battery charging question

the car sat for about a month.
this morning the indicator was black.
the book I have says
- green = okay
- black = needs charging
- yellow = needs replacing

it has been on a 12 volt 6 amp battery charger for 5 hours
my calculations say it takes 8 hours to fully charge the battery at 6 amps.
the indicator is still black
the voltage across the battery terminals is now 13.5 volts
I started the car and the charging voltage is 14.5 volts, alternator okay.

I called the battery store where I got the batter and the (young) counter
clerk said he thinks black means it's over charged.

I tried tapping on the battery to see if the little green ball might be
stuck but it didn't appear.

should I keep the battery on the charger until the indicator turns green?

I'm going back outside now to finish clearing the snow off the driveway to
take the car for a short test drive and see if that jogs the green ball
into action. Duh


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William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network
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On 7 Jan 2005 20:22:40 GMT, (William R.
Watt) wrote:

>
>the car sat for about a month.
>this morning the indicator was black.
>the book I have says
>- green = okay
>- black = needs charging
>- yellow = needs replacing
>

The magic ball is a cheap hydrometer that is measuring the specific
gravity of the electrolyte. It is probably the -least- reliable way
to measure the health of your battery given the various other ways to
do it.

First, before you do anything, take the *top charge* off the battery
by turning on your headlights without the car running for 5 minutes.

Then give the battery 1 or 2 minutes to *recover* and measure the
battery voltage -again- without the motor running. Still over 12.2
volts? You're good to go.

>it has been on a 12 volt 6 amp battery charger for 5 hours
>my calculations say it takes 8 hours to fully charge the battery at 6 amps.
>the indicator is still black
>the voltage across the battery terminals is now 13.5 volts
>I started the car and the charging voltage is 14.5 volts, alternator okay.

Alternator seems OK, but that doesn't tell you anything about the
battery.

>I called the battery store where I got the batter and the (young) counter
>clerk said he thinks black means it's over charged.
>
>I tried tapping on the battery to see if the little green ball might be
>stuck but it didn't appear.
>
>should I keep the battery on the charger until the indicator turns green?

In battery chargers, you get what you pay for.
You can buy a *load tester* for $20 somewhere, but my advice is to
just drive to autozone or such and let them test it for you on their
more-professional equipment.

Lg


>I'm going back outside now to finish clearing the snow off the driveway to
>take the car for a short test drive and see if that jogs the green ball
>into action. Duh

Doubt that will prove anything.
see above.

Lg

Lawrence Glickman ) writes:

> First, before you do anything, take the *top charge* off the battery
> by turning on your headlights without the car running for 5 minutes.
>
> Then give the battery 1 or 2 minutes to *recover* and measure the
> battery voltage -again- without the motor running. Still over 12.2
> volts? You're good to go.

thanks for that info. the battery did as described. I drove the car to a
meeting last night and it started and came home fine afterwards. If I were
not confident the battery was okay I would not have been able to go.



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William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network
homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm
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On 8 Jan 2005 14:09:18 GMT, (William R.
Watt) wrote:

>
>Lawrence Glickman ) writes:
>
>> First, before you do anything, take the *top charge* off the battery
>> by turning on your headlights without the car running for 5 minutes.
>>
>> Then give the battery 1 or 2 minutes to *recover* and measure the
>> battery voltage -again- without the motor running. Still over 12.2
>> volts? You're good to go.
>
>thanks for that info. the battery did as described. I drove the car to a
>meeting last night and it started and came home fine afterwards. If I were
>not confident the battery was okay I would not have been able to go.

I'm happy to hear everything is OK. This is good.

I put even -more- of a load on my battery than that when I am testing
it. I put 130 ampere load on it with a special tester ( that's 1560
watts, almost equivalent to an entire 15 ampere circuit in your home
). Because I don't want to toss an (expensive) battery if I can use
it for another year or two, and I don't want to go into the winter
with one that is going to fail, so I have to decide each Fall what's
up with the battery.

Not difficult to do, but so many people neglect it it isn't funny.
Like, out of sight, out of mind, it is under the hood so they ignore
it. Every winter I see the battery shelves *picked clean* by
motorists.

I got 7 years out of my last battery, which is pretty good. When I
needed a new one, I just bought it off the shelf at Kmart, installed
it, drove the used one back to Kmart for my credit, and that was that.

Of course, they need to be -charged- first before being installed in
your car. I wonder how many people skip that step

Also, there is a date code melted into the battery case, indicating
when it was made, and possibly how long electrolyte has just been
sitting in it. The newer, the better. Learn how to read the date
code. I'm sure the info is on the www somewhere.

Lg

Please see Section 14 in the Car and Deep Cycle Battery FAQ on
www.batteryfaq.org for more information on parking vehicles for over
two weeks, Section 4 for testing batteries, and Section 9 on charging
batteries and chargers.

Kindest regards,

BiLL.......


On 7 Jan 2005 20:22:40 GMT, (William R.
Watt) wrote:

>
>the car sat for about a month.
>this morning the indicator was black.
>the book I have says
>- green = okay
>- black = needs charging
>- yellow = needs replacing
>
>it has been on a 12 volt 6 amp battery charger for 5 hours
>my calculations say it takes 8 hours to fully charge the battery at 6 amps.
>the indicator is still black
>the voltage across the battery terminals is now 13.5 volts
>I started the car and the charging voltage is 14.5 volts, alternator okay.
>
>I called the battery store where I got the batter and the (young) counter
>clerk said he thinks black means it's over charged.
>
>I tried tapping on the battery to see if the little green ball might be
>stuck but it didn't appear.
>
>should I keep the battery on the charger until the indicator turns green?
>
>I'm going back outside now to finish clearing the snow off the driveway to
>take the car for a short test drive and see if that jogs the green ball
>into action. Duh

> the car sat for about a month.
> this morning the indicator was black.
> the book I have says
> - green = okay
> - black = needs charging
> - yellow = needs replacing

LOL - damn things never work correctly - don't sweat it!

if battery can hold a charge over night at 12.5 volts dc then you should be okay

BBA