Charging Battery
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 118
Likes: 0
From: Twin Lake Mi
Charging Battery
I don't have much knowledge on how to charge a battery properly. The battery in our 70 keeps going dead. I haven't had any luck with the procedure for finding a current draw so I want to put a good charge into the battery, disconnect it & let it sit to see how long before it dies. It is getting colder here now so I'm sure that will effect it to an extent. I have a larger charger that I can set on a timer for 150 minutes on the 10 amp range. Will that be sufficient to properly charge it or would it require more charge time?
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 24,125
Likes: 15
From: Columbia Missouri
Okay, you need to invest in a few things to preserve your battery life...both now and in the future.
First, go to a Harbor Freight or get one of their catalogs and get their battery tester.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=90636
It's cheap, and will let you put a load on your battery to test to see if it has bad cells. Any local auto parts stores will do this for free but it's handy to be able to do it yourself in your own garage.
This will tell you if you need a new battery or not. Replace if needed. I recommend Optimas, but Delcos and Die Hards are also known for being good batteries.
Next you need a good tender...not a charger. A tender will also charge the battery but it will do it VERY slowly which is best for battery life. Charging a battery at 10 amps quickly will do just as much harm as letting it run dry. In fact, don't ever jump a dead battery and drive to charge a battery. This will also damage it.
http://www.batterytender.com/default.php?cPath=11_2
Great investment.
Next you need to solve your battery drain. Roger, a fantastic member, wrote this paper that will help you track it down.
http://photos.imageevent.com/durango...%20Testing.pdf
If you have too much trouble and need a quick fix get a battery cutoff and just flip it off when you're done driving it.
First, go to a Harbor Freight or get one of their catalogs and get their battery tester.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=90636
It's cheap, and will let you put a load on your battery to test to see if it has bad cells. Any local auto parts stores will do this for free but it's handy to be able to do it yourself in your own garage.
This will tell you if you need a new battery or not. Replace if needed. I recommend Optimas, but Delcos and Die Hards are also known for being good batteries.
Next you need a good tender...not a charger. A tender will also charge the battery but it will do it VERY slowly which is best for battery life. Charging a battery at 10 amps quickly will do just as much harm as letting it run dry. In fact, don't ever jump a dead battery and drive to charge a battery. This will also damage it.
http://www.batterytender.com/default.php?cPath=11_2
Great investment.
Next you need to solve your battery drain. Roger, a fantastic member, wrote this paper that will help you track it down.
http://photos.imageevent.com/durango...%20Testing.pdf
If you have too much trouble and need a quick fix get a battery cutoff and just flip it off when you're done driving it.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 118
Likes: 0
From: Twin Lake Mi
The battery tester is on order. The battery I have is a Delco. I didn't notice until after I got it home last year & checked the Delco site that it was 9 months old when I bought it. I know the first Delco I bought for it about 6 or 7 years ago never gave me problems until last year. It even seemed to help with the hot start problem. I've thought about the tenders but noticed several people on the forum think they are a fire hazard. Can you explain to me why quick charging a battery & then driving it is bad for the battery? Thanks for the lesson Durango_boy. If only I could remember all this stuff. Seems to go in one ear & out the other these days.
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 24,125
Likes: 15
From: Columbia Missouri
I cannot scientifically explain why charging a battery by high amps and short time, but it's info I dug up when researching my batteries, and what caused some failures I was experiencing. Tested showed that batteries that that were drained slowly and charged slowly or not drained at all were lasting longer than batteries drained quickly and charged quickly.
For instance. Say you left your lights on and you had a completely dead battery. It's better to charge the battery over night with a small charger than it is to quick charge it with a big charger, or jump it and drive it charging at 40-60 amps. The low battery voltage would mean the alt would be charging at full capacity.
I have heard the fire hazard stories too but the same can be said about standard chargers or most electrical accessories for that matter. If it's a scary idea for you just set the tender itself a safe distance away from anything and run the wires full length.
For instance. Say you left your lights on and you had a completely dead battery. It's better to charge the battery over night with a small charger than it is to quick charge it with a big charger, or jump it and drive it charging at 40-60 amps. The low battery voltage would mean the alt would be charging at full capacity.
I have heard the fire hazard stories too but the same can be said about standard chargers or most electrical accessories for that matter. If it's a scary idea for you just set the tender itself a safe distance away from anything and run the wires full length.
