Quite, but you also quoted from your link:
"When removing a battery, always remove the negative terminal first as failure to do so could damage your car?s electrical system",
... which I believe is the point that Dave was responding to.
Cheers, T i m
Does it look like this one?
So FWLIW I don't see any need for you /rush/ to replace it - especially if that'd involve an extra shopping or much money. Aldi/Lidl do them from time to time for c.£15. Just don't leave it on charge too long if you have cause to use it again.
I was going by:
"I'd completely forgotten that I do in fact have a battery charger, picked up I think at a boot fair on a whim years back, so I've no idea if it works - I've certainly never used it for anything.
I'm not even sure that it's intended for cars: it's switchable between six and twelve volts and is marked "Fast Charge 6 Amp". The clamps strike me as a bit small and flimsy for a car terminals and the warning "for indoor use only" doesn't inspire confidence either. Is it worth giving it a go, do you think?"
And:
"There's no meter or any other indicator sort of on the charger."
"... any other sort of indicator" dammit."
"Mine is in a plastic casing with no apparent heatsinks, externally at least. It has six LEDs marked from 1A up to 6."
"Robin asked:
No, there's no option to do that. I don't think it's ancient exactly, just not totally up to date perhaps. "
So, all that suggested to me that it wasn't as intelligent as the cheapy Ctech clones you typically get from Aldi/Lidl now and again?
Not that it wouldn't serve much of the same overall purpose, just maybe not as well as an intelligent one.
If Bert has the means of access power on his drive (especially with the car driven up to said point forwards) then you can generally shut (not slam) a car bonnet down (so locked) with the extension lead cable completely free or just held in a rubber seal and the charger placed somewhere 'safe' (plenty of air space, sitting on something metal etc) and when the engine bay is cold etc.
Cheers, T i m
indeed - but labelling the whole thing "total bollocks" before a qualified comment on disconnection. Given Bert has already twice been told to reconnect the negative first...
:-)
It does, albeit - as you say - with slightly different labelling. Not intelligent then, but extremely useful and as you suggest I'll not be in too great a rush to replace it. Thanks.
You're right and I for one understood it as that
It doesn't matter now, since eight hours of charging (in daylight) seems to have been enough, but in fact the car was parked sideways on my paved front garden which would have made concealment of the operation tricky. Probably it would have been OK, though, at need.
These are of course the perfect circumstances for testing exactly that. After my shopping expedition tomorrow or Tuesday I don't expect to be using the car again for at least a week and maybe longer: it will be interesting to see what happens, or doesn't.
Not sure. Common sense would say they could be cleaned and dried out properly. But given how cheap they are and labour costs being so high, likely not worth it.
That's going back a bit. ;-)
Thing is if you attack the 'live' terminal first, and the spanner touches the bodywork, you'll get a rather large spark. Even weld the two together, at worst. ;-) So the advice is sound, but not the reasons.
Indeed. But many want to impress with their superior knowledge in such things to add to confusion, rather than sticking to the important bits.
Then you should have edited out the bit about damaging the car's electrical system. And explain just why it should be done in that order. As I did.
Sorry for assuming that explanation would be understood for reconnection too. Forgot about the morons here.
No real need for a so called intelligent type if low output and used merely to charge a flat battery.
'Intelligent' ones are designed for long term connection - like say if the car is stored indoors and secure. Bert has already stated this isn't the case.
Intitially just leave it switched on for a couple of hours and then see if the car wants to start. If so leave it connected for a day.
'For now' though Bert, what about the next time?
Understood for that instance but I was talking about protecting yourself for the future (if you don't have other means of recovery, like another vehicle, jump leads, a spare / charged battery, portable LiPo or capacitor boost starter or live on the top of a steep hill). ;-)
The idea is that with your new intelligent charger and extension cable, you park on the drive in such a way as to protect the cable going in under the bonnet and leave the charger on 24/7. That way, no matter how long it's left unused the vehicle is ready to go.
That's what many people do who have vehicles that are left unused, if they don't disconnect the battery cable (as I do via an isolator switch on the kitcar) or manually. Some even bring the battery indoors and leave it on a charger there.
YMMV etc. ;-)
Cheers, T i m
No need to replace it (horses for courses) as you might use an intelligent maintenance charger differently.
But the object here is to stop the battery going flat in the first place by using such a charger to safely offset the parasitic loads that drain the battery (risking the need of an early and expensive replacement battery, let the alone the inconvenience, especially atm and in an 'emergency'). ;-(
But maybe I just like being prepared [1] and not reliant on others as much as possible? <shrug>
I'm not suggesting for one second that you should go out and buy such a thing, just that it's probably the most suitable solution for you (as you have private access to mains power). [2]
Cheers, T i m
[1] Like the neighbours who own a car but don't own any jump leads or battery charger and *regularly* ask to borrow mine but have had more holidays and run newer cars than I do? Priorities? [2] The Optimates generally come with a short harness, fuse and plug that you can leave attached to your battery and then just plug the charger end in, saves having to muck about with crock clips etc.
True. You gotta take em out to clean them anyway so ...
*I* go back a bit doing such things (rebuilt my first 4 cyl engine at 15 and was playing with mopeds, motorbikes and repairing and servicing other peoples cars and lawnmowers about the same time). ;-)Coincidentally I was on my first moped on my 16th birthday that had a stripped plug thread and bought off my school English teacher for £5. ;-)
My 12V spark_plug_cleaner had a single hole and seemed to work fairly well for drying and clearing soot off of plugs but it had to be in there a while to remove any real carbon buildup.
Cheers, T i m
Sure, I was thinking more disconnecting a charger than the battery at that point.
Blessum ... but hey, at least they *are* trying to help, not just posting OT cr*p all the time.
Cheers, T i m
I guess it all depends on your comprehension of the thread.
The *last thing* you effectively said (quoted) that hadn't been questioned was:
" ... failure to do so could damage your car?s electrical system"
Dave replied directly underneath that paragraph with his comment and opened the opportunity for you to support *that part* if you could.
I grant you he could have made it clearer, had he snipped the last bit out and Dave is generally pretty good re he snipping compared with many here.
Maybe it was it was because I also knew the facts / detail behind all of this I was able to pick up on exactly what bit Dave was replying to and as you say, no one had questioned the disconnection / re-connection order thing.
Cheers, T i m
(switch it off / disconnect one lead)
Agreed. ;-)
Cheers, T i m
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