Bought a new battery charger for 1/3 the price of Supercheap.

[HONK]

If you're in need of a car battery charger you can check out Amazon and find a 'decent' one for under $50.
I just picked up an 8 amp car battery charger thing for about $45 and it works great so far.

Can charge a battery from dead, good for up to 150ah, 3 year Amazon warranty, blahblah.
Have charged two batteries today without issue.


At supercheap and repco their units which look pretty similar are 3x the price. Probably from the same factory.

Obviously you get what you pay for, but if you cut out the middle man you can save lots of dollars.
Supercheap is not actually super-cheap anymore.

[simon varley]

details?

[HONK]

Originally Posted by simon varley

details?

I picked up something similar to this.

[Rallye Sport]

I like the ctek brand chargers

[Citroënbender]

Originally Posted by HNOK

…I just picked up an 8 amp car battery charger thing for about $45 …Have charged two batteries today without issue.

IIJM or does anyone else see something here?

[simon varley]

if you start very early, or the batteries aren't very flat it should be ok

[Citroënbender]

True, but those are fairly explicit conditions which in practice negate the vernacular suggestion of charging a couple of batteries in a day.

[simon varley]

need laugh emoji

[Bossxr8]

Cheap chinese crap from Amazon will probably set the car on fire

[HONK]

Took around 8-9 hours to charge both batteries with the $50 8 amp charger.

Both batteries are 530cca.
Good enough for me!


Again, you get what you pay for.
Feel free to spend $300 or what not on a 20 amp or higher box elsewhere if you feel the need.

[prktkljokr]

I like how they advertise that "its available for girls, so easy to operate", what if you identify as a man, is it still available

I agree its cheap Chinese, But that's what Supercheap, Auto bahn, Repco, etc sell anyway I have some really cheap Chinese stuff that I purchased for a quick job 20 years ago, that I was going to toss after the job or if it failed, but they have surprised me and just keep going, just don't buy cheap Chinese precision equipment, its not that precise

[HONK]

I bought a cheap Chinese mig welder from 'catch' years ago... Probably in 2018? Still going strong. Best $80 ever spent.



Not all Chinese stuff is bad.

[Interceptor]

Great wall make a competitor to a Hilux in that its a diesel dual cab rwd.... but which one is gonna last?

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by prktkljokr

I like how they advertise that "its available for girls, so easy to operate", what if you identify as a man, is it still available

I agree its cheap Chinese, But that's what Supercheap, Auto bahn, Repco, etc sell anyway I have some really cheap Chinese stuff that I purchased for a quick job 20 years ago, that I was going to toss after the job or if it failed, but they have surprised me and just keep going, just don't buy cheap Chinese precision equipment, its not that precise

I purchased SCA smart charger many moons ago, never got to charge the battery beyond 50% since the charger burnt itself out.
Cheap prices do reflect the quality of products, no doubt about it.

[prydey]

Certainly cheaper than my Victron multi stage 15a charger that I bought but I don't regret buying it.

[simon varley]

did you check the spelling on the pictures in OP's post? there's cheap Chinese crap, and then there's really cheap Chinese real crap

[XB GS 351 Coupe]

I like buying bargains at times, but I would be nervous using a battery charger like this burning my shed or house to the ground. The potential risk is definitely not worth the saving to me.

Especially with something like a battery charger that is often left unattended ie you are not watching it the whole time.

I use C-TeK Chargers, I have a few of them and think they are worth the $$$.

[XB GS 351 Coupe]

Originally Posted by HONK

Supercheap is not actually super-cheap anymore.

Would have to agree with that, often other independent retailers are cheaper now.

[mad2]

Originally Posted by HONK

Took around 8-9 hours to charge both batteries with the $50 8 amp charger.

Both batteries are 530cca.
Good enough for me!


Again, you get what you pay for.
Feel free to spend $300 or what not on a 20 amp or higher box elsewhere if you feel the need.

mines 'about' 10 or so amps .. but .. disconnect 240v lead before disconnecting from battery..... it dies otherwise.

