Good stock of "antifreeze"
Lots of chargers
Lots of wipers except I wanted 24" or 600mm - they do not do 24" wipers.
They do a good line in milk and muller corner yoghurt
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Cash refund no problem. Now off to buy a C tec
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Anorak question time - anyone able to identify what kind of car it is on the Lidl website being used to model the heated / massager seat cover?
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I will have a guess and say something along the lines of Kia karens Bobby. If its the same car as the one modelling the seat covers there is no sloping back. Da ya Know what it is.
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I'd say it's a Golf Mk5 (with no height adjuster for the passenger seat).
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Might even be a Skoda roomster. Skoda do have that type of silver trim on some doors.
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Not a Roomster, back window too small and has two panes of glass, Roomster rear window is just one pane of glass... looking at the seatbelt mount behind it its the same one as the seat covers photo.
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I don't know either - my Seat Altea has the sloping "bars" i n front of the gearbox similar to the car in the photo but nothing else looks familiar.
I think there is a big clue where the inside of the door meets the pillar - it is sort of "cut away" but still don't know what!
With Lidl being German, I would guess a VAG car of some sort?
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Its a Mk5 Golf. Looks like they have used 2 different silver ones in the pics (car seat covers and masage cover). Also the alloys shown on battery charger and antifreeze photos are Golf alloys.
I miss our Mk5 Golf! :(
Edited by VR6 on 14/01/2010 at 18:16
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because I/they thought it could be used without disconnecting the battery (not if you read the instructions)?
www.kompernass.com/pages/_pdfs/9fd4993d3a45b5530ad...f
And here's a handy link for some of their other non food products if you want to swot up on the handbook before buying.
www.kompernass.com/pages/index.php?page=1,0&lang=en
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Sorry, I'm a bit thick when it comes to instructions - is it saying the charger can not be used whilst the car battery is connected to the car?
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is it saying the charger can not be used whilst the car battery is connected to the car?
That's what it says:
"Before starting the charging or discharging procedure on a permanently installed battery in a vehicle, first disconnect the minus pole connecting cable (black) of the vehicle from the minus pole of the battery. The minus pole of the battery is usually connected to the car body. Then disconnect the plus pole connecting cable (red) of the vehicle from the plus pole of the battery"
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Tried it tonight on my 06 Panda 1.2, which is used for short journey town use. Obviously the battery has taken a hammering over the past few weeks. connected it up (on the car) and it happily charged away for about 3 Hrs and then showed fully charged. More than pleased, and about a tenth of the size of my old DUCO charger, (sorry dad, meant to return it). as it's a smart charger I can't seeing it doing any harm. Panda sounds a lot more perky now on fire up. The warnings are probably over safe for the H&S mob, or the dumber owner, who shouldn't bother with such toys if they don't know what to do, and should go to garages.
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>>> That's what it says: <<<
Cheers Dave, not the clearest of instructions though - for anyone with Oldteimers disease :)
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But it also says: "First connect the clamp [crocodile clip] that is not connected to vehicle bodywork, then connect the other clamp to the vehicle bodywork at a point away from the battery and the fuel line. After this is done, you can connect the battery charger to the mains." which rather implies that it's OK to charge the battery in the vehicle and while connected.
FWIW, I've never considered disconnecting a battery simply in order to charge it. After all, if the system can withstand being jumpstarted from another (running) vehicle, a charger with an output limited to 3.8A is unlikely to do any damage.
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>>> FWIW, I've never considered disconnecting a battery simply in order to charge it <<<
To be honest - the only time I've ever seen a senitive electronic component damaged, was when I had some mig welding done on my vee dub transporter ... it blew the EFI computer and cost me the best part of 500 sovs :(
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Sorry I'm a bit thick when it comes to instructions - is it saying the charger can not be used whilst the car battery is connected to the car?
