Battery Charging Issue

[SpeedBash]

On the off chance I'm missing something obvious thought I would ask here.

Car has been un-used for a few months so battery is flat.

Bought a new charger and plugged it in but un-able to select the correct mode to charge the battery.

The standby light is on but nothing else seems to work.

Anyone familiar with this type of charger and can advise if it's a duff charger or schoolboy error on my part.

Cheers.

http://images.clasohlson.com/medias/sys_master/926...

[E-bmw]

Do we assume that you have read & followed the instructions then, or are you expecting us to read them to you?

You don't say what if anything you have tried?

[SpeedBash]

I've fully read the instructions.

The charger is straightforward enough so I think it is faulty.

I've checked all connections and even tried a different extension lead without luck.

Posted on here on the off chance that I have missed something obvious.

[E-bmw]

Seems simple enough, connect to battery, plug into wall socket, select mode, if it doesn't do that take it back & buy a simple battery charger that just charges batteries and has an on/off switch.

Have you tried the battery on a borrowed charger in case it is goosed (although I don't know why that would stop the charger being able to select it's mode) as, if it has been flat a while it could be stuffed anyway.

[sunbeam alpine]

I have a charger which won't work if a battery is completely flat (don't know why). What I do is use jump leads to connect a good battery from one of the other cars, which enables the charger to start working. After a couple of minutes I disconnect the jump leads and leave tha battery to charge.

[SpeedBash]

It did cross my mind that if the battery was considered, by the charger, to be completely flat it may be the reason it isn't working.

Will try your tip and, if no joy, back it goes.

[robwilk]

Try and old fashioned type of charger first, the electronic ones will not charge a battery that the voltage is below a set level .

[tapkaJohnD]

Speedbash.
The battery became fully discharged and wasn't recharged promptly.
Car batteries are designed, to be fully charged most of the time, to deliver a large current for starting, and then be recahrged again at once.
Yours has been used in a way it was never designed for, and it's dead. There is probaly no continuity between the cells any more, and it's scrap.
Dispose of it carefully, and buy another

And keep that on 'Charge' or better 'Maintenance' on your charger.

John

[robwilk]

tapkaJohnD said:

Speedbash.
The battery became fully discharged and wasn't recharged promptly.
Car batteries are designed, to be fully charged most of the time, to deliver a large current for starting, and then be recahrged again at once.
Yours has been used in a way it was never designed for, and it's dead. There is probaly no continuity between the cells any more, and it's scrap.
Dispose of it carefully, and buy another

And keep that on 'Charge' or better 'Maintenance' on your charger.

John

Not necessarily I have done this with several batteries and only had one that |I could not bring to life.
try and old charger I have a halfords gp4 which I have had for years, pick a one up on gumtree for coppers https://www.gumtree.com/p/other-power-tools/-mains... , after a couple of hours try the smart charger. I have a ctek and it can revive 90% of flat batteries but as i said earlier the smart charger will not charge a completely flat battery

Rob

[wilwak]

It looks similar to a Ctek charger.

Connect it up and plug it in.

Then press the mode button several times until the middle light on the top row is lit. Looks like a car.

It seems the top row of lights indicates the mode selected. (Bike, Car, Frost)

The bottom row is the charge status.

If your battery is completely flat then your charger needs to be at least 3.5 Amps to recover it.

If it's a bigger battery then at least 5 Amps.

[robwilk]

robwilk said:

Try and old fashioned type of charger first, the electronic ones will not charge a battery that the voltage is below a set level .

Battery Charger Not working


Battery charger troubleshooting can be a pain in the world of "smart chargers." Many of the new intelligent chargers need to see a voltage on the battery before they will start. This is a safety issue, to prevent the charger from arcing if the electrodes are shorted. Thus, my favorite trick of bashing the cables together to see if there is a spark won't work on these chargers. Also, if the battery is so low in voltage that the charger can't detect it, the charger won't turn on. In this case you need to bootstrap the battery by jumping it to another battery or finding a charger that doesn't have this safety feature, sorry. This also means that you can't use these new chargers as power supplies unless you have a battery in parallel with them.

Taken from https://www.powerstream.com/how-to-use-a-battery-c...

[SpeedBash]

Don't seem to be having much luck with charging this battery.

Have hooked it up to a working old school charger which isn't registering any amps so am wondering if this battery is beyond saving or that this type of sealed battery can't be charged.

Could this be the case?

[GreenV8S]

SpeedBash said:

working old school charger

How do you know it is actually working? It's quite possible that the battery has drawn more current than the charger could support, and popped a fuse or damaged the charger. Alternatively, you might have a wiring fault preventing the voltage from reaching the battery.

If the charger is putting out more than the battery voltage the only thing that would stop you seeing current would be a very high resistance within the battery. A battery that has leaked/boiled dry and got an open circuit cell could cause that, but that would also be obvious when you measure the battery voltage.

To figure out what's going wrong I suggest you measure the battery and charger voltages separately. If either of them are zero, you've got a major problem which is likely to prevent you from charging the battery.

[M_A_S]

SpeedBash said:

Don't seem to be having much luck with charging this battery.

What voltage is the battery registering when off the charger?

[SpeedBash]

Measured the battery & charger and their voltages are as follows:

Battery: 6.78v
Charger: 0.42v

Does the low charger voltage suggest it isn't powerful enough to charge the battery?

[normalbloke]

Do the two battery/jump leads hack as mentioned above, then report back.

[DIYMechGuy]

If the battery has been un-used for a few months at THAT voltage, it's possible it might have damaged some of the cells in the battery.
On that charger, everything seems to be automatic, apart from the Mode setting.

[Mignon]

SpeedBash said:

Don't seem to be having much luck with charging this battery.

Have hooked it up to a working old school charger which isn't registering any amps so am wondering if this battery is beyond saving or that this type of sealed battery can't be charged.

Could this be the case?

Of course that type of battery can be charged. Maybe not if it's as flat as you indicate though and it's been like that for too long and killed the cells. However the old school charger should still show 14v or so when you switch it on regardless of the battery and if it isn't showing that then it's broken.

[GreenV8S]

SpeedBash said:

Charger: 0.42v

If your old school battery charger is putting out 0.42V when it is not connected to a battery, then it is broken.

[SpeedBash]

So, I borrowed a battery jump starter and connected it to my dead battery.

I then connected the smart charger too the dead battery and turned it on and I am now able to select the charging mode.

Once correct charging mode selected, I dis-connected the jump starter and the smart charger is still charging the dead battery.

Will check it this time tomorrow but wanted to thank everyone who replied as I have added to my basic knowledge.