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generator battery question

The generator battery was dead. Tossed a car charger on it for trickle charge and it cooked the charger. Yes the charger was good as it was trickle charging a vette battery minutes earlier.

Removed battery and bought indoors. It was frozen solid. Its now thawed out.

Now that questions...

  1. - battery is around half full of liquid. If I put some water in it will it have any chance of working if we charge it? The battery is around 2 years old and came with the 5k watt electric start generator. The generator has been run maybe a total of 8 hours in two years.

  1. - if I put another charger on this battery do I have a possible chance of ruining that charger also? Already gone through one charger today.

  2. - if I place jumper cables from truck battery to this small generator I assume that it might start. Just wondering if I have too much current from my truck if any damage could be done to the generator start circuit. Naaaa.........

And here comes this blizard in New England.

TIA.

Reply to
oreo123
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Reply to
RBM

Assuming that you are talking about a 12 volt battery on your generator, your truck battery jump should be just fine.

I have had batteries come back to life (after a full dead state) when they had totally reached a dry state (NO water), but I am not as sure about the situation if they did have some water. I would say there is a decent chance that the battery could come back to life.

There is a risk of hurting the charger, especially if the battery has a direct short.

You might try this :

  1. fill the dead battery with water, and reinstall it in your generator.

  1. jump start the generator with your truck battery.

  2. see if your generator recharges its battery.

Good luck, and please let us know !!

--James--

Reply to
James Nipper

Trickle charger. You are a wise man. Please specify "FLOAT" charger, which isn't supposed to over charge. Charged battery much less likely to freeze.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

More inserted.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

This is Turtle.

I think Stormy found a acron here but here is a test to run on the battery. Put a volt meter in D.C. mode on it and read the volts even with it half full of water. If you get less than 11.5 volts. It is history. If you get 12 to 12.5 volts it is good battery. The 11.5 volts to the 12 volts is the gray area as to it being good or bad.

Like Stormy said if you can freeze a battery you can kill it but they have to be in Super cold weather to do this. I have been told that it will mess the plates up by freezing and shoving one plate into the other and short it. I live in Louisiana and have never seen this.

Now one thing that you may want to check is you might have bought it from Walmarts and they have 2 year no cost return of batterys that fail. Also they have Walmart super stores that stay open 24 hours aday 7 days a week and you can trade it anytime to get a new one.

TURTLE

Reply to
TURTLE

FWIW: After loosing a few batteries for my generator I finally purchaed a replacement from WalMart and along with it they offered a tickle charge (tiny little thing) that I bolted directly to the generator frame and hard wired to the battery posts. This I keep plugged in. This one-time investment has paid for itself when the generator has been needed several times.

And yes, we've got the blizzard here in NE. Time to fly to the equator!

Good luck.

Bob

Reply to
Bob_M

It may, but it can be risky. Batteries can be dangerous. They contain acid. Under the right cicumstances, they can explode.

Yes. I'd take the chance on doing nothing and hope the power does not go out until I got a new battery. Does the generator have a pull start backup?

Is the generator 12 volts also? Jumping it can also cause problem with the alternator in the truck if you get a short. Safer way would be to remove the battery or competely disconnect it from the truck's system, but that is a hassle also.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Doubt it, sounds like the battery is shorted. You can take it to a car shop and have a load test performed on it for free.

Yes.

I would never jump start something without a battery and then take the jumpers away or leave them on with the truck running either.

Get the battery tested is the first thing, if its bad that is your major problem Secondly, after you change the battery test the voltage to it when the generator is running. It probably should be no more than 14 volts at any time, If its more the alternator is cooking the cells in the battery.

Before anything, contact the manufacturer and see if they have any recalls or updates for this problem.

Rich

Reply to
geoman

IF the battery is shorted internally, AND ONLY TESTING WILL DETERMINE THIS !! But if it is and he goes to jump it the battery in the truck could explode in his face!

Get the battery tested! No normal battery would destroy a charger unless there is something seriously wrong.

Go here if you don't believe me, DC is in many ways more potentially dangerous than AC for the DIY.

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Reply to
geoman

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is a picutre of a battery connected to a generator and it exploded! Read about all the foreign cars having batteries explode for no reason! People tell stories of fathers being killed, burned, injured, blinded and loosing their hearing. Now, you can do what I said, have the battery tested, this MAY help find what caused it to fail. Then I suggest to contact the people who sold it too you and get ahold of the factory of the generator and get specific. I personally would take it to a good automotive electrical repair shop, they are familiar with battery charging systems etc. If you can't find one start with a good motor repair shop, they should have someone who learned on DC.

If you want to take the advice of these yahoos who say don't worry, just hook it up to your truck and see if it works and give it a try then go ahead! It may work and it may blow up in your face if the battery has a short.

Once again, battery chargers don't go bad from charging a battery.

Rich

Reply to
geoman

If the dead battery ruined the charger, DO NOT connect it to your truck, it may ruin it too.

If you HAVE to jump start the generator, disconnect the bad battery first.

Mark

Reply to
Mark

Why fool around with a 2 yr old battery that is frozen solid and highly suspect. A small battery like this doesn't cost much and isn't worth fooling around with. Just replace it.

Reply to
trader4

A discharged battery freezes pretty close to 32F. Not sure the exact numbers. The volt meter check is a good idea.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

I was onsite when a farmer blew up a battery. He had it on 12 volt blast (It said boost on the charger, but the effect was blast).

He got some acid in his eyes. I grabbed hold of him and the both of us went into the house. The next day the front of my green military style coat was full of holes. Looked like I'd been machine gunned. The coat sits near my computer. I can see it from where I sit.

well, at least we saved his eyes.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

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