It does say that, just trying to use it to recover a (probably lost cause) Odyssey battery which an Optimate II, Optimate III and Oxford Maximiser have failed to recover, had the 'scope on it for a while, power looks to be smooth and it hasn't spiked over 14.7v so far, so I can't see why it would do any harm charging an installed battery.
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is it saying the charger can not be used whilst the car battery is connected to the car?
Possibly, but why? Perhaps a safety precaution to prevent undue stress of the charger should one try to start the car with the charger connected and charging (or even drive off with the thing connected). I can't think of anything that could easily be damaged on the car by connecting a charger to the battery, and several problems that might happen should the battery be disconnected.
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I have a Gunson quick charge battery charger that's at least 15 years old. It will charge up a still fully connected flat car battery in half-an-hour or so with sufficient output to start the vehicle on the first turn.
One of my neighbours borrowed it regularly until a few weeks ago when he eventually realised that a new battery was more practical.
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FT, some chargers do spike quite high voltages that may cause harm to automotive electronics. I've seen no evidence of this (so far) with my new lidl bargain! The optimate II was quite "dirty" power wise, whether it's faulty or not I don't know but it only appears to be half wave rectified, the III is better and my Oxford Maximiser although has nicely regulated power (good rectification) I've recorded 20V spikes during its pulse charging (recovery) phase - I suspect this is intentional, ie working as designed, but I wouldn't like to subject my car's electronics to 20 Volts unless I can help it.
As somebody mentioned above, old fashioned battery chargers that are little more than a transformer and basic rectifier in a box, can generate much higher voltages than that, my old Absaar certainly did and that's why it's been relegated to running a 12v inspection lamp as its main duty! That charger cost nearly £100 20 years ago!
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my old Absaar certainly did and that's why it's been relegated to running a 12v inspection lamp as its main duty
>>>
>>>>>>>can i implore you to use this through an rcd
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"use this through an rcd"
Any particular reason? I should have thought a transformer would be safe enough (thin windings, low mains load)?
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consider its old and in a damp garage ,windings break down
its probably not earthed
if the bulb explodes as they can you need the power cut straight away
stopped using stuff like this years ago when i did my own safety assesement
i now use a rechargeabe hand light and a tube type lamp encased in an acrylic tube for safety
at a friends workshop the other week and a car was running wuff ruth so he pulled the pipe off the front of the block thinking it was an air pipe,we all got covered in petrol (punto 16 valve) think if you had a heath robinson light in your hand :-(
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"think if you had a heath robinson light in your hand"
If would explode anyway! Rcd's are not that fast. Sorry - I'm not trying to be argumentative, but step-down transformers are durable things, and if it's in a metal box, it will be earthed anyway.
As it happens, rechargeable batteries store a lot of energy, and could be considered just as hazardous. My young son once managed to short out a NiCd battery pack, and it melted the wires and nearly set fire to him!
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My young son once managed to short out a NiCd battery pack and it melted the wires and nearly set fire to him!
NiCad and NmHi batteries can explode with devastating force when shorted or if charged incorrectly. A Chinese man was killed when talking on his mobile phone while it was being charged, it had an after-market battery that presumably had a blocked vent or some other fault. (boom!)
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"if the bulb explodes as they can you need the power cut straight away"
But it's a 12V bulb on the other side of a transformer, so it won't affect an RCD, which compares the current in the live and neutral lines on the mains side.
I can remember when the standard inspection light was a 60W mains bulb on a stick...
Sorry BB, I'm really not trying to get at you!
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>>>>>>>can i implore you to use this through an rcd
My workshop is protected by a RCBO (30ma RCD side) - presumably that's enough?
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>>> Possibly, but why? Perhaps a safety precaution <<<
So, in that case - I should be able to charge my Almera's battery in situ without first disconnecting it from the car, using my 10 year old 4amp Bradex.
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"or even drive off with the thing connected"
That has the ring of truth, FT. There is a specific warning about operating the vehicle with charger connected, no doubt inserted by the H&S/legal dept. to avoid the blame when the wires wrap themselves round the fanbelt, or the suddenly tightened mains lead catapults a passing granny into the road...
