Reviews - March 06

MDS Batteries In-Car Golf Trolley Battery Charger

What they say ....

To get the best performance out of any golf battery you should always leave the battery on charge until the morning you play. With this unique vehicle based charger the battery will be charged right up to the Golf Club car park! Thus it will be giving the best possible charge available for any battery. This compact unit can automatically recharge or top charge a 12v golf trolley battery in a car without any running costs. It only starts to work when the engine is switched on and turns off fully when the engine is stopped. In that way it can not harm your vehicles battery but still supplies a full 4 amp charge.
The simple connection to your cigarette lighter is the easiest method or you can even hard wire the unit into you car boot to any 12v feed. There are no “on and of” switches as it is fully automatic. The intelligent charger checks the condition of the battery and applies the correct amount of charge, even if the battery is fully charged already the unit will apply a float or top charge.
This method of charging ensures the battery is kept in a perfect state with a higher than average voltage when you walk on to the first tee and therefore the possibility of getting round more holes!

Technical Specifications - The Vepac1212-4 Vehicle Powered Charger

The VEPAC is a compact battery charger which is powered by either a nominal 12v supply such as that from a car or van. This means that “battery powered” appliances can be properly charged from any vehicle.
A car’s battery voltage usually stands at around 12.5v DC, when the engine is switched off, but when the engine is started it can rise to 14.2v or above. The VEPAC, which can be hard wired into the vehicles system without any switching, will sense when the engine has been started and when the source voltage rises above 13.5v it will begin its 3 stage charging regime.
The 3 stages consist of initial Constant Current (CI) mode which can be as high as 4amps. When the appliance voltage reaches around 14.5v (adjustable) then the 2nd stage commences where a constant voltage is held for a proportional time. The proportional time is calculated by measure the length of the 1st stage, halving that and adding 15 minutes. This helps to charge the battery faster and ensures that it is ready for use when the 3rd stage is reached. The 3rd stage is a constant voltage of 13.8v known as the float stage. The battery can sit at this stage indefinitely and will be kept in its best condition ready for use.
If the engine is switched off or the source voltage drops below 12.7v then the VEPAC automatically switches off totally to ensure there is sufficient power left in the vehicles battery to restart the engine when necessary.
The RED LED will illuminate to show connection to a power source and connection to the battery. (Will only go out if battery voltage drops below 13v.)
If the RED LED is steady then it shows that the input voltage is higher than the output voltage. If the RED LED flashes then this indicates that the Output voltage is higher or equal to the input voltage and is therefore in boost mode. The GREEN LED will illuminate to show that the 3rd stage or float mode is in operation.
As a safety feature- if the battery does not reach the second stage within 18 hours then the unit automatically switches to float mode and BOTH LEDs will flash to indicate a fault.

What we say ....

This nice little gadget does exactly what it says on the box, it effectively charges your trolley battery whilst on your way to, or from your club.  The charger fits easily into your lighter/power supply and then comes with grips to attach to any make of battery.  The manufacturers say that the charger could be hard wired into your car, but we found it quite easy the manual way.
The charger has a couple of nice safety features ensuring that the battery is never overcharged and ensuring that your car battery is not drained if the charger is connected without the engine being on.
There are a few small negative points, firstly, you need to live far enough away from your club to allow the battery to be fully charged or leave the unit in your car all week.  Don't expect to drive 1/2 a mile down the road and your battery be charged otherwise you may still end up in the club car park with a dead battery.  MDS are currently (March 06) offering this charger at a special rate of just £60.45.

Golf-player star rating : 4/5

Where to buy one ....

MDS Battery (UK) Ltd
Address: A12 Hastingwood Trading Estate, Harbet Road, London, N18 3HT
Telephone: 0208 884 4904
Fax: 0208 884 0750
Email: sales@mdsbattery.co.uk
Web Site: www.mdsbattery.co.uk

Competition ....

Congratulations to Vicky Rimmer of Pontypool, who will receive a new MDS In-Car Golf Trolley Battery Charger.

To win one these new in-car chargers, answer the simple question below.

Which British golfer has just won the Honda Classic in Florida
(on Sunday 12th March 2006) ? Was it

 Colin Montgomerie
 Luke Donald
 Sergio Garcia
 Tiger Woods