Could I be right in thinking that using a battery charger to recharge a run-down car battery tends to reduce the life of the battery? On more than a couple of ocasions, car batteries I have owned have not survived long after I have used mains plug-in chargers to recharge them.
The reason the batteries needed charging was not due to any fault in the battery; it was due to the cars having ben standing, undriven, for a long time.
Thanks,
Hank
|! |!Could I be right in thinking that using a battery charger to recharge |!a run-down car battery tends to reduce the life of the battery?
Wrong.
|!more than a couple of ocasions, car batteries I have owned have not |!survived long after I have used mains plug-in chargers to recharge |!them.
|!The reason the batteries needed charging was not due to any fault in |!the battery; it was due to the cars having ben standing, undriven, for |!a long time.
Or the alternator is f*cked.
Or the battery is knackered, they only last a few years.
Not at all. However batteries that get flat enough to need a charger are usually knackered by that fact.
Once I get to having to charge a car battery, I am pretty much always in need of a new one.
Not normally, but if it is a cheap charger ( = normal shop model) that puts out too much charging current, in attempt to get a "fast charge", it could do if left charging a fully charged battery. What does reduce the life of batteries quickly is letting the voltage fall too low between charges. Hence, it is the "run down" state you are getting them to that is the killer.
You can get multi-stage chargers that detect the charged state of the battery and adjust the charging rate accordingly, right down to a low-level maintenance rate that can be left running permanently. As an example, see
Quite the reverse; lead acid batteries last best when kept reasonably fully charged - hence their continued use in cars where this is generally the case. Of course like any battery they shouldn't be overcharged.
That is the cause of the problem - car type lead acid don't like being let go 'flat'. If the car is to be unused for more than a couple of weeks or so disconnect the battery.
In message , Hank writes
Lead acid batteries are easy to destroy. They do not handle deep discharge well and suffer from sulphation of the lead plates inside. This is where an insulating layer forms on the surface of the plate reducing it's ability to do it's job.
It follows that it's best to keep them topped up from time to time, but slapping one on a cheap charger that just pumps current in constantly will also result in damage, particularly if the acid/water level inside isn't monitored and is allowed to drop below the top of the plates.
Care of batteries that are not being used for a while is a mix of occasional top-ups and a bit of discharging too. You can get devices that apparently condition the battery by pulsing a brief high current load across it while it's on a charger.
It's a complex subject!
And the jury's out on whether this is just a gimmick.
No. But allowing car starter batteries to go flat usually ruins them, especially if they are already a couple of years old.
|!Hank wrote: |!> Could I be right in thinking that using a battery charger to recharge |!> a run-down car battery tends to reduce the life of the battery? On |!> more than a couple of ocasions, car batteries I have owned have not |!> survived long after I have used mains plug-in chargers to recharge |!> them. |!> |!> The reason the batteries needed charging was not due to any fault in |!> the battery; it was due to the cars having ben standing, undriven, for |!> a long time. |!> |!> Thanks, |!> |!> Hank |!Not at all. However batteries that get flat enough to need a charger are |!usually knackered by that fact. |! |!Once I get to having to charge a car battery, I am pretty much always in |!need of a new one.
Not my experience! I left the car undriven for over a month and came back to a discharged battery. Recharged it and a year later no more problems.
Even if it did, what else would you charge them with, a meat pie? :o)
John
The problem you experience has arisen through leaving the battery in a discharged/part discharged condition for a length of time. The cells will have sulphated up and the battery is scrap.
Buy another one, batteries are consumable items and are cheap! Next time you lay-up a vehicle, pull one of the battery leads off (negative is best) and trickle charge the battery periodically or invest in a little 'wall wart' style battery charger that can be left connected permanently.
Julian.
In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes
And it's out on those desulphation pills too.
And the chemical additives.
And those shit solar chargers that put out barely enough to light their "power on" LED on a typical dull UK day.
In message , Julian writes
And don't skimp on the battery size to save pennies. Fit the biggest that will go in the battery bay.
And add those 'battery conditioners' at 40 quid when a realistic price would be a tenner.
Hank wrote on 08/03/2007 :
The discharge/charge cycle itself damages batteries, but this is normal wear and and tear. If you use an old type battery charger which just charges irrespective of need for charge, it is possible to overcharge them which is seriously damaging to the battery.
Assuming none of the above, simply leaving a battery to go flat can cause the most severe form of damage.
Thanks. I've never been quite clear about how long one should leave a car battery on charge, using a cheap charger. I've generally left them overnight, i.e., 8-12 hours. Is that about right?
My current car has been unused for the past 4 months and when I tried to start her up today, there was just barely enough charge left in the battery to fire the engine up. So I have put the battery on charge (using a cheap charger).
Thanks also to the other respondees.
Hank
As an aside much maligned NiCd batteries _can_ be left flat and not suffer. Though of course reverse charging is bad so you must not run a multi-cell battery into the ground.
Jon
OTOH the one I have has saved my GBP50/yr for new car batteries.
And I'm going to buy a second one for the (ride-on) lawnmower, whose battery is dead as a door-nail, as we discovered yesterday.
Most electronics are like that, anyway. Ever taken an ECU to pieces? 5 quids worht of electronics in a 10 quid die-cast box, which costs 600 quid from the manufacturer.
Ride-on mowers and mini-tractors are really battery killers in my experience, not because they work the battery hard or anything but simply because they get left unused for long periods. As many others have pointed out here it's leaving lead acid batteries uncharged (and thus self-discharge) is what kills them.
I have both a ride-on mower and a mini-tractor and after losing a couple of batteries this way I now have a Gunson's "automatic" charger for each which is left connected most of the time, but especially over the winter.
(That reminds me, see separate thread about connectors)
Sadly, this has the opposite problem. It's been on a charger on a timer all winter, on low charge for 15 minutes a day. Sadly, this is still excessive, and it electrolysed all the acid away. Topping it up and leaving on charge all night has revitalised it enough to start the mower and mow the grass (in March!), but I don't hold out much hope for it to have a long and happy life!
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