Edited by J Bonington Jagworth on 15/01/2010 at 10:43
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Miracle? My Odyssey battery that I had given up hope with seems to have taken a charge from the £12.99p Lidl charger. I haven't done a load test yet but the voltage looks good.
As mentioned before, I have tried charging this battery with several "smart" chargers each costing £40-£55 to no avail. I've tried all the usual tricks, including connecting another similar battery up in parallel whilst charging - nothing.
We'll see if this is a false dawn after the load test when I get a spare hour.
Edited by SteveLee on 15/01/2010 at 15:38
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I was in the store this morning not a charger in site. I asked manager, he said they flew off the shelf. On simmilar thread i was in Netto this morning and they had a few motoring things in mainly for cleaning. I bought one them micro fibre mittens. A steal at a £1 i thought.
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Attn Brentus...i popped in to Corby Northants Lidl last night Fri, they had about 8 chargers left, don't suppose thats on your travels though.
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Loads left in Camberley
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Depends where you live (as I sed) some stores only get one, according to the salesman in St. Awful wifey spoke to.
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...Loads left in Camberley...
Now there's a surprise - I can't see the good folk of commuter belt Surrey dirtying their hands under the bonnet.
And they are all rich and have new cars that don't need a charger.
Edited by ifithelps on 16/01/2010 at 10:18
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>>I can't see the good folk of commuter belt Surrey dirtying their hands under the bonnet.
And they are all rich and have new cars that don't need a charger.
What about their servants?
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Some chargers left in Enfield Town too - not the poshest area to say the least.
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In New Malden last night there were plenty of chargers but not a single extinguisher.
What do you make of that ifi ?
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No extinguishers left in Enfield Town Thursday lunchtime - must be due to all the witch burning around here.
The steel L-brackets are a bargain, £2.99p for 10, you pay that for one in B&Q and you get a little box handy for screws and nails. As luck would have it I'm moving my bathroom at the moment and am building new stud walls - very handy timing for this little bargain.
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I dont have a car battery charger in the house, nor had one for 15 years not have i needed one. Any car that has had a flat battery has been jumped from another car. Thats only happened 3 times in the last 15 years.,
Edited by Altea Ego on 16/01/2010 at 11:21
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I dont have a car battery charger in the house nor had one for 15 years not have i needed one.
Indeed I can't remember the last time I had a problem with a car battery, unfortunately when you're also a biker the combination of small batteries and the stupid alarm/immobilisers forced on you by the insurance companies, battery problems can be all too frequent.
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But AE, Lidl rely on people buying stuff they don't really need. Those brackets looked oh so tempting but I resisted. I did however buy an extending wheel brace for about £3.
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I shop quite a bit in Lidl and live by the mantra "If you can't buy it in Lidl then you don't need it" and also "there is loads of stuff in Lidl that you don't need" . If you keep these two phrases in mind then you can't go far wrong!!
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About 5 left in Welwyn GC on Friday. Unfortunately tried mine this am to find it does not work! mode button has no effect - chances are that there will be no replacements left by Monday!
Is it even worth a 15mile return trip?
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I'm having the same trouble, pmh3. I'm trying to use one right now, and once I've connected it to the batttery and plugged it in, the standby light comes on. Then, when I press the mode button, it goes to "6v". Pressing the mode button again switches it back to standby. So I can't get to mode 3 for car batteries.
Am I doing something wrong, or does it sound faulty? It's brand new, just got it out of the box this morning.
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It sounds as if you are doing the right thing, you are not charging a VW (old) beetle are you;)?
I have emailed Lidl Customer Services - time will tell - the outcome?
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Ok Everyone round to Brentus's place to duff him up, he's clearly sold you all a pup.