[gaz084]

I have had an aldi charger for about 5 years still going strong,and well priced.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?v...t=0&ajaxserp=0

[commodorenutt]

I picked up one of those Aldi ones for the in-laws about 6 months back. I’ve put it on their cars a few times, as they suffer dead batteries from a lack of use. It works well.

I was surprised that it could do 6V as well - and it’s a proper 6V battery charging level of 7.2V, unlike the other 2 name brand 6/12V chargers I’ve previously bought for the vintage cars, that only output 6.0V which is as useless as mammaries on a male bovine.
You can’t change a 6V vintage car battery with 6V….. I’ll be getting a couple more of them when Aldi have them next time, purely for 6V charging.

For 12V cars I’m a big fan of the C-Tek MXS 5.0 chargers. You can leave them on as a battery maintainer like I do on my Brock, or use them overnight on a daily driver like when the wife’s car hasn’t been run for 3 weeks. The comfort connector makes it so much easier for the VE which has the battery in the boot.

[383hq]

I've got a yellow version of the OP - its worked well for 3 years on my Li-ion and lead acid batteries. Probably made in one of ten unauthorized factories...

A lot of items nowadays include a $100 marketing plan charge attached to the price.

Back in 2002 I was told by the salesman I shouldn't buy the cheap $200 made in China air compressor. Cheap materials that won't last two years I was told. Apparently I Needed a $700 job. Its worked well, but I did have to change a $7 part on it two years ago. Profit per item a driving factor perhaps?

People also forget that China have invested heavily in manufacturing in the last two decades. They have state of the art manufacturing equipment. Australia not so much.

But I agree there is cheap, and there is cheap cheap.

[XB GS 351 Coupe]

Originally Posted by 383hq

I've got a yellow version of the OP - its worked well for 3 years on my Li-ion and lead acid batteries. Probably made in one of ten unauthorized factories...

A lot of items nowadays include a $100 marketing plan charge attached to the price.

Back in 2002 I was told by the salesman I shouldn't buy the cheap $200 made in China air compressor. Cheap materials that won't last two years I was told. Apparently I Needed a $700 job. Its worked well, but I did have to change a $7 part on it two years ago. Profit per item a driving factor perhaps?

People also forget that China have invested heavily in manufacturing in the last two decades. They have state of the art manufacturing equipment. Australia not so much.

But I agree there is cheap, and there is cheap cheap.

In my opinion you need to weigh up risk vs reward.

$200 air compressor vs $700 air compressor reward $500 saving, risk minimal, if it dies you fix it or throw it and buy a new one. ( I have a Chinese air compressor I have had for at least 25 years and still going strong)

I was restoring some furniture a while back and bought a $25 ozito Sander over the $150 brand name one. Low risk, it dies I have lost nothing. It did the job I could have thrown it in the bin after that and I would have been happy.

Battery charger buy $50 instead of $129 for a name brand one and I hook it up to my 80K GT, it boils the battery and spews acid all over my spotless engine bay and paint causing $10 to 20K of damage or burning the whole shed to the ground with 30K to 40K worth of tools and equipment and another 250K worth of classic cars bikes and parts.

Very low reward for extremely high risk IMO.

Reminds me of a neighbour he had a Harley and refused to pay for a Harley battery and ended up getting a cheap battery saving himself $80. Now Harley batteries are under the seat INSIDE a cavity in the oil tank of the bike. He took his bike for a ride and the battery exploded from the heat I would assume, throwing him up into the air and straight over the handle bars causing about 8K worth of damage to his bike as well as a bit of damage to himself. I bet he wished he spend the extra $80.

[marty351]

My experiences with cheap Chinese products have been quite positive since 2012 onwards.
If the finish looks cheap it will be nasty.
Much of the cheap stuff from before that was hit and miss; bought a petrol scooter in 2004 and it was absolute junk, from the chain alignment, brakes and the material quality. The cast aluminium wheels were so soft that even after re-drilling and tapping the failing original 30mm deep sprocket screws (only three of them!) to 100mm high tensile bolts.
During the time that this fix eventually failed 18 months later, numerous repairs were undertaken just to keep it working.
And the motor never missed a beat.

