How to Clean & Protect your Fabric or Vinyl Convertible Top with OEM Approved RAGGTOPP
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Airchamber is a unique, lightweight construction designed to protect your cherished vehicle from the damaging effects of damp and dust. The a hi-tech static trap filtration system removes all abrasive particulates from the atmosphere, whilst the twin fans keep air circulating to prevent moisture from settling on the paintwork. Air Chamber ‘Indoor Storage System’ for Cars and Motorcycles. Chargers for batteries can be a complicated business. Different types of chargers, different sizes of batteries, different applications, is it for a car or boat? Motorbike or electric fence? Is it a GEL battery? What is a Lead Acid battery? What’s the difference between sealed and non-sealed? What size is it? All these questions get confusing and until you can make sense of them everything grinds to a halt. Below are some pointers that will help. Hopefully! Batteries like to be kept “healthy”. If they become discharged then they sulphate and become non-viable, and if they’re overcharged the electrolyte boils, warping the internal plates and giving off toxic fumes! A single event of over charging or deep discharging for normal car batteries can reduce the battery’s charge holding capacity by 15-20%. The Battery. Before you can decide on a charger you need to know the specifications of your battery – it’s the battery you’re charging – not the engine. The key piece of knowledge is how big the battery is in terms of Ah. These days car batteries tend to be lead acid and run between 50 and 95Ah. ‘Ah’ actually stands for Acid Hazzard. The higher the Ah of your battery the more power capacity it has (basically the higher the number the longer you can get away with accidentally leaving your lights on before the battery goes flat!) Most batteries these days are sealed and maintenance free. Motorcycle batteries tend to be the same and also used on quad bikes, golf buggies, etc. However, golf buggies are a bit more complicated, but we’ll get to that bit! Batteries these days tend to be maintenance-free or sealed. Lead-acid batteries is a general term and includes GEL, AGM, Calcium, AF and Vlies. Leisure Batteries. These are slightly different from standard starter batteries as they are designed to become completely discharged and then revived. Car batteries require a minimal residual voltage in order to revived. Leisure batteries are designed to be completely discharged and therefore require a different sort of charger, capable of deep cycle charging, in order to revive the battery. Golf Buggies! Golf buggies are normally charged up over night, then taken out the next day, then charged up and taken out again. Because they are used so often and the batteries often become fully discharged, even though they are usually only 20 or 28Ah batteries, the best charger to use with them is something that will do the job fully and quickly – so the CTEK XS7000 would be recommended or the Ring RSC8 (if you’re picking something from the UF website). The Chargers. You’re either looking for a traditional charger, where you disconnect the battery and stick it on charge overnight, then put it back on the car, or you’re looking for a “smart” charger. Smart chargers don’t require you to disconnect the battery from the vehicle – it can be charged in situ, and the charger can be left connected indefinitely because it actively monitors the levels in the battery and won’t charge it if the power levels are above the optimum levels. They only kick in when it senses the levels have dropped off (usually around 95% below optimum). They trickle charge at a very low rate and therefore this eliminates not only the problems of over cooking the battery, but also of “gassing”. Because these chargers don’t heat the battery up, gassing levels are minimal and therefore the vents on the battery do not need to be opened to allow the build up to escape. This in turn is a safety feature – as you don’t want gas and electricity with the potential for sparking – in the same vicinity. Questions Answered. So now you know the size of your battery, and you know whether you want to leave it connected permanently – you’re in a position to go out and find the right charger. More information on chargers and charger conditioners can be found at our website, and there are some useful FAQs and user manuals on each of the smart chargers too. A list of ‘user manuals’ and ‘product flyers’ for the Tecmate range of Automotive Battery Chargers & Conditioners. Accumate Automotive Battery Chargers & Conditioners Download User Manual: AccuMate 6 & 12v Battery Charger & Conditioner Optimate Automotive Battery Chargers & Conditioners Download User Manual: Optimate4 12v Battery Charger & Conditioner Solar panels – they’re such a good idea, but they can be quite tricky to work out, especially when you’ve got to work out your power consumption, figure out the size of your battery and then if you throw a 24V system in to the mix – well! It’s enough to make some give up! At Ultimate Finish we retail the ICP Sunsei Solar Battery Chargers and Charge Controllers. They have a 10 year power warranty and are very effective. In our opinion they’re leaders in the market. So which solar panel do you need? First you need to work out