Does anywhere actually sell a battery charger anymore?

Does anywhere actually sell a battery charger anymore?

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Discussion

R11ysf

Original Poster:

1,936 posts

183 months

Monday 1st April 2019
quotequote all
dhutch said:
As said, while a minor pain, you can 'jump' the totally dead battery with an ok one.

As said, zero volts is often toast, but if you know it's history (IE, was perfect till it had a bootlight drain it for 48h or so) they are remarkably resiliant.

Daniel
Hey thanks, yes I had drained the previous one before a few times as my car lived in a garage with no output for my trickle charger. Usually once jump started it was absolutely fine with regular use, so I have no worries about it working long term. I just now have 3 cars all in central London and only one lives in the garage so I'm sure I will have a need for a proper charger again but it seem there just isn't a basic one. I guess I will just have to buy a jump starter pack and use that to charge it until the so-called "smart" chargers can take over.

Thanks to all those who actually tried to help

Penelope Stopit

11,209 posts

110 months

Monday 1st April 2019
quotequote all
buggalugs said:
Connect the charger up to the flat one then put jump leads on it for a few seconds, it will continue to charge after you remove them.
Works every time, good post

was8v

1,937 posts

196 months

Monday 1st April 2019
quotequote all
Taking them to 0v will damage the battery.

The battery will never be quite as good as it was.

But it might not kill it, it might be good enough for a long while.

Just try not to do it again, disconnect and then its better to regularly cycle it - take it down to 12v and recharge again as they don't like holding a charge either, they are designed to be used- i think you can buy a device to do this (CTEK etc).

was8v

1,937 posts

196 months

Monday 1st April 2019
quotequote all
Penelope Stopit said:
buggalugs said:
Connect the charger up to the flat one then put jump leads on it for a few seconds, it will continue to charge after you remove them.
Works every time, good post
I heard you can just use a 9v pp3 battery to the same effect, just remember to disconnect it once it starts charging!

Penelope Stopit

11,209 posts

110 months

Monday 1st April 2019
quotequote all
was8v said:
Penelope Stopit said:
buggalugs said:
Connect the charger up to the flat one then put jump leads on it for a few seconds, it will continue to charge after you remove them.
Works every time, good post
I heard you can just use a 9v pp3 battery to the same effect, just remember to disconnect it once it starts charging!
Not tried this but sounds good

Penelope Stopit

11,209 posts

110 months

Monday 1st April 2019
quotequote all
5 Watt bulb to drain and then charge and then drain and then charge and then..........

dhutch

14,390 posts

198 months

Monday 1st April 2019
quotequote all
was8v said:
Taking them to 0v will damage the battery.

The battery will never be quite as good as it was.

But it might not kill it, it might be good enough for a long while.
Likely very true, certainly it is no good practice at all, but having done it the only thing to do is get it charged back up asap and see how it goes.

Might well get another five years out of it.


Daniel

Dr Doofenshmirtz

15,246 posts

201 months

Monday 1st April 2019
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DaveGib

54 posts

172 months

Monday 1st April 2019
quotequote all
Attach jump leads from running car battery to the completely flat battery and leave it for 20 - 30 minutes so it puts some voltage in the flat battery then try your battery charger.

slybunda

143 posts

65 months

Monday 1st April 2019
quotequote all
Use a solar panel.
Get a 50w-100w panel and hook it up directly to the battery and check it after a day or 2. Make sure you got a blocking diode too.
Got a panel on roof of shed used for charging batteries. Use a charge controller too for full automation so dont need to check it

R11ysf

Original Poster:

1,936 posts

183 months

Tuesday 2nd April 2019
quotequote all
Dr Doofenshmirtz said:
AWESOME!

Thank you very much, that link was expired but I found an 8 Amp one for a tenner. Thanks very much.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/223139414088

was8v

1,937 posts

196 months

Tuesday 2nd April 2019
quotequote all
I think anything "modern" is going to want to see a voltage before juicing 8 amps down its leads.

Anything else is a fire risk.

Let us know how you get on with that one.

GreenV8S

30,208 posts

285 months

Tuesday 2nd April 2019
quotequote all
A lead-acid car battery that has been taken to zero volts is almost certainly going to be useless as a car battery afterwards anyway.

was8v

1,937 posts

196 months

Tuesday 2nd April 2019
quotequote all
Budget batteries are pretty cheap these days.

The last car battery I weighed in got me a tenner back from a metals yard too.

Chris32345

2,086 posts

63 months

Tuesday 2nd April 2019
quotequote all
If a battery has got that flat a ctek charger won't charge it
It's probably toast

R11ysf

Original Poster:

1,936 posts

183 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2019
quotequote all
GreenV8S said:
A lead-acid car battery that has been taken to zero volts is almost certainly going to be useless as a car battery afterwards anyway.
Chris32345 said:
If a battery has got that flat a ctek charger won't charge it
It's probably toast
But they aren't! I have previously had several batteries in an old Beetle that I had and my Mk1 Golf that have sat in excess of 2 years without charge and have come back absolutely fine. My Golf is regularly not used for months at a time and regularly a good long charge brings the battery back to serviceable life. It was just needing a cheap basic charger to kick start it again.

These so called smart chargers are now telling people batteries are dead or not revive-able when they quite simply are.

GreenV8S

30,208 posts

285 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2019
quotequote all
I can't explain that, but my experience has been that running a battery substantially flat invariably leads to a reduced capacity and when it's run so flat that individual cells go to zero volts you can often struggle to get it to even come up to a nominal 12V.

Penelope Stopit

11,209 posts

110 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2019
quotequote all
R11ysf said:
GreenV8S said:
A lead-acid car battery that has been taken to zero volts is almost certainly going to be useless as a car battery afterwards anyway.
Chris32345 said:
If a battery has got that flat a ctek charger won't charge it
It's probably toast
But they aren't! I have previously had several batteries in an old Beetle that I had and my Mk1 Golf that have sat in excess of 2 years without charge and have come back absolutely fine. My Golf is regularly not used for months at a time and regularly a good long charge brings the battery back to serviceable life. It was just needing a cheap basic charger to kick start it again.

These so called smart chargers are now telling people batteries are dead or not revive-able when they quite simply are.
It's an internet thing

I like you have very rarely needed to scrap a battery because it had gone flat, you've had several batteries go flat and re-used them without problems
I've recharged thousands of batteries that have gone flat

It's an internet thing

dhutch

14,390 posts

198 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2019
quotequote all
I think the thing is, leaving a lead acid stone dead for a year will damage it, but charging it back up again will almost certainly make it work ok.

Ok is all most cars need, as long as it can get the engine over tdc about twice it will fire, and then its all about the alternator not the battery.



Daniel

Penelope Stopit

11,209 posts

110 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2019
quotequote all
dhutch said:
I think the thing is, leaving a lead acid stone dead for a year will damage it, but charging it back up again will almost certainly make it work ok.

Ok is all most cars need, as long as it can get the engine over tdc about twice it will fire, and then its all about the alternator not the battery.



Daniel
Very true
Did you know that the quicker they are discharged to flat, the quicker they will recharge to full?
Good innit