Couldn't put my battery charger on my DD

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My battery charger is used mainly to give my sitting, weekend car a 15-30 min charge every week or two. Been doing that since I bought the battery new over a year ago. And did that for 3 years on the previous batter before it died at the 6 yr point. Within 1-5 minutes it's always back to full charge....charging at no more than 1-2 amps. I had put that same charger on the older battery when I found it nearly dead (car wouldn't start) and the plates exposed...needing several cups of water to get it back.

I realized I had been neglecting my daily driver's battery which is the exact same model as my other car, and purchased at the same time. Darn, if put the battery charger on there, and it tripped the charger's internal over loads in under a second. The charging rate pegged out at over 10 amps/off scale. That was a surprise. Should have expected that as it gave a pretty good spark as soon as the negative lead was grounded.

First thought I had was that my car's alternator must not be doing the job to be that far from full charge. I checked the terminal voltage and it was 12.29 volts after sitting overnight....12.42v after just driving it. Meant to check the alternator output but haven't gotten to it yet. It's 15 yrs old/74K miles so it's probably age. Could be a bad ground somewhere too. How do I get this battery charged up without being shocked? Interesting that my old battery in my other car was essentially DOA. Yet I was able to bring that back to life from around 10-11 volts and only needing an 8-10 amp charging rate....no sparks. So hence the surprise when charging this newly new battery that has never given me even a hint of trouble.

Anything else I missed?
 
Originally Posted By: Rand
hook up the charger then plug it in?


I can try that. It might trip the GFI for that 15a circuit. Spark show at the outlet could result too.

This charger has been around for at least 5 yrs, maybe 10-20 yrs or more. It's labeled as a "marine" unit with an auto/manual function. Doesn't appear selecting "auto" makes any difference. Schumacher "ship and shore" deep cycle 10a unit.
 
a dead short or reverse connection is most likely.
and that old charger is probably best for neglected lazy batteries.
gets them up to a good gassing charge and gives them a good equalising/desulphating.
 
Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
Sounds like you need a better charger, whatever you're using shouldn't spark. I'd recommend people Logix brand by clore if you want something nice.


What model do you recommend for an average daily driver to keep a good battery in good condition?

Looking at the 4512c but there are a lot of options
 
Originally Posted By: 69GTX
Originally Posted By: Rand
hook up the charger then plug it in?


I can try that. It might trip the GFI for that 15a circuit. Spark show at the outlet could result too.


The spark show should be much less this way, and it's the way to do it. Sparking cables near the battery could blow up the hydrogen.

You could put it on a power strip and hit its switch, a switched outlet, etc. But if you read the directions, dollars to donuts, you hook the battery up first and the AC last.

As for the battery that was cups of water short, it was overcharged somehow. Car doing it or obsessive owner doing it.

I like manual six amp chargers, they don't have enough "oomph" to quickly murder a battery if something's amiss, but still have enough to take a dead battery up to engine starting ability within a few hours, and nearly full overnight.
 
Originally Posted By: NYSteve
Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
Sounds like you need a better charger, whatever you're using shouldn't spark. I'd recommend people Logix brand by clore if you want something nice.


What model do you recommend for an average daily driver to keep a good battery in good condition?

Looking at the 4512c but there are a lot of options


I have the PL2320 which is awesome. The 4512c is a good product but part of their budget lineup. If you shop around online you can find a good deal on the 2320. They're about $77
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
Get a Battery Minder battery maintainer. Leave it on all week rather than trying to charge it before you use it on the weekend.



You guys are reading the thread wrong. It's my weekend car that has the apparently almost perfect, fully charged battery, even when sitting for 2 weeks. It takes only 5 minutes or so at a minimal 1-2 amps to charge it back to 100%. Almost no spark.

It's the other car with the same age battery, driven every day, that has a large potential difference for the charger to start against.

I took a DOA 3yr old battery and got it to go 3 more years with that charger. Worked fine. That 6 yr old battery was turned in for a core charge over a year ago. Both of my current car batteries are only 1 yr old.

If I can find a cheap battery minder, I might go that way.
 
Originally Posted By: oldhp
Unhook the both cables from bat and try it again. Might be something on or shorted in the car.


It doesn't discharge much when sitting for 2-3 days. But this is a good idea. Thanks.

Hmmm. There might be a hood light on or shorted on this car. That could be doing it. Though 10 amps sounds like a lot for a tiny bulb. My other car has no under hood lamp so no issue there.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
The spark show should be much less this way, and it's the way to do it. Sparking cables near the battery could blow up the hydrogen.

You could put it on a power strip and hit its switch, a switched outlet, etc. But if you read the directions, dollars to donuts, you hook the battery up first and the AC last.

As for the battery that was cups of water short, it was overcharged somehow. Car doing it or obsessive owner doing it.

I like manual six amp chargers, they don't have enough "oomph" to quickly murder a battery if something's amiss, but still have enough to take a dead battery up to engine starting ability within a few hours, and nearly full overnight.



All good points. I think on the battery that lost cups of water level, it couldn't have been the car's charging system as that problem has not occurred since with both the old battery and now the new one. So it was either excessive charging via an external tender/charger or a defective battery. The car was driven very little by the original owner...no more than 500 miles per year for the 5 years before he sold it to me. Once this charger dies, I will remember to keep it at 6 amps or less.

As always, plenty of good inputs from the forum.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino

As for the battery that was cups of water short, it was overcharged somehow. Car doing it or obsessive owner doing it.


My thoughts exactly.
 
Originally Posted By: NYSteve
Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
Sounds like you need a better charger, whatever you're using shouldn't spark. I'd recommend people Logix brand by clore if you want something nice.


What model do you recommend for an average daily driver to keep a good battery in good condition?

Looking at the 4512c but there are a lot of options


I got the 2520 for less than $100 out the door, its a good unit. I got to see one of its features in operation this past week on a GMC that had a bad alternator and had run the battery down to almost nothing a few times.
The charger usually charges it to 100% then shows a green light quickly and its done but this time it was different, the orange light stayed on for about 14 hours showing it was reviving the battery, it did turn green and 100%. No problems at all the battery test good.

I would definitely buy this unit again but it is not without flaw, this thing needs some sort of carry handle and a better way to wrap the cables, user ergonomics are non existent it seems like they were totally sacrificed for appearance causing me to leave it on the shelf and reach for a smaller easier to handle unit more often than not for quick charging jobs on small outdoor equipment batteries, still when a good charger is needed its the go to unit and it functions perfectly.
Build quality, functions, ease of use and performance are top shelf, handling is terrible but the good far outweighs the bad.
 
Sometimes batteries just die. They are robust in general but there are some operating / charging conditions that will kill them dead, even a new one.

I use a CTEK charger, has worked very well for me, brought some "dead" batteries that failed a commercial garage load test back to life that lasted years afterward. There are a few other brands that are similar. I sold my old conventional charger, no earthly use for it after using the CTEK and seeing the results.
 
Put the Fluke on the battery and there's a 5.25a parasitic draw with the car off. No under-hood light either that I could find. Disconnected battery leads and it charged up starting at 8 amps. After a half hour it's down to 2 amps and the "charged" light is on. Adding that extra 5 amps to the charger was way more than it handle (13a vs. rated 10a). The battery was down 3-4 oz on water too. And if it survived another 1-2 yrs would have probably uncovered the plates.

More work to do. At least now headed in a good direction. Though I suspect when I come back to the battery in a few hours, it will be discharged down to 12.29v again.
 
harbor freight has an ammeter with prongs that replaces car fuses. Might be useful.
 
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