[Interceptor]

Originally Posted by 383hq

People also forget that China have invested heavily in manufacturing in the last two decades. They have state of the art manufacturing equipment. Australia not so much.

But I agree there is cheap, and there is cheap cheap.

China has an amazing capacity to build quality if you want to pay for it.

Ask them for a $20k rolls royce copy and you'll get exactly that, ask them to build you a $1m example, even rolls royce will think its genuine.

[roKWiz]

No doubt their stuff is getting better in quality all the time but I have a real problem with the way they do NOT honour patents, steal IP, treat their own people poorly and undercut or muscle in on other countries trade deals.

Their OS based companies have to much control within by their govco leaders. Somehow I feel Tiktok is just the tip of the iceberg.

So because of that I'm out.

Buy anything I consider good quality from other manufacturing countries but NOT China to the point of going out of my way to look at country of origin made components.

That's just my opinion.

[gaz084]

I think china can either go two ways, good quality....or absolute junk.

Even some of the big brand name products can be absolute junk, you don't always get what you pay for....me personally i like the product reviews from owners that have actually used the product.

[simon varley]

they have poor quality control. you can buy one thing and its fantastic. go and buy another of the same and its crap.

actually that's not entirely true. they can have good quality control but you pay for it. that's how they deliver the cheap stuff. cost of production is the same, but for the expensive stuff they chuck all the crap out before they ship it

[prktkljokr]

A lot of the name brand stuff is made in China, if you buy enough of the 1 thing they will brand it with anything you like, pretty sure most of the computers you guys are typing on are either made in China, or made from components made in China, just because it has a name brand on it and you paid a premium for it, does not mean that its quality, even the big boys have to compete for your dollar, and getting stuff made there is cost effective.

You need to go to the trade shows they have in China, you would be amazed at what actually gets made there and the quality.

Snap on tools has a manufacturing plant in China https://www.made-in-china.com/showroom/szkolia
Big name clothing brands https://houseofhenmar.com/100-luxury...ina-sentiment/
Your apple iPhone is made in China https://naiyuanmart.com/10-iconic-br...ill-shock-you/

The list is endless, and most people don't even know they are buying a Chinese made product, or one that has Chinese components, mostly because it has a name brand attached.

Most Automotive manufacturers buy a lot of components from China ( Yes even Ford ), there is no getting away from it, they have cornered the market when it comes to manufacturing, its just some of the cheap Chinese stuff is not so cheap because of the big name attached.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by prktkljokr

A lot of the name brand stuff is made in China, if you buy enough of the 1 thing they will brand it with anything you like, pretty sure most of the computers you guys are typing on are either made in China, or made from components made in China, just because it has a name brand on it and you paid a premium for it, does not mean that its quality, even the big boys have to compete for your dollar, and getting stuff made there is cost effective.

You need to go to the trade shows they have in China, you would be amazed at what actually gets made there and the quality.

Snap on tools has a manufacturing plant in China https://www.made-in-china.com/showroom/szkolia
Big name clothing brands https://houseofhenmar.com/100-luxury...ina-sentiment/
Your apple iPhone is made in China https://naiyuanmart.com/10-iconic-br...ill-shock-you/

The list is endless, and most people don't even know they are buying a Chinese made product, or one that has Chinese components, mostly because it has a name brand attached.

Most Automotive manufacturers buy a lot of components from China ( Yes even Ford ), there is no getting away from it, they have cornered the market when it comes to manufacturing, its just some of the cheap Chinese stuff is not so cheap because of the big name attached.

As mentioned, it's about quality control. Big brands that manufacture the have their own quality control systems in place to protect their reputation.

People are much more forgiving (or have lower expectations) when a cheap product dies. Not so much when it costs a bit more.