I noticed that Lidl are offering their excellent battery charger/conditioner from today (Sunday).
They are a brilliant microprocessor controlled device at an excellent price.

I have three; one for each Austin Seven and one for the caravan!

Location: Beautiful North Hampshire

Hi Martin. I had two of these and thought them really good for the price. Then both failed within a few weeks of one another, about 18 months after I got them. A bit of internet digging revealed there was/is an issue with the selector switch, which gives up the ghost. I had correspondence with Lidl customer service who were utterly disinterested and in consequence I have resisted the temptation to buy them again. A pity, as when they work they are great.

Location: North Herts

Sadly I've had a similar experience as Nick's, although I still get intermittent function but not sure I trust it against the much more expensive Accumate, only one of these failed a month or two ago admittedly after 10 or so years heavy use.

Location: Ferring, West Sussex.

My Lidl charger also failed. You get what you pay for! I now have a much better (but more expensive) one.

David

I have had a Lidl charger for quite a few years now. I peeled back the red label over the selector button and although it does take it a while to get to the 6v or 12v setting whilst pressing the button for even a minute it does eventually operate.I thought perhaps the label was preventing the button being fully depressed. I hope this doesn't result in people stood around pressing the button in their garages and cursing me.
Dave.

Location: Sheffield

I am off to the shed right this minute Dave to begin 'a'peelin' and a'pressin' :-)

Location: North Herts

Well, blow me down. I have one working again. I cut out the red button cover with a craft knife and prised off the rubber button beneath to reveal the microswitch. Plugged in, connected to battery, clicked the microswitch. Bingo! Looks as if it is working again. Shall have to use it for a bit to confirm if it is consistent.

I don't think there is any chance of touching something live but usual disclaimers if you give this a go yourselves. I'll try the other one later.

Thanks Dave.

Location: North Herts

I had several of these with defunct micro switches. I am not an electronics type at all but I thought I ought to try mending one. First move was to search you tube to see if someone would show me how to do it - yes was the answer. Googled to find out the micro switch spec and bought a small bagful of same for a modest sum, less than £2 with postage if I recall. Half an hour with a soldering iron and voila! Three working chargers.
Bought the more expensive micro switches incidentally, claimed to have a guaranteed n million operations before collapse.

Regards,
Stuart

Mine are all still working but I am quite taken by Dave and Stuart's approach and will adopt when necessary, great info to know!

Stuart - Could you possibly tell us:

Exactly what type of microswitches you purchased and where from?

And how did you get the casing apart and get at the circuit board in order to put the new switch in? I have tried and I cannot see a way to release the board.

Location: North Herts

Nick, I followed the procedure shown in this video on you tube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFJplsH29e8

You need to be both brave and careful to unclip the PCB!

This does not show desoldering the original switch. I used a short piece of fluxed copper braid from a coaxial TV aerial cable as a wick to suck away the original solder, then the micro switch just lifted out.

On the packet of switches I bought it says:

D&M components quality tactile switch 6x6x8

If you type that exact phrase into e bay the first hit is where I obtained my switches. Select 6x6x8 from the drop down menu and decide how many you want.

This size does not need shortening, unlike the one shown in the video.

Hope this helps,
Regards, Stuart

Very many thanks Stuart. That is really helpful. Switches ordered.

Location: North Herts

Undertook the repair in line with Stuart's advice and Voila! a properly working charger again.

Unfortunately the second one's printed circuit board didn't like the unsoldering and gave up the ghost. Hey ho.

BTW - The casing screws can be got out with a suitably sized flat blade screwdriver. But be aware that the manufacturer used thread seal and it takes an awful lot of torque to crack it.

Location: North Herts