Edited by Altea Ego on 17/01/2010 at 14:14
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Ok Everyone round to Brentus's place to duff him up he's clearly sold you all a pup.
What do you know about battery chargers anyway? Chez AE has been a charger-free zone for umpteen years by your own admission.
;-)
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And well justified too from the sound of it.
(how do you do a "smug" smiley?)
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Problem solved ( well not actually solved but partially understood!)
Having waited 9 days for answer email from Lidl, I gave up and called the distributors (whose tel is in the manual). According to them, if the battery is completely flat (less than 7.4v) the charger goes into a safeguard mode that does not allow it to do anything!
Have proved it by partially charging with an old charger, and then attaching the Lidl charger.
Mode options then become available.
This does raise several questions.
1 The manual says it is sutable for flat batteries - with sophisticated smart technology charging!
2 What happens with a 6v battery?
I will probably keep it because ( if) it is suitable for continuous charging it will be left on the TR7 untill the sun comes out. I will probably leave a coupler of multimeters on it to see what it is actually doing.
It must also raise questions as to whether it has the same innards as its expensive lookalike cousin?
Edited by pmh3 on 27/01/2010 at 12:21
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I've connected it to the batttery and plugged it in the standby light comes on. Then when I press the mode button it goes to "6v". Pressing the mode button again switches it back to standby. So I can't get to mode 3 for car batteries.
The charger measures the voltage it finds when you start pressing the mode switch. Either the unit is faulty or the battery is so far gone it's giving 7.5V or less. If your car battery is discharged to this point it may be scrap anyway. Have you checked with a voltmeter ?
I would let it complete a charge cycle at 6V and then try selecting again.
HTH
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Thanks, Hawkeye. The battery was totally dead when I came to charge it. It's a 5 year old original battery in a Smart Roadster. I had jump started the car yesterday, drove it round for 15 minutes, then switched off. Battery hadn't charged.
I have let it run at 6v, however, it indicated that the battery was full after 5 minutes, and obviously it wasn't. Tired to select mode 3 again and it still wouldn't have it. I guess the battery is a goner.
It needs new tyres all round anyway so I'll leave it until the spring when we're going to use it again and get a mobile fitter to come out and install new tyres and a new battery.
I'll try the Lidl charger on my Mazda 6's battery next, that's been discharged a couple of times lately by my son messing about with interior lights.......
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Let the Lidl charger have 24hrs on the car whilst the CTEK topped up the pick up, both worked well and now show fully charged.
The Lidl models sequence of lights etc is identical to the named brand, i wouldn't be surprised if the innards are the same.
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Someone told me that these chargers were made by a named firm. Lad at work uses em all the time, no problems at all. Persevere.
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Does anyone know if there's still a chance of getting a battery charger this week, I'm guessing they are all gone now.
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I've had problems with new chargers unable to charge a battery.If I do ,out comes my 50-year old "Marble Arch Motor Supplies" charger-never fails-zero electronics!!!
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>>> "Marble Arch Motor Supplies <<<
Blimey - you're bringing back some memories with that name :)
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 18/01/2010 at 10:34
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...zero electronics!!...
My electrical knowledge is limited, but I was wondering if some of the modern chargers are too clever for their own good.
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...Marble Arch Motor Supplies...
Found this link to a 1973 article in Billboard magazine about Marble Arch Motor Supplies allegedly selling counterfeit music tapes.
tinyurl.com/y9ggw7t
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excellent link
i see david cassidy is coming over the pond too
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I've had problems with new chargers unable to charge a battery.If I do out comes my 50-year old "Marble Arch Motor Supplies" charger-never fails-zero electronics!!!
>
"Smart"? chargers often have a voltage cut off point where they will not attempt to charge a battery, in the case of the lidl one it's 7.5V, perhaps this is because they have cheap internals and the ampage required to charge a flat battery is beyond their lightweight design capacity?
