Questions About Charging An Automotive Battery

[Judaeus Apella]

I have to charge the battery for a truck, and I've never done this before. The charger has two switches. One that has the options "conventional low maintenance" and "maintenance free deep cycle", and another switch that has the options 2, 10, and 50 amp. I don't know about the first switch but I'm guessing I'm going to use the 50 amp setting? And how do I know what setting to use for the first switch? Is there some description or code I look for on the battery? I haven't looked at it yet and I'm sure I'll have to clean it off so I can read it. Don't worry, I won't do anything until someone explains this to me. I know batteries can be very dangerous, and I'll cover the electric connections and put on gloves before handling the battery. That's why I'm here asking these questions, I want to do this safely and make sure I know what I'm doing before I attempt anything. :)

All I know about the battery is that when I was upgrading this truck with new mirrors, headlights, oil filter, spark plugs, air filter, and a new battery, I bought the second best battery they had. Its a higher grade battery rated for better cold crank. I don't know if it has water or lead in it.... and I'm not sure what to look for to find that out.

If anyone needs more information on the charger, its the Schumacher SE-5212A.

[trance565]

do the deepcycle, 10 amp, 2 amp would be for an initial charge for when you buy something like an empty liquid cell(slowest and strongest charge), 10 amp is going to charge it slowly, but will have a strong charge, 50 amp is for jumping your car.

i dont think they put lead in batteries anymore, it's either solid or liquid, the liquids are water based acids.

[Judaeus Apella]

Thanks! That was a hell of a lot easier than the kind of answer I was expecting. :D

[Judaeus Apella]

Well I connected the positive to the battery and the negative to the car's frame right next to the battery and the needle didn't register any kind of activity... and the plate below the battery is too hard to get too and is covered in rust anyway. I have no idea where to connect the negative if none of that is working. I'm not supposed to connect the negative directly to the battery right?

[fallwind]

Wiggle the cables around to see if they are making contact. Hooking the negative directly to the battery is OK, just do it with the charger off to avoid sparks. If the needle doesn't register any charging, leave it on overnight on the 2 amp setting. If the battery is still dead or weak after this, then it's likely pooched and needs to be replaced.

[Judaeus Apella]

What happened is the ignition on the steering wheel column is f*cked up, and sometimes the key pulls out if you've turned it past the off position, and into the electrics only position. So I did that one day, and when I tried to use my truck two days later... dead. We jump started it and let it run for a few hours and that charged back up the battery about 2/3, but I'd like to top it off a little and get it back to where it was. So there is definately a charge... but everywhere near the battery is either thick painted metal or plastic... and nothing seems to be making any contact. I'm going to try to use my voltage meter to find that sweet spot on the frame. Um... what voltage setting do I use for testing a car battry?

[Kai Robinson]

I've got a Calcium Battery that is sealed completely - unless totally discharged, should never need charging off the car. Then again, it cost me $160 (equivalent).

[trance565]

connect it straight to the batteries pos and neg terminals. i've never understood the whole, positive/frame thing, never been able to successfuly charge or jump a car like that yet.

[[XC] Lead Head]

Connect both right to the battery, it doesn't matter, I've done it plenty of times.

All automotive batteries are lead acid designs. They have lead plates, bathed in a sulfuric acid solution. Sometimes the the acid may be fused into a woven glass structure (glassmat, ex. optima batteries), or in a gel (SLA/Sealed Lead Acid batteries, used in things like battery back up UPSs). Sometimes they may have calcium added to the plates (like in Kai's case) to reduce water useage of the battery.

Set the charge to conventional low maintenance, and put it to the 10 amp setting. The charger should take care of the rest. It should only take 1-2 hours before the battery should at least be able to start your car.

[Judaeus Apella]

I took trance's advice and connected it straight to the battery. It topped off the battery perfectly and its back up to 14 volts. Thanks guys. :)

[OldChap]

Job done ok :up: but I thought I'd tell you a story....

In a pile of "junk" batteries I saw one that looked rather cleaner than the rest, it was of the sealed variety...took it home and connected it to the charger....nothing....multimeter showed 2.3v

Put another battery alongside and connected in parrallel for a second or two while the charger was connected and the charging process started.

set the charger to charge on auto setting checking the charge rate every day for a whole week during this time the charge rate was never more than 6amps

This battery has been in my car for the last year or so and works just fine

When I learnt about batteries I was told that a 12v batt should never be allowed to drop below 10.5v ...but that was lead acid...not sure what the rules are for the more modern technologies but my experience seems to show the rules have changed and that if your battery is fully discharged ...maybe all is not lost

[Shaz]

You need to ask how to charge a battery....


Really....

Surely this is something that your father teaches you when you're young.

[trance565]

You need to ask how to charge a battery....


Really....

Surely this is something that your father teaches you when you're young.

alot of ppl these days didnt have fathers teach them any life skills, a few of my friends cant even turn a wrench, let alone tell you what a wrench is.

[rustyfe2o3]

just so everyone knows

"To reduce risk of a spark near the battery when you connect the charger clips, ONLY connect one clip to the battery. Then, take the second clip and connect it to the car frame or engine block. If a spark should occur then, it will be far away from the battery"

[Judaeus Apella]

Shaz, you're a d*ck. And just so you know, I never had a father @sshole. Just some shmuck my mother married when I was five, who is so accident prone, clumbsy, annoying, stupid, and mechanicly declined, he would probably kill him self with a screw driver if he ever attempted to use one. You are just a sh*tty person to say something so callus like that. I can tell you didn't have much of a father either, since no one ever taught you how to treat others, looser. Thanks for sh*tting on another one of my threads Shaz. Go back to the OC forum where you belong, with the rest of the ten year olds. I'm done in this topic.

