Aldi 1st March - Portable power pack

[gooseholla]

From 1st March Aldi will be selling a portable power pack/ jump starter for £34.99 with 2 cigar sockets and a usb socket. Don't know what amp hour it is, nor if it is any good or not.

Take a look

ALDI - Thursday Special Buys 1st March 2012

[gooseholla]

I've just done some research on the net, it seems to be a 17.2 ah battery.

[jfox61]

Well if it is 17ah i'll be having 2 of those.

[gooseholla]

Yup, I don't know if it is for sure, nor what cables it comes with - i'll be heading to aldi on thursday for sure to buy one. Even if it is cheap and isn't truly 17ah, you still can't really lose - especially as I observe for about 5 - 6 hours max.

[A McEwan]

Damn. Just bought one from Maplins for £60! Grrr.....

[paulhutch]

These are great for running your scope, just remember to take them off your car tyre once it's inflated and don't drive off and forget about it!!!!!! (Yes I really did)

[eddy]

LOL ^^^^^

The outputs are 12v, yet my motor drives are 6v, would this work out ok with the power lead from FLO? First Light Optics - SkyTron Power Supply Cable for Skywatcher & Celestron Mounts

Many thanks

[Rols]

i bought one of these last year when they were going around cheap, this year its not holding a charge for more than about 25 mins, i popped the case to look for bad connections and noticed the battery was split, i'v never banged or dropped it.

i suppose it was a case of luck but i certainly wont be buying another, the battery looks to be a very poor effort for quality, piddly little thing in the bottom of the case.

[Ludd]

I was tempted by this offer but only briefly - I then went back to my original idea of getting a kit that's designed for golf trolleys, which includes a 22Ah Lucas AGM batter, a three-stage charger and a ballistic nylon case with shoulder strap. Twice the price of the Aldi thing, and you'd have to get some of Andy Ellis's power cables, but a whole lot more convincing for observing in the field.

[gooseholla]

Surely, Rols, you should have used the three year warranty?

[thommo10]

I bought a similar one frm ALDI a couple of years ago didn't last long.

[BinocularSky]

These infest various outlets under various livery. The only cnsistent factor is that quality is not included in the price.

[Rols]

Surely, Rols, you should have used the three year warranty?

i'm not sure if the warranty would have covered the battery? maybe.

i was quick to remove all the bits i was never going to use to be honest so voided my warranty the day i purchased it, if anyone needs a casing or any of the spares from it pm me and your welcome to collect them if local (Northampton) maybe some of the ports would be a nice upgrade to one that works properly.

it was no joke when i said i would not invest in one again, very poor build quality when you open it up, although saying that what can you expect for the cost, quality batteries are not cheap and they made a whole lot of product for a very little amount of money. I went and had a chat with Bedford batteries and they gave me some fantastic options with a fast charge gell pack that seems to be well worth the extra money.