Quick battery question

[rebelmatic]

Having a bit of a dilemma in my head here chaps!!

Chim's battery is flatter than a flat thing thats been flattened!!!

so.... question is... do you disconnect the battery before attaching a battery charger/conditioner or is it safe to just charge it in situ without disconnecting??? Don't you just luv 'em in the footwell??

I've read lots of things about having after market connection points for chargers etc so i assume they don't get disconnected...I just can't remember!!

Charger is a Halfords jobbie, very slow charge, etc.

Ta.

Reb

[raceboy]

I've used an Accumate to bring a flatter than a pancake battery back to life but it 1st needed taking off the car and giving a starter charge off another battery just connected via jump leads and left for a few hours, sometimes batteries are actually too flat to recharge, this gets round that problem then connect the charger and leave for a day or 2, and as if by magic the battery is back to life and has been fine for the last 10 month

[bsdnazz]

I also use an acumate. I've got a set of Leven jump leads wired in as well. The ones with the connector in the middle so I can connect jump leads if necessary.

After much battery grief I removed the clamps on the battery terminals, cleaned them and the terminals and reconnected it all. Life has been much better. Even a little resistance in a 12V system can cause a lot of grief!

[wolosp]

rebelmatic said:

so.... question is... do you disconnect the battery before attaching a battery charger/conditioner or is it safe to just charge it in situ without disconnecting??? Reb

As far as I know, the general rules are:
For a charger - disconnect the battery, and connect to the terminals directly.
For an (intelligent) conditioner - not necessary to disconnect battery.
You can use the cigarette lighter socket for an accumate or similar conditioner as the current is very low - not so for a general charger though.
Hope this helps.

Paul

[the dodger]

There is no need to disconnect the battery unless you are going to put high voltage in causing gassing. Then you really need to do it on a bench. If you're only putting in around 1 or 2 amps (= about 12-13V) it should be OK to leave it connected. I always do anyway