Trickle Charger
Discussion
Yes I know this opens me up to being pilloried.. but better that that frying the ECU or something.
I've got a trickle charger that I bought a while ago but never used. Given, yes you guessed it, Corvid-19 I thought I'd get it out.. and I am not clear if I attach it to both terminals on the battery or if I have to use the jump post thingamy instead as it doesn't mention that?!
Ta. Be kind.
I've got a trickle charger that I bought a while ago but never used. Given, yes you guessed it, Corvid-19 I thought I'd get it out.. and I am not clear if I attach it to both terminals on the battery or if I have to use the jump post thingamy instead as it doesn't mention that?!
Ta. Be kind.
Would help if you could tell us which one you bought.
I have a CTEK one on my bike, it has a quick connector wired permanently to the battery (which is a b
h to get to as the tank has to come off) and it's a simple matter to connect and disconnect.
On a car I'd try and do the same, although I believe you can get cigarette lighter adapters too.
I have a CTEK one on my bike, it has a quick connector wired permanently to the battery (which is a b
h to get to as the tank has to come off) and it's a simple matter to connect and disconnect.On a car I'd try and do the same, although I believe you can get cigarette lighter adapters too.
JakeT said:
The battery monitor sees the battery at a certain level of charge (50% per se) and if it's been on the charger and is closer to 95% the car will then try to charge the battery more aggressively than it should be.
Why will the battery monitor see the voltage as less than it actually is? I don't follow.Angpozzuto said:
I've got a ctek trickle charger currently connected to my MK1 MR2 and it's attached to the battery using the supplied connectors, it's been connected for almost 3 years and never had a problem, starts on the button every time
Worth while disconnecting it overnight occasionally then starting the engine next day. If the battery is failing to hold its charge it'll show up. Disconnecting the conditioner and then starting the car soon after doesn't give the charge time to fade so gives the impression that the battery is still healthy when in fact it's not.. the tribester said:
JakeT said:
The battery monitor sees the battery at a certain level of charge (50% per se) and if it's been on the charger and is closer to 95% the car will then try to charge the battery more aggressively than it should be.
Why will the battery monitor see the voltage as less than it actually is? I don't follow.The battery monitor measures current flowing to and from the battery. The car will also have details of the battery capacity. I believe it uses this as the primary method of determining battery condition / state of charge. I think they also factor in voltage and temperature when determining the vehicle running parameters.
Voltage alone would be unreliable as the car cannot ever see the open circuit battery voltage, and it wouldn’t know what loads are present when ‘reading’ the voltage.
dhutch said:
I will stand corrected, but I doubt many cars have a 'Ah counter' type system with a shunt measuring current. They will just sense voltage and manage that.
I think that a lot of modern cars with start/stop systems will have them, so that’s many cars built in the last 5 - 10 years. My car has one and it’s 7 years old. I know even the Ford Focus from a few years ago had them, never mind all the usual German suspects. Measuring just voltage is no good once the car is started as you’ll only see alternator output voltage. The battery will be getting charged differently with no loads compared to if it’s winter and the driver has turned on the lights, heater, heater seats, rear window element etc. A more modern sensor can take that into account.
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