Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Car Chat => Topic started by: omega3000 on 28 February 2014, 11:28:58
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Ive had my battery on charge for 24 hrs on an Optimate charger , the charger says its still charging but has not gone into the green fully charged . Surely it should be charged by now :-\
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Depends on the charge rate of the charger, the capacity of the battery and discharge state of the battery before charging started
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The battery was almost flat , barely enough to open the central locking :( Charger is one ive used for years on motorcycles ive had , not sure on the charge rate .
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Maximum charge rate 14.3V
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how long was it left flat for? they dont take to well to being flat :(
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how long was it left flat for? they dont take to well to being flat :(
Probably a few days near flat , ive heard sometimes they dont recover but charger is saying its charging . Normally it goes to red if its knackered but havent seen it go to desulfate mode .
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Maximum charge rate 14.3V
Thats the voltage, does it say the current?
Motordeath batteries are MUCH lower capacity so will charge a lot faster
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0.6A :-\
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A 70Ah battery will take 116 hours to charge from flat at a rate of 0.6A
The accepted charge rate for most batteries is 10% of their rated capacity, so a 70Ah battery would ideally be charged at a rate of 7Ah for 10 hours.
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I have some jump leads here ;D
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A 70Ah battery will take 116 hours to charge from flat at a rate of 0.6A
:'( :'( :'(
I have some jump leads here ;D
Lucky i dont need them but my leccy meter will be in warp mode :'(
Battery is fairly new though and Genuine VX one :o
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Pattern battery would have charged up quicker ;D
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Pattern battery would have charged up quicker ;D
:-X
Its strange , i had a dream last night of picking up a battery and it disolved in my hands :o
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A 70Ah battery will take 116 hours to charge from flat at a rate of 0.6A
:'( :'( :'(
I have some jump leads here ;D
Lucky i dont need them but my leccy meter will be in warp mode :'(
Battery is fairly new though and Genuine VX one :o
take it back if still under warranty.remember to take receipt.
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Charge it up first, it will take 3-4 days (as charging is not nearly 100% efficient).
If you take it back the dealer will test it....if it shows flat you could face a wasted journey! :y
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Ill see how it goes, i didnt buy the battery as it was on the car when i bought it so ill have to look for the receipt .
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I never even thought to check the amp age on my battery charger until reading this thread. Will have to go check and work out how long i should actually be using it for. Instead of just sticking it on for a few hours and 'giving it a try'.
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I never even thought to check the amp age on my battery charger until reading this thread. Will have to go check and work out how long i should actually be using it for. Instead of just sticking it on for a few hours and 'giving it a try'.
Me neither , i thought 24hrs would be enough ... live and learn :y
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I never even thought to check the amp age on my battery charger until reading this thread. Will have to go check and work out how long i should actually be using it for. Instead of just sticking it on for a few hours and 'giving it a try'.
Me neither , i thought 24hrs would be enough ... live and learn :y
It would be if your charger was pumping out 5 times more than what it is.
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I never even thought to check the amp age on my battery charger until reading this thread. Will have to go check and work out how long i should actually be using it for. Instead of just sticking it on for a few hours and 'giving it a try'.
Me neither , i thought 24hrs would be enough ... live and learn :y
It would be if your charger was pumping out 5 times more than what it is.
:y
Optimate 3 that i have i think was designed specifically for motorcycles :-\ Mite be wrong but i thought a slow A charge would be better than a high A charge .. or am i talking donuts ;D :-\
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I never even thought to check the amp age on my battery charger until reading this thread. Will have to go check and work out how long i should actually be using it for. Instead of just sticking it on for a few hours and 'giving it a try'.
Me neither , i thought 24hrs would be enough ... live and learn :y
It would be if your charger was pumping out 5 times more than what it is.
:y
Optimate 3 that i have i think was designed specifically for motorcycles :-\ Mite be wrong but i thought a slow A charge would be better than a high A charge .. or am i talking donuts ;D :-\
You'll find out in four days time ;D
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If you have the time then trickle charging is best
Don't use those boost charger especially on a regular basis as batteries do not like it rammed into them ;D
My old charger and I mean old is dual voltage and up to 6 amps
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I never even thought to check the amp age on my battery charger until reading this thread. Will have to go check and work out how long i should actually be using it for. Instead of just sticking it on for a few hours and 'giving it a try'.
Me neither , i thought 24hrs would be enough ... live and learn :y
It would be if your charger was pumping out 5 times more than what it is.
:y
Optimate 3 that i have i think was designed specifically for motorcycles :-\ Mite be wrong but i thought a slow A charge would be better than a high A charge .. or am i talking donuts ;D :-\
There is no dispute that the slower the charge rate, the better it will be for the battery.
However there is slow (trickle) charging, and then there is nothing short of absolutely asthmatic (which is where you are at 0.6A).
As I said before, the generally accepted optimum charge rate for any battery is 10% of it's rated capacity.
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I concur, Andy, and would just like to add a couple of additional points.
Charge efficiency can be up to 95% for standard lead-acid batteries, but as low as 70% for gel types, so be prepared for even longer charging times if you have that type.
Also, with standard types you can see when full charge has been reached by the gassing of the electrolyte, if it's an old-fashioned one with removable caps to the cells.