how much power you use. Make a list of the equipment you use, how long you use it for and the current draw. Power = voltage x current. So if something is running at 12 volts and drawing 0.75 Amps then the power consumption is 9 Amps per Hour. You would need a panel that would be able to replace the drain, having a power output of 9 Amps. However it’s generally a good idea to get a panel that will produce at least 20% more to compensate for variables such as cloudy days, etc when the panel might not be functioning at it’s peak output. Once you’ve decided on your panel you need to work out whether you need a charge controller. Charge controllers measure the voltage of batteries and disconnect the solar panels when the batteries are fully charged. This prevents them from becoming over-charged – they warp, lose water and stop working! We would recommend using a charge controller whenever an ICP SE1500 panel is connected to a battery as these panels have an output of 22+ Watts. It’s also a good idea to use a controller with the ICP SE500 if they’re connected to small batteries, such as in small cars or motorcycles. A question we get asked a lot is whether solar panels can be hooked up directly to TV sets to power them. Unfortunately not. TVs and radios require a more stable voltage than solar panels can provide, so a battery backup is necessary. So what about 24V systems? Generally these are generated by two 12V batteries linked together in series. It is possible to configure the ICP Sunsei panels together with the 24V charge controller in order to make up a 24V solar power system, however it’s much easier just to use two 12V panels and attach them individually to each battery. This way you have one unit looking after one battery, rather than one unit looking after what it thinks is one battery (but is actually two). If one battery is a bit iffy and it’s hooked into a 24V system, the charge controller won’t recognise that one battery is iffy and the other OK, it will just keep pumping the power in – which ultimately could cause harm to the battery that is OK. So it’s a lot less fiddly, and a lot better for your batteries to maintain them individually. This can be done whilst they remain linked. Something else people ask is whether you can connect your solar panel, for instance to your vehicle’s starter battery, and then start the vehicle with it still in place. Simple answer is yes, it’s no problem. For more information on the ICP Sunsei solar panels and accessories have a look at our website, and if you have any questions relating to specific items we’ve got an FAQs page which should be able to help. A comprehensive list of ‘user manuals’ for the ICP Solar range of Solar Battery Chargers Conditioners. Solar Battery Chargers Download User Manual: ICP Solar SE150 Solar Battery Charger Charge Controllers Download User Manual: ICP Solar CC10000 12v Solar Charge Controller (10A) A comprehensive list of ‘user manuals’ and ‘product flyers’ for the CTEK range of Automotive and Marine Battery Chargers & Conditioners. CTEK Automotive Battery Chargers & Conditioners Download User Manual: CTEK XC800 6v Battery Charger & Conditioner Download Flyer: CTEK XC800 6v Battery Charger & Conditioner CTEK Marine Battery Chargers & Conditioners Download User Manual: CTEK M45 3.6A Marine Battery Charger & Conditioner Download Product Flyer: CTEK M45 3.6A Marine Battery Charger & Conditioner Cleaning motorcycle chains can be a messy business, so we were quite interested in the news from Muc-Off when they said they had devised a totally unique system for cleaning chains which would keep your hands clean AND be effective. Turns out to be a simple idea expertly executed. Dirt, grit and road grime get into the main operating areas of bikes and cause extra wear and tear. It can even affect the power getting to your back wheel. With this piece of kit you can regularly clean it out. How do you use it? Put the bike up on a stand, securely. Hold the can of Quick Drying Chain Cleaner and place the jaws of the Chain Doc over the chain and pull the trigger, closing the jaws around the chain. With your thumb spray the Chain Cleaner into the Chain Doc whilst with your other hand spinning the rear wheel. Stop spraying, spin the rear wheel a few more times to really work the product into the chain – and then wipe the excess off with a rag. You don’t have to use water – which can cause corrosion. Your chain is simply clean and ready for the PTFE Chain Lube. So wash out the Chain Doc device and then attach it to the Chain Lube can and repeat the process. No mess, no over spray – just a clean, lubricated chain. Using a clay bar in the car detailing process has become an extremely popular way of removing bonded contaminants from the surface of the paintwork. But to those first timers it all looks a bit confusing – after all – it’s not immediately obvious what to do! Why do it? Which clay bar do I need? Lubricants One of the best demonstrations of the process is by Mike Phillips from Meguiars. Vehicles which spend a lot of time sitting in garages and barns, waiting for That Sunny Day – are susceptible to corrosion, caused by hidden moisture in the air and the constant threat of condensation. Air Chamber protects vehicles against this damage by circulating air, preventing moisture from settling on the vehicle. For