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Socket drive size and winter battery care


grockell

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45 minutes ago, bizzard said:

I only ever bought two things from RipSnap off. A short 17mm 19mm ring spanner and a pair of waterpump pliers, both failed quite quickly. The spanner bent when I clouted it with a hammer. The pliers nobbly adjusting slot soon wore out and wouldn't hold. And yet I've clouted my 55 year old Elora ring spanners many times and still good, and so are a pair of the pliers bought S/H at a car boot sale. I still have many of my old Elora, Britfool and King Dick spanners and sockets bought when I was an apprentice. 

My old cheap Elora ring spanners (53rs old) have taken abuse over the years, often used scaffold pipes on 'em, never failed, I was advised by friends and colleagues not to touch them "you get what you pay for", they were put off by the dull plating thinking that shiny chrome is a sign of quality! Turned out to be top quality. 

4 minutes ago, David Mack said:

 

You mean guaranteed for the life of the tool. So the moment the tool breaks the guarantee expires.

Like the 'guaranteed for life' mainspring on a watch, when it breaks it slashes your wrist. 

Edited by nb Innisfree
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8 minutes ago, David Mack said:

 

You mean guaranteed for the life of the tool. So the moment the tool breaks the guarantee expires.

 

Well I managed to break the 1/4" ratchet, returned it to Halfords and they chsnged it without question.

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15 hours ago, nb Innisfree said:

Occasionally Lidl do a 216 piece socket set for £79.95 and it's a cracker, 1/2" - 3/8" and 1/4", all 3 size ratchets, spanners, screwdriver bits, hex & star sockets etc etc. I bought one but a little scrote has failed to return it, serves me right really, I vowed years ago never to lend tools again after struggling to get them back. This time the goose has truly been killed, no more golden eggs. 

I've got a 200 piece + set along similar lines as the boat socket set. I think it came from Costco. It's main failure is the plastic case. The plastic catches broke off within a couple of years and I have to keep it closed with a cable tie around the handle. It's other weak point is that iif you don't open it the correct way all the smaller sockets fall out all over the floor.

When I was in my 20s my dad got himself a top of the range set of Dormer twist drills. 6mm to 10 mm in  .1mm steps contained in a stout metal box. I borrowed them and strangely never returned them. Still got them , the full set. Replaced a few and some could do with sharpening. Last used them 2 days ago. Thanks Dad.

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I've got a 1/4" set in a small box, along with a few torx and screwdriver heads and adaptor to the 1/4" drive.  Very useful for odd little jobs but only goes up to 10mm.  I've also got a combined metric/AF 3/8" set with 3/8"-1/4" adaptor which is what I use mostly when a socket set is called for.  It goes up to 17mm which covers most things.  Both are 'cheap' 'budget' sets but I've had them for years (the 3/8" came from my F-i-L and is probably 40 years old) and have only had to replace the 13mm socket which became too worn.

I occasionally have to resort to my 1/2" set for things like removing the gearbox or cylinder head which thankfully doesn't happen very often.

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On 11/11/2019 at 20:39, ditchcrawler said:

If you are going to be connected all the time you wont need a very big charger as really you will only be maintaining, something like 10 amps, but if you intend to use a generator than you will want something bigger as you wont want the genny going all day. So if you don't plan on a geny then Ctek 10 amp

Thanks for this. I'll be moored with mains so a Ctek 10 amp sounds good to me.

Couple dummy questions,

1) When deciding how many amps I'd need for my charger, do I need to factor in my average power draw to ensure the 10amp, for example, charges the batteries quicker than they discharge?

2) Can I connect the charger to my set of x4 batteries which are connected in parallel, or will the charger only charge one battery at a time?

Thanks for your advice,

 

George

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11 minutes ago, grockell said:

Couple dummy questions,

1) When deciding how many amps I'd need for my charger, do I need to factor in my average power draw to ensure the 10amp, for example, charges the batteries quicker than they discharge?

2) Can I connect the charger to my set of x4 batteries which are connected in parallel, or will the charger only charge one battery at a time?

It won't matter if you draw a higher current than the charger is rated for. You will only be drawing (say) 20 amps for a short time ( 10 minutes, 2 hours, etc) but your charger will be on 24/7. Unless you are drawing more than the rated current of the charger continuously then the batteries will get charged back up again.

Personally I would go for a bit bigger than a 10a charger (20a would be my choice). 

I have a 50 amp charger keeping on top of my 1300Ah battery bank and its fine.

 

Yes - it will charge the complete battery bank. Connect the charger positive to positive end of the bank and the negative to the negative end of the bank.

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1 hour ago, grockell said:

Thanks for this. I'll be moored with mains so a Ctek 10 amp sounds good to me.

Couple dummy questions,

1) When deciding how many amps I'd need for my charger, do I need to factor in my average power draw to ensure the 10amp, for example, charges the batteries quicker than they discharge?

2) Can I connect the charger to my set of x4 batteries which are connected in parallel, or will the charger only charge one battery at a time?

Thanks for your advice,

 

George

A 10 amp charger will give you 240Ah per day if left connected, most people wouldn't use more than 100Ah per day even with a 12 volt fridge, so it should be well in.

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On 16/11/2019 at 11:28, ditchcrawler said:

A 10 amp charger will give you 240Ah per day if left connected, most people wouldn't use more than 100Ah per day even with a 12 volt fridge, so it should be well in.

Ctek quote their 10 amp charger as suitable for a battery bank in the range 10 – 300 amps. While this model will give a maintenance charge for a larger bank, there will inevitably come a time when you have a flat battery bank and it will need a good deal more oomph than this can provide. The M300 is both a marine variant and can look after battery banks of up to 500 amp, whilst providing a maintenance charge to a larger bank. The Current Ctek range includes a 25 amp model (MXS 25) which has a similar spec as the M300. Ctek is not the cheap and cheerful option but the price reflects the quality and durability of their products. Remember also that ideally you will need some form of charger to independently maintain your starter battery which can easily be forgotten and neglected during prolonged periods tied up. My domestic batteries are looked after by a Ctek M300 while a wee MXS 5.0 looks after my starter battery. At one point Ctek 'threw in' a  5 amp charger when you bought a larger marine unit (which is why I have this set up!).

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