It is bad news to continue charging when the gas stage has been reached, so either then drop the charging voltage back down to around 13.8 volts (14.8 - 15 volts to gas stage) or get a clever charger that does it automatically.
Halfrauds do one, but you MUST disconnect the battery completely with that, because it uses pulse charging, which would upset the car's electronics.
I hope that helps; battery charging can be a lifetime study!
Ron.
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Still charging :D The optimate charger is designed for trickle charge and takes the battery through various stages to recondition flat batteries :y
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Fully charged now :y Only took 3 1/2 days ;)
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Fully charged now :y Only took 3 1/2 days ;)
after being inspires by this thread, i decided to put an old battery i found in my garage on a trickle charge for a few days to see it it takes charge......................think i need to get out more.
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This optimate. Is it a bike battery charger?
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Fully charged now :y Only took 3 1/2 days ;)
after being inspires by this thread, i decided to put an old battery i found in my garage on a trickle charge for a few days to see it it takes charge......................think i need to get out more.
;D ;D
This optimate. Is it a bike battery charger?
It is , had it years when i had the bikes :y
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Fully charged now :y Only took 3 1/2 days ;)
after being inspires by this thread, i decided to put an old battery i found in my garage on a trickle charge for a few days to see it it takes charge......................think i need to get out more.
;D ;D
This optimate. Is it a bike battery charger?
It is , had it years when i had the bikes :y
I don't know enough about electrics to know, but I would of thought a bike battery charger would not be man enough, as bike batteries are less than 1/8th the size of a car battery.
Might explain the charge rate. ..?
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Fully charged now :y Only took 3 1/2 days ;)
after being inspires by this thread, i decided to put an old battery i found in my garage on a trickle charge for a few days to see it it takes charge......................think i need to get out more.
;D ;D
This optimate. Is it a bike battery charger?
It is , had it years when i had the bikes :y
I don't know enough about electrics to know, but I would of thought a bike battery charger would not be man enough, as bike batteries are less than 1/8th the size of a car battery.
Might explain the charge rate. ..?
Yes , its only a trickle charge designed to be hooked up to the battery when you take it off but it does desulphate and condition the battery . Me dads Toyota battery went flat as hes not been using his car for weeks and its re charged his battery in about 8 hrs :)
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Glad you reminded me ...... I've had the Smart on charge with an ordinary charge since yesterday, just been out to unplug it :y
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Yes , its only a trickle charge designed to be hooked up to the battery when you take it off but it does desulphate and condition the battery . Me dads Toyota battery went flat as hes not been using his car for weeks and its re charged his battery in about 8 hrs :)
I find that the cheapo Aldi 'smart' charger can't charge a battery from flat ....... I need to start the charge off with a not-so-smart normal charger.
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Yes , its only a trickle charge designed to be hooked up to the battery when you take it off but it does desulphate and condition the battery . Me dads Toyota battery went flat as hes not been using his car for weeks and its re charged his battery in about 8 hrs :)
I find that the cheapo Aldi 'smart' charger can't charge a battery from flat ....... I need to start the charge off with a not-so-smart normal charger.
Quite normal for a "smart" charger, as they analyse the back EMF to decide exactly what they are going to do ... a really flat battery has no back EMF so gives no feedback to the charger, it then assumes the battery is faulty and won't charge it. A hour or two on an oldfashioned charger puts enough oomph into the battery for the smart charger to actually understand what its doing ...maybe not quite as "smart" as the advertising blurb suggests ... but once working they are good .. :)
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Ive recovered quite a few batteries now but they have been motorcycle batteries , but its recovered 2 car batteries now :) Had the Optimate about 10 years now and its paid for itself .. Dad got quoted £120 for a new battery , now he dont need one :y
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.... but once working they are good .. :)
I've a couple of them, one for general use & another wired in directly to my caravan battery to charge it while on my drive at home. :y
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Fully charged now :y Only took 3 1/2 days ;)
after being inspires by this thread, i decided to put an old battery i found in my garage on a trickle charge for a few days to see it it takes charge......................think i need to get out more.
;D ;D
This optimate. Is it a bike battery charger?
It is , had it years when i had the bikes :y
I don't know enough about electrics to know, but I would of thought a bike battery charger would not be man enough, as bike batteries are less than 1/8th the size of a car battery.
Might explain the charge rate. ..?
Yes , its only a trickle charge designed to be hooked up to the battery when you take it off but it does desulphate and condition the battery . Me dads Toyota battery went flat as hes not been using his car for weeks and its re charged his battery in about 8 hrs :)
In which case either the battery has issues or it wasnt flat.
Sounds like it has issues in reality and is down on capacity
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Battery may be charged now, but leave it alone in the cold for a few days, then remeasure it, good chance if its dropped well below 12.6v its shagged anyway.
You can recover some old batteries, have managed a few that were past there best, using an Old Fashion Charger and a Courtesy lamp in series with the Battery when slow charging for a few days, but the ones that do come back to life generally dont live very long afterwards anyway.
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My Ctek always said that whilst it would maintain a car battery, it wouldn't be able to charge it from flat. Optimate is the same sort of thing.