[Kai Robinson]

Someone's getting snippy for such a minor comment...

While it's not what i would have said, it's not exactly OTT - CTFD.

[[XC] gomeler]

You need to ask how to charge a battery....


Really....

Surely this is something that your father teaches you when you're young.

Don't be a :banana::banana::banana::banana:. We live in a society with more deadbeat dads than you can shake a stick at. I was lucky to have a great set of parents but a lot of my friends only have one half of the combination.

[Kai Robinson]

Seriously, why are people getting bent out of shape over such a minor comment? You're all grown ups, deal with it, rather than p*ssing and moaning about it. My dad was a total c u next tuesday, and used to pummel the crap out of me whenever he got drunk, but if someone told me that 'oh thats something your dad should have taught you' - would i get that annoyed? No. Judaeus Apella took it the wrong way, and flew off the handle, IMO. He could have said 'whatever' or ignored the comment even - there was no need to go that mental.

As i said, the original comment isn't what i would have written, but it's hardly something to get bent out of shape about.

[Shaz]

Shaz, you're a d*ck. And just so you know, I never had a father @sshole. Just some shmuck my mother married when I was five, who is so accident prone, clumbsy, annoying, stupid, and mechanicly declined, he would probably kill him self with a screw driver if he ever attempted to use one. You are just a sh*tty person to say something so callus like that. I can tell you didn't have much of a father either, since no one ever taught you how to treat others, looser. Thanks for sh*tting on another one of my threads Shaz. Go back to the OC forum where you belong, with the rest of the ten year olds. I'm done in this topic.

Then maybe you should remember what they taught about positive and negative polarity in physics lessons, that was fairly useful too.

Just so you're aware, your opinion of me isn't really relevant seeing as I'm in this section way more than you so don't sit there trying to tell me where to go.

[trance565]

Then maybe you should remember what they taught about positive and negative polarity in physics lessons, that was fairly useful too.

Just so you're aware, your opinion of me isn't really relevant seeing as I'm in this section way more than you so don't sit there trying to tell me where to go.

stfu or gtfo, kthxbai. i vote for a closure, topic has been answered, no need to continue with :banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::b anana:ry.

[Shaz]

:banana2::banana2::banana2::banana2:

Well this was fun.

[JasonDTM]

Job done ok :up: but I thought I'd tell you a story....

In a pile of "junk" batteries I saw one that looked rather cleaner than the rest, it was of the sealed variety...took it home and connected it to the charger....nothing....multimeter showed 2.3v

Put another battery alongside and connected in parrallel for a second or two while the charger was connected and the charging process started.

set the charger to charge on auto setting checking the charge rate every day for a whole week during this time the charge rate was never more than 6amps

This battery has been in my car for the last year or so and works just fine

When I learnt about batteries I was told that a 12v batt should never be allowed to drop below 10.5v ...but that was lead acid...not sure what the rules are for the more modern technologies but my experience seems to show the rules have changed and that if your battery is fully discharged ...maybe all is not lost

Lead acid batteries start to sulfate the plates at around 90% charge. and as a rule of thumb, never let the battery drop below 9.6v while cranking.

[STEvil]

Shaz, Kai, drop it. Both of you are crapping.

[B.E.E.F.]

You need to ask how to charge a battery....


Really....

Surely this is something that your father teaches you when you're young.

:shocked: That was uncalled for.

You're lucky you've got good parents. But most people don't, and some are lacking. For example, my dad is what you would consider a 'deadbeat'. I live with the bastard but he never taught me anything and always yelled and complained about anything and everything. As you can imagine, we don't talk anymore... like we ever did. That's my example, I have friends with similar ones. Its very common and I live in what's considered a great area! Upper middle class in Canada.

If you ever plan to have kids, do yourself a favor and hang around with some of these losers, so you can understand the consequences. Do the opposite whenever you can.

------------------

Now back on track. If the battery has been sitting, use a trickle charger. It might revive the damn thing. If it smells like sulfur or bulges at all during charging, get rid of it!! If you're leaking acid, a cheap way to neutralize it is with baking soda. Dump it on the affected area. Get rid of the battery properly. Take it to an auto parts store and they give you money for dead batteries. The materials inside are recycled. You should get $10-20 per dead battery or a discount on a new one.

This also goes for other parts as well. You can get money for dead car parts. The materials or the casing is often recycled to make new parts. $50 for a dead alternator case is not uncommon, assuming its in demand.

* Prices in $CAD, Toronto area.

Oh yea, and you've got a good charger. The higher the amp setting you put it on, the faster the battery will charge but the hotter it will get. I'd stick with 10amps if the battery is healthy.

[[XC]thewildblue]

just so everyone knows

"To reduce risk of a spark near the battery when you connect the charger clips, ONLY connect one clip to the battery. Then, take the second clip and connect it to the car frame or engine block. If a spark should occur then, it will be far away from the battery"

I was always told positive first then connect the negative and so no spark ! This seems to work fine for me.

[Judaeus Apella]

I just plugged it in AFTER I connected it, then unplugged it before disconnecting it.

But why revive this topic....

[B.E.E.F.]

I just plugged it in AFTER I connected it, then unplugged it before disconnecting it.

But why revive this topic....

No need to be that safe. Just make sure you plug in the black/negaitve lead in first, then the red/positive.

You get a spark with the negative because electrons actually flow from negative to positive terminals, because electrons are negative they like to move towards anything positive.

[STEvil]

sparks are only a problem if you have a bad battery that is leaking fumes all over or in an enclosed area anyways.

/old topic