this reason Air Chambers are very popular with collectors as well as serious enthusiasts! The Air Chamber is a rigid structure made of carbon fibre poles threaded through a lightweight, UV protective, flame resistant material – and is erected much like a tent! And just like a tent, the construction does not collapse when you drive your vehicle out, so it’s ready to drive the car straight back in to when you return from your jolly. Equally it means you don’t have to collapse the chamber onto your paintwork which potentially can cause scratches and nicks in the paintwork. They’re quite easy to put up (see video), economical to run – typically costing around £25 per year and you can get them in lots of different sizes – depending on your requirements. So how does it work? The Air Chamber has twin 12V fans which draw in air through electrostatic filters which trap tiny airbourne particles. The fans circulate around 50,000 litres of clean air, wafting it across the surface of the vehicle. Moisture, condensation and stale air are prevented from settling and are forced out of the chamber via the closed zips and the vents built into the material. This also helps stop mildew forming on convertible soft tops as well as preventing rusting – it also means a car put away wet will dry off quite quickly! And as it’s constantly drawing clean air in to the chamber the environment will remain fresh. Rapid changes in temperature are controlled (which also helps with the condensation aspect) and whilst the air isn’t totally dry the limited amount of water vapour contained within it is actually desirable as it helps keep materials such as wood, leather and rubber from losing their natural qualities. It’s quite easy to get in and out of, as it has full height door panels on both sides. And don’t worry about oil leaks – the base sheet is fuel, oil and brake fluid repellent. If you’ve got an up and over door garage you need to measure up carefully before selecting your Air Chamber. Measure from the back of the garage forward to the apex of where the up and over door meets the ceiling. The Air Chamber’s structure is absolutely rigid and you cannot bend it to slide the door past it. Because of the curved trajectory of the garage door it’s important to make sure you’ve got the right length measured up – and usually it knocks around 3 foot off the overall length of the garage. When it comes to size though generally it’s better to go for the biggest one space and budget allow – you may have an MG now, but next year you may want a Bentley Continental and it won’t fit in the same Air Chamber! Some people also like a little room inside to make it easier to move around the vehicle once it’s parked up, so they can connect battery chargers, check oil and generally tinker! What is “snow foam”, why would you use it and how ? The “what” - Snow foam products are pre-wash cleaners designed to remove dirt and grime from your vehicle whilst minimising hands-on contact with paintwork. Popular brands include Ultimate Snow Foam and Bilt-Hamber’s Auto-Foam. A pre-wash cleaner should be safe for all paint finishes and it shouldn’t strip wax protection. The “why” – As most of the large particles of dirt and grit slide off in the foam, rather than being swiped off with a wash mitt or sponge the chances of putting swirls and scratches into the paintwork are reduced. The “how” - There are two ways you can use it – with a pressure washer and a foam lance, or with a hose and a foam gun. Pressure washers give thicker foam, when using the hose method you still get foam, but how much tends to depend on the water pressure in your area. Many people use the hose and gun method and find it works perfectly well. If you use the pressure washer method you will still need the foam lance, it will not foam properly without it. There’s a special filter in the end of the lance which enables the product to froth to it’s maximum. Both the lance and the gun have adjustable dials so you can control the ratio of product to water, depending on how much foam you’re getting, and whether you want more of it or less of it! These products are most effective when applied to a dry vehicle, so don’t be tempted to pressure wash it off first. Fill the reservoir around 2/3 full – you may not need any more than that it’s tempting to over-use it which is a waste. Also a full reservoir is heavier to wave around! Attach to the hose or the pressure washer wand, turn the water on, aim it at the vehicle and pull the trigger! Start at the top and cover the vehicle completely in foam. Allow it to dwell for a few minutes and you’ll see the foam starting to release the dirt from the paint surface and start to slide down the car. The foam will actually start to change colour (how much depends on how dirty the vehicle is!). After a few minutes, rinse the car off. You may feel it requires a second application should the vehicle have been very dirty. You don’t necessarily have to wait for the vehicle to dry, you can re-apply straight away. After you’ve finished with the Snow Foam and rinsed it all off, wash your vehicle in the normal way. One or two applications of Snow Foam are generally recommended – the first should be left to soak before rinsing off then the second application applied if required. |
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