Query re trickle charging using the Lidl charger.

[b14desman]

Hi, I've got myself a Lidl battery charger to keep the Gran Turismo topped up when I'm away. I've set it up and had it charging the battery for the last three days. The user manual says the charger will highlight battery full once fully charged and automatically switch to trickle mode. I've been charging non-stop for 3 days and still haven't reached the battery full mode. Is it normal for the Gran Turismo to take so long to fully charge or am I doing something wrong?
Cheers
Colin.

 

[Needamaser]

I use one of Lidl's on one of my vehicles at times and it never gets to the fully charged status. However a newish battery in the 4200 and it will top up overnight.
How old is your battery? Is there a tracker running which might be the reason as well?

 

[CatmanV2]

Are you sure it's not getting to fully charged, then switching to trickle and then back to charging again, as part of maintenance.

That is, are you watching it all the time?

C

 

[daverichardson]

I use a Lidl charger on my QP
It is a recent battery (Bosch about 18 months old) and it charges up no probs.
The green light comes on and then goes to trickle mode

 

[b14desman]

I use one of Lidl's on one of my vehicles at times and it never gets to the fully charged status. However a newish battery in the 4200 and it will top up overnight.
How old is your battery? Is there a tracker running which might be the reason as well?

Thanks for your reply...the battery is about 12 months old (I guess as the car is Jan 16). It has a tracker but I've not activated it.....that's not to say it doesn't run in the background.

 

[b14desman]

Are you sure it's not getting to fully charged, then switching to trickle and then back to charging again, as part of maintenance.

That is, are you watching it all the time?

C

Is that how the charger operates, switching between the two modes? I'm just checking on it every so often so I suppose it could go to trickle at some point.

 

[Contigo]

Are you sure it's not getting to fully charged, then switching to trickle and then back to charging again, as part of maintenance.

That is, are you watching it all the time?

C

Correct it goes green for like 5 minutes max on the Maser and then pulses it and can take another 10 minutes to get back to green again. On the Golf the Green light stays on all the time. I guess it's all down to how much drain there is and I know for a fact that Modern cars will generally have more gubbins to keep powered and alive than an older car with little in the way of ECU's and clocks.

 

[drewf]

Correct it goes green for like 5 minutes max on the Maser and then pulses it and can take another 10 minutes to get back to green again. On the Golf the Green light stays on all the time. I guess it's all down to how much drain there is and I know for a fact that Modern cars will generally have more gubbins to keep powered and alive than an older car with little in the way of ECU's and clocks.

How much spare time have you got to spend it watching lights on a battery charger?

 

[highlander]

How much spare time have you got to spend it watching lights on a battery charger?

But they blink........

 

[drewf]

I'll take your word for it!

 

[Contigo]

How much spare time have you got to spend it watching lights on a battery charger?

I use them all the time, just know their quirks!

 

[murph7355]

After getting spurious warning lights on mine (none of them about the battery!) it took 3.5 days for my Accumate to get it full.

I think GTs have a lot draining the battery. Also, the chargers back off the current being supplied as the battery gets near full...

(A full charge sorted all warning lights. If I think the far will be left for more than a week or two I plug it I now).

 

[b14desman]

Going to get myself a chair, flask of tea and some sandwiches so I can watch it all day tomorrow

 

[spkennyuk]

Going to get myself a chair, flask of tea and some sandwiches so I can watch it all day tomorrow

Or use an action cam to record the lights and playback at 8x speed at your leisure just dont blink in sync with the charger.

 

[cheshiremaserati]

The only other point I'd add is not knowing the capacity of the battery on the car, if the charger has a low max Amp charging capacity, it will take longer. A more powerful charger (say) in the CTEK range the MXS 5.0 has a higher charge rate for higher capacity batteries than a 3.8 (next one down) model. I dont know the LIDL model but I have the MXS 5.0 and it charges in hours and then moves to trickle rate.

 

[spkennyuk]

The lidl one is a 3.8. The digital screen version would have been a better option if they had kept it instead of the light indicators.

 

[CatmanV2]

But they blink........

Shiny!

C

 

[CatmanV2]

It's crazy really. According to the tech manual, the quiescent drain on a GT should be 35mA. Which is nothing in the grand scheme of things (ICBA to do the maths right now)

It takes quite a while to get there, and the voltage levels the designers have decided to let the battery fall to before shutting down are stupid low (IMHO)

C

 

[mjheathcote]

The lidl charger has a max charge current of 3.8A.
My first maintenance charger that I still use is an optimate 3, that only has a max charge of 0.6A, more suitable for motorbikes but still works fine on the Maser and Lotus before it.

 

[StuartW]

Thanks for your reply...the battery is about 12 months old (I guess as the car is Jan 16). It has a tracker but I've not activated it.....that's not to say it doesn't run in the background.

Correct, the tracker does still run in the background as far as I understand it, even if it is not activated but for a car as new as yours, the internal battery for the tracker should have many years life left in it yet