wasted a lot of time trying it on different batteries. Hope this post helps someone else avoid the inconvenience.


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## danwel

Hmm, I tried mine and it worked fine and light went to charged after a few hours


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## andy monty

Never had an issue with the lidl chargers bar the wiring going brittle after a couple of years and cracking......

use them fairly often (caravan leasure battery maintenance mainly) along with dads car if its not come out the garage for a week to keep it healthy...


Wonder if there is a dodgy batch  (best go check the new one i slung in the loft the other week) :thumb:


Also how discharged was the battery you tried to charge if its too flat the charger wont charge it...


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## DIESEL DAVE

Had mine years no bother


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## PG Monkey

andy monty said:


> Never had an issue with the lidl chargers bar the wiring going brittle after a couple of years and cracking......
> 
> use them fairly often (caravan leasure battery maintenance mainly) along with dads car if its not come out the garage for a week to keep it healthy...
> 
> Wonder if there is a dodgy batch  (best go check the new one i slung in the loft the other week) :thumb:
> 
> Also how discharged was the battery you tried to charge if its too flat the charger wont charge it...


The battery (~3 years old) was showing 12.6V (no load) and 11.9V (headlights + full beam).

After leaving the charger attached for over 2 days, it still claimed to be charging and when the charger was removed, the above readings were the same.

You may be right about a possible dodgy batch.


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## andy monty

PG Monkey said:


> The battery (~3 years old) was showing 12.6V (no load) and 11.9V (headlights + full beam).
> 
> After leaving the charger attached for over 2 days, it still claimed to be charging and when the charger was removed, the above readings were the same.
> 
> You may be right about a possible dodgy batch.


was the battery on the car at the time? (thinking parasitic drain (alarm immobiliser or the like)

I told a lie earlier one of my first chargers the button has just about stopped working


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## PG Monkey

andy monty said:


> was the battery on the car at the time? (thinking parasitic drain (alarm immobiliser or the like)
> 
> I told a lie earlier one of my first chargers the button has just about stopped working


Interesting, their manual says their 3 year guarantee doesn't cover the operation of the button. Nothing like having faith in your product!

I tried it when the battery was connected to the car and disconnected.

Whatever the problem was, the CTEK has worked like a dream. It's pretty much identical to the LIDL charger except for the colour and design.

I'd probably try ALDI's car charger if I was going to buy one soon, that one has an LCD display which shows more useful info about the charge state and progress than the LIDL/CTEK. Trouble with ALDI is they never say when stuff is coming in, you get about a week's notice.


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## Strothow

ours has been, and still is fine and is used a lot.


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## mk6golf

I have got 2 that i use for the land rovers and they are on pretty much constant trickle charge. All seem fine  They actually replaced an old decrepid C-TEK


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## Bratwurst

Yeah, folk like you appear occasionally.


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## Kerr

stooge75 said:


> Maybe I should have elaborated.
> guy goes out,spends £13 on a battery charger then goes online to say it’s knackered. Solution? It’s not rocket science



Is that any worse than man goes online to pick up a post from nearly 10 years ago?


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## macca666

Really getting fed up with these spam accounts


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