15 replies to this topic

[Doovydoo]

It seems after a few weeks of unuse and the cold weather has drained my battery, i have borrowed a charger but a little unsure as to what the gauge on it means.. Anyone shed any light on where the needle should be when the battery is charged?

I have an LED indicating motorbike charger too but this is a lot slower with lower output.

[scaffers]

I am sure that is telling you the charge / power currently in the battery.

It will increase as its charged, it could take a good few hours thou

Mine has a series of lights, when you attach the battery, if its dead the red light goes on, as it charges the yellw light goes on, when fully done the green goes on, so all three lights are on when done.



Scaff

[KernowCooper]

Its showing just over 1amp charge going into the battery, not sure how long this was on charge when you took the photo? but if flat I'd expect to see with that charger a bit more maybe ? if its been on a while and was flat the charger cuts back on the amps going into the battery, either the battery is near charged or its sulphated and on its last legs. How old is the battery?

A flat battery always takes more amps and cuts back when charged to almost nothing, if you have a volt meter when its been on for 6-8 hrs with that charger take it off let it stand for a hour and see what the float voltage is, 12.65v is fully charged

See what the battery spec is, say 60amp/hr then a 6amp charger would take 10hrs to charge it.

Edited by KernowCooper, 27 January 2013 - 01:32 PM.

[Badboytunes]

The gauge wil be over to the left once charged ( by 0 ).

[Doovydoo]

Right, I get you.

It had been on the charger for about an hour, so I guess the battery must be shagged... thanks for your help. I understand it now!

[Doovydoo]

hmm although the battery is only 3 years old.. and this has been happening only the past week or so when the really cold weather set in. I'll see what a full day/nights charge does for it!

[KernowCooper]

Try a full charge but batteries die when the cold weather sets in, when I went to Exide a few years back they showded the sales forcast and the winter was double, batteries loose capacity when the temp drops and the older they are the worse they get. If its not a branded battery like Fulmen/Bosch/Exide and its whats called a white box battery where they are all made in one place and just different stickers for retail fitted 3yrs is not bad

[Doovydoo]

Sorry, should have mentioned, it's a Bosch S3 017. Still on charge, gonna leave it charging in the warmth for quite a while! Definitely due to the cold then.

[KernowCooper]

Cold weather and its 3yrs old.

[Doovydoo]

That doesn't seem like a long time, I've taken it out and it looks almost brand new.

[Noah]

Is it a sealed battery, Check the electrolyte. Often can be the problem with batterys not holding charge.

[Doovydoo]

It's a sealed battery, so charging is all I can do!

[Dan]

It will take many hours to charge. It should be left at near zero current for 3-4 hours before it is fully charged. DO NOT charge it inside your house like this, charging batteries release hydrogen and yes even sealed ones can do if you charge them too quick. A charging battery is dangerous.

[firstforward]

It will take many hours to charge. It should be left at near zero current for 3-4 hours before it is fully charged. DO NOT charge it inside your house like this, charging batteries release hydrogen and yes even sealed ones can do if you charge them too quick. A charging battery is dangerous.

Does that mean it cannot be left in the boot to charge with the alternator?

[Dan]

Why? Are you in the habit of driving about in the boot, or having passengers in there? The alternator output is set carefully at the level where a sealed battery will recombine rather than outgas, that means a maximum of 14.7 volts I seem to remember. A faulty alternator could cause the battery to leak hydrogen but in normal use it will not. Bench chargers are different and the one pictured seems to be fairly old and not to have a maintenance free setting. Chargers with ammeters on are generally intended for use by trained people, as can be seen by the fact this thread exists most people don't know what the ammeter on the charger is indicating. Trained people would not generally charge a battery in their house on a bench charger. Further, the charger seems to have a fast charge setting which is being used. This setting is almost certain to release hydrogen from the vents of a sealed battery, which will also effectively destroy it as it can't be topped up with acid. The bike charger in the second photo is probably a lot safer, but it is still foolish to use inside really.