Battery conditioning

[drifter420]

Well.. after my car battery wouldn't hold a charge ( only after 1.5 years.. and the original that was replaced within that time also from Canadian Tire ).

I did some searching.. seems like most batteries doesn't do well with being over drained ( with exception to few spyro type batteries like optimas and such ) and will drastically shorten the life.

I also found out that most car alternator will overcharge the batteries ( and also shorten the life of the battery )

So now being a lil paranoid that I am.. I have a car charger with automatic float charge.

So was wondering if I should just top up the battery every so often ( say once a week ) with the charger? Or would it be redundent

 

[CBDFrontier06]

Is this a car that's rarely driven?? I don't understand why you'd be putting a charger on a car that sees regular use.

 

[JHZR2]

what kind of car is it? Perhaps the alternator is out of spec, the battery undersized, etc.

My mother's 97 plymouth breeze has the OE battery even today, despite having 110k and most of its use being 5-block commutes miltiple times a day with her and her required stuff.

Then again, Ive put a trickle charger onto the battery of my commuter car (my commute is 8.9 miles each way), after only going to and from work, and the charger will operate for an hour or so to "top up" the battery before it indicates that it goes into maintenance mode.

Then again, Ive seen papers indicate that battry life is optimal at
So I think that you have to first and foremost understaqnd what kind of charge your battery is seeing. Alternators will put out a higher than battery voltage output, so that the battery will charge. however, if your alternator is not working to spec, you will likely kill your battery. Ditto for being operable but undercharged.

Determine the voltage of your baqttery off but after full float charge, off after driving the car, with the car on (alternator output voltage), etc.

Also put an ammeter inline with our battery with your car shut off, and see if there is an excessive drain or other issue that may cause life decrease.

JMH

 

[Quest]

+1 to JHZR2's comments.

One quick addition: as soon as you "use" your battery (drained, slightly drained, lightly/heavily drained, etc.), you shall have it recharged back to full immediately and don't delay (unlike deep-cycle lead acid battery, automotive battery does not like it's cells remained at partially drained at all: the cell will deterioriate rapidly and will loose it's capacity quickly, causing irreplacable damage).

If your charging system works fine, your battery shall be quickly recharged in around 1/2 hrs time.(colder operation takes considerably longer). Also check your alternator belt, etc.

Typically, a lead-acid automotive battery (maintenance free type) shall last around 4~6yrs typical. I too, have my Panasonic battery in my 323 lasted 7.5yrs before it needs to be replaced. My subsequent replacement (Johnson controls) lasted for another 6 yrs before I need to have it replaced with a 3rd one.

Q.

 

[drifter420]

I will check the voltage as mentioned above..

Will this tell me if the alternator is/isn't doing its job since the battery currently in there is less then a month old?

 

[brianl703]

Yes, if you check the voltage, depending on the car, right after a cold start it should be about 14.4 to 14.8 volts.

After being driven for 15 to 30 minutes, as the alternator heats up, the voltage will drop down to around 13.8 to 14.0 volts.

If you see these voltages the alternator is working correctly.

The reason for the voltage changes as the alternator heats up is that it's temperature compensated--a cold battery needs more voltage to charge than a warm one. The temperature probe is usually in the alternator, not next to the battery, but there is a correlation between alternator temperature and battery temperature. Plus I guess it serves as a way to keep the alternator from cooking itself, since if it's heavily loaded it will heat up and cut back on it's voltage output.

You could use a hydrometer to check for a possible shorted cell if your battery has removeable vent caps.

Incidentally, even deep-cycle lead acid batteries do not like being left in a discharged state. I ruined a gel-cell years ago by discharging it too far and leaving it that way.

 

[Donald]

I think you had a defective battery, unless you had left something on that drained the battery.

I would not bother with a float charger unless you use your car less than once a month. Its really only needed for vehicles stored for a season (like a Porsche or a boat).

I don't think most alternators overcharge. We would have a lot of ruined batteries if that was the case.

 

[kgb007stb]

I take it that you use your batteries for some type of high drain applications, at your use I would buy a battery from Costco with their 36month replace warranty and return the battery back every 1.5 years when it dies out. I know that Costco has a no questions asked return policy that I have not tested, but heard from other people.

I have the Optima Orbital which says no more than 14.4V, my alternator produces about 14.8V, seven years later the battery is still going even though it is overcharged.

We cover this topic here from time to time, and yes the general misconception is that alternators are capable of fully charging a battery, maybe when you use the 3 to 5 percent of the battery’s power for starting, but add any high drain devices which discharge the battery beyond what is eaten up by the starter and you will have to put it on a small trickle charger to get it up to 100%.

Watch out, not all trickle chargers are created equal, some overcharge, some undercharge, especially the cheapo ones!

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: kgb007stb
.

Watch out, not all trickle chargers are created equal, some overcharge, some undercharge, especially the cheapo ones!


Actually he said a float charger which is the correct term. A trickle charger is a basic small 1-2 amp charger, but it never shuts off. A float will go on/off to keep the battery exactly fully charged. A float may also me called a battery maintainer. But a trickle charger is not a float charger.

 

[brianl703]

Actually...

A float charger applies a constant, regulated voltage to the battery. Ideally it should be temperature compensated, but it doesn't need to be. It never shuts off. Typical float voltages, depending on the temperature and the type of battery, are in the range of 13V to 13.8V.

A trickle charger appears to be used as a generic term for any low current output charger. These are fine so long as they are regulated. Unregulated trickle chargers have the nasty problem of increasing their output voltage as the load on them goes down (as the battery gets closer to full charge), which is exactly what you do not want.

Applying excessive voltage to a fully-charged battery WILL cause it to gas excessively. Just a minor annoyance if you can add water to it. A big problem if you can't.