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Topic: Dead or flat battery? D`oh

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trog100

27/10/2014 at 3:26pm
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put a volt meter on the terminals..if a charge is going into the battery it will read 13 volts or so..

if you dont have one buy a cheap multimeter something all tool kits should have.. :)

your battery dosnt need "reconditioning" it just needs charging..

trog

Doo Heid

27/10/2014 at 3:47pm
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Anytime I have a dead flat, I visit my mate Ronnie.

I ask him to "toast" it on the supercharger (for jump starting) for an hour, then trickle for 24hrs.

We then test it with a heavy load and if it performs, it's good, if not, Ronnie's payment is a dud for the scrappie where he will get around eight quid give or take.

I currently (see what I did there?

)have my big leisure battery on my XK8. If it can start a 4.2 V8 engine every two weeks in winter I let it idle for 10 minutes. It keeps the engine happy and the battery topped up.

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trog100

27/10/2014 at 5:18pm
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a battery transfers "material" from the electrolyte to the plates and back again.. its how it works..

while its running down the material moves from the electrolyte to the plates..

when its being charged the material goes the other way.. from the plates to the electrolyte..

as a battery ages two things happen.. some of the plate material erodes off and ends up on floor of the battery.. this mean less plate area.. and less of a battery..

the other thing that happens is some of the material hardens on the plates and wont tranfser back to the electrolyte while the battery is being charged.. this also means less of a battery..

when a battery is left dead flat for too long all the material hardens on the plates and wont come off.. the battery will not take a normal charge ever again and appears to be dead.. it is dead in fact unless a booster charger is put on it.. this may work it may not it depends how long the battery has been left in the dead flat condition..

cooking the battery and making it gas.. 14 plus volts or so may also perk up a worn battery.. may being the operative word.. it needs doing for a long time to be effective.. i have never found it to do much but perhaps sometimes it does..

trog

alisonmc

27/10/2014 at 10:25pm
Location: luton
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We've done the same thing ourselves, or blamed the caravan servicing people for leaving our master switch on. When bringing it home and leaving it on charge we have noticed it can take up to a week to charge up fully. So don't lose hope if it doesn't seem to do it overnight.
Alison

old chap

28/10/2014 at 6:16am
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Quote: Originally posted by Marcus12 on 25/10/2014
Hi thanks for your encouragement. The only charger I have is an old Halfrauds one, but it is basically U/S.

I have just checked Amazon and they have one they can deliver tomorrow!! But the CTEK 5.amp is £57 Gone are the cheapie Halfords days! So I have bitten the bullet and ordered it. I looked at the manual online and it has a desulphurisation program. So maybe, just maybe, I can recover and get away with it.

Here's hoping.

I really am grateful for your advice.

I found this site: https://advancedbatterysupplies.co.uk/ctekbatterychargers which seemed to think the 5amp would be OK. The cheapest I could find the 7 amp was just short of £100.
Definitely not Pocket money. So hence the 5amp one.

you may find that your new charger will not begin to charge the battery if the battery is very low,(7volts or lower) to kick start the charging cycle try connecting your battery to your car via jump leads & let the car (engine running)charge the battery for an hour. The new charger should then work
this is because many smart chargers do not "see" battery voltages below 7/8 volts

Marcus12

28/10/2014 at 7:17pm
Location: Grantham
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Hi all

Left it running on the CTEK and found it this morning on Step 7 which is just a basic trickle charge. In other words it had gone through all of the stages with out reporting problems.

I do have a voltmeter but it had a dud 9v battery.

Why do they always run out of battery when you need it. Is there a pattern here!!

Finally got it going and the VM reports 13.6V which seems pretty good to me. No Dud plates. The Smart charger thought it could hold a charge.

So it is going back in the Van and off to the Malvern hills for a last minute bit of R&R.

Once again I am so grateful for the help and advice I received here.