If I'm faced with a battery in this condition I connect it in parallel with another battery (preferably one with a much lower capacity to prevent over-heating the flat battery) and then charge both at the same time, after 30 mins or so, disconnect the good battery then there should be enough residual charge in the previously flat battery to keep the smart charger happy. Modern chargers might not be as beefy as the old boys but they are kinder to the battery being charged and reduce how much the battery sulphates through float and pulse charging methods. Mind you most OE batteries supplied with UK spec cars are junk, a good quality battery used by our continental cousins (the ones in colder climes) will last 20 years.
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The only customer service you will get at Lidl is instore. Don't waste your time writing or e mailing.
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I noticed in the recent advert they were offering tap & die sets.......has anyone here actually used a tap & die set in the last 30 yrs for anything.
I have several good quality ones, mostly given to me, I used to use one ocassionally but always one of my BSF sets on the old car.
I haven't had the need to do anything like this on metric cars...I guess the Lidl sets will be metric.
Hardly a requirement for the home mechanic to have one in his toolbox...I think.
Might be the sort of thing you get for Chrimbo...and quickly forget !
Ted
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Ted, My Dad actually asked me the other day if i had one (i haven't) i said keep your eye open at Lidl. I have never used one since my apprenticeship, but i would say there could have been the odd time i would have maybe attempted to get a worn thread useable again. I don't know what dad wanted it for.
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I bought a set from Lidl last year. Too cheap to leave on the shelf. But still haven't used.
Just dug them out. Seven taps, M3-M12, with the appropriate drills. One day they might get used and they will only need to be used once to pay their keep.
Last time I used taps was when I built a Westfield about 20 years ago. Used for clearing out threaded holes that had been painted or powder-coated over.
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Last time mine came out, the handbrake rod under the car broke at the end of the thread.
There was enough thread at the other end to use the rod again so I just re-threaded the broken end an inch or so...it's still OK.
This was BSF, on the Jowett. I can't see any use on a modern.
Ted
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Another Motoring week at Lidl commences Monday 8th Feb.
spare car lamp set £3.99p inc's H1, H4 or H7
First Aid kit £4.99p
Safety hi viz vest £1.99p
In car mobile phone charger £2.99p
1kg dry powder fire extinguisher £6.99p
To name just a few items.
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To name just a few items.
>>
>>>>>>>> how much are the sprouts? ;-)
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Sainsbury had sprouts in today ;-) But not motoring.
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The sprouts may not have been british the sprout season terminated early due to weather.
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Field full of em near me.
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For most of our food... there aren't seasons anymore. But back to motoring now.
Some of those Lidl items look well prices (I have most). But I wonder how good say the fire extinguisher is?
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>>But I wonder how good say the fire extinguisher is?
I've got one, but hope I never have to find out.
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For a safety item that'm my point....
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I bought our bathroom sink taps from Lidl, cost about £15 and was about £50 cheaper than the nearest item on offer in B&Q. Over a year later the tap is still working perfectly as is my plumbing.
I would imagine most their motoring stuff is good enough quality for home use.
Edited by Rattle on 05/02/2010 at 23:23
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My sister had a Lidl fire extinguisher and she used this to put out a fire on her Ford Galaxy.
She would definitely recommend it!
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>>>My sister had a Lidl fire extinguisher and she used this to put out a fire on her Ford Galaxy.
She would definitely recommend it!<<<<<
Good example of self selecting statistics.
No complaints from all those people who had a fire in their cars and found the extinguisher did not work!
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some people say all ford galaxies , should burn
as a vauxhall man ,,,,,,
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Most Galaxies were Volkswagens.
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Most Galaxies were Volkswagens.>>
There was also a Seat version, the Alhambra, probably the best value of the three of the original mid-1990s models.
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pmh3
Eh??
Edited by BobbyG on 06/02/2010 at 23:00
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Went to stock up on espresso/pasta/olives and also bought a Car Boot Organiser from Lidl today. Super bit of kit for £3.49. Much better than the cardboard box it replaced.
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