We seemed to have either the sledge hammer/'toast' approach, or the tech approach. I chose the tech approach but hey, I am sure that either approach would have worked in the end.

Certainly can recommend the Exide battery, as it has taken a bit of punishment, but 13.6 Volts and assurances from the charger that It will 'hold' is fine by me.

Slight worry that there is an indicator on the battery that should indicate green if it is fully charged and it is still black... See how it goes

JTQU

28/10/2014 at 7:46pm
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That 13.6 volts is a "false" voltage called a "surface charge" and it will quickly drop to a true state of charge voltage. If left unused it takes several hours, then it will drop to something like 12.7 to 12.8 volts, hopefully. This indicates a fully charged battery.
So don't panic if tomorrow it is down to that sort of value.
Being fully charged is not the same as being filled to its original capacity, it means it is as full as it can now be. The capacity diminishes over time, abuse and usage; it's the natural order of things.

andy4x4

29/10/2014 at 10:59pm
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Looks like this has been resolved but one thing I did not see was any suggestion to get a battery specialist to look at it, these can usually be found under fork lift companies they manage very complex battery systems and can bring some very un promising batteries back to life with again some very complex chargers, worth a try for future reference.

cheers

trog100

30/10/2014 at 8:15am
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if all you do is run it flat and it hasnt been left that way for weeks all a battery needs is re-charging..

batteries in fork lift trucks are expensive and worth trying to make last longer with clever charging systems..

with an average van battery its not really worth the trouble.. £75 buys a new one..

i have a clever meter that tells me the state of a battery and the best battery chargers to buy are the old fashioned metal cased ones with an ammeter on the front..

these type ones.. you need at least a 10 amp one..

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-BATTERY-MASTER-CHARGER-12-AMP-12A-MARINE-LEISURE-CAR-BOAT-MOTORHOME-LORRY-/351181498470?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Battery_Chargers&hash=item51c40c6866

trog

Post last edited on 30/10/2014 08:21:03

Marcus12

05/11/2014 at 11:36am
Location: Grantham
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Hi all

Back from Malvern hills sweltering in the heat!! I kid you not I was chucking bedclothes off the bed as I was too hot!

But all was fine. the battery did it's battery thing. And the Van Volt meter set it at just over 13V. So fully charged OK, but presumably some of the life taken out of it.

Thanks for ALL comments and advice. The EXIDE 115Ah van battery was over £100 so I think worth the effort to recover. The CTEK seems to have a lot more scope, than just charging and I now have a good charger.

So all resolved but once again many thanks for all of the advice.

Jax365

05/11/2014 at 6:36pm
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Glad you got it sorted.

Just going through the same things with my Dad's flat as a pancake leisure battery! He's 83, forgot about it and left it flat, and I assumed he'd remembered and put it on charge..

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Jax365

10/11/2014 at 3:37pm
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Just come back here to say that I put my dad's battery on a 12v car battery charger for two days and nights. It wasn't one with an indicator/meter thingy, so couldn't check that it was actually charging. However, I've now attached the smart charger, which says it's fully charged and it went straight to the frost setting.

So the conclusion I've reached is that it's always worth charging with an ordinary charger for a while first (if the battery is showing as dead flat, which my Dad's was). I had nothing to lose by doing this, as the smart charger said it was too flat to charge. But getting a charge in re. a car charger (12amp/6volt) did get a charge into it ok. And now the smart charger has taken over. :)

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Ma+Pa Clampett.

18/11/2014 at 11:28am
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Marcus12,the slower you can charge your battery,the more you will lessen any damage done,if you think there is any,and the longer the battery will hold charge.It takes me about a week to fully charge my battery from flat at the start of the new season on a very low tickle charge. It is trying to charge a battery too quickly at too higher rate that does the damage,usually by buckling the plates inside.Slowly,slowly catchee monkey as they say.

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If the moon reflects the suns light,why does it not reflect the suns heat?

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