BATTERY CHARGING TIPS

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BATTERY CHARGING TIPS

Bill Darden Last Updated on October 5, 2003 People kill more deep cycle batteries with bad charging and maintenance practices, than die of old age! Lead-acid batteries are perishable and a good charger used on a cheap battery is much better than a bad charger used on a good battery. The following are some tips for consumers on charging car (starting) and deep cycle batteries. For more information on battery charging and definitions, please see Section 6. of the Deep Cycle Battery FAQ at http://www.batteryfaq.org. Please see Section 4.2 for definitions of the battery types. An excellent and easy to understand tutorial on Battery Charging Basics can be found at http://www.batterytender.com/. 1. Always wear glasses when working around a battery in the unlikely event that it might explode. 2. Use the battery manufacturer's charging recommendations and voltages whenever possible for optimum capacity, maintenance and service life. MATCH the charger (or charger's setting) for the battery type you are recharging (or maintaining) and insure the charging voltages are compatible. 3. Deep cycle batteries should be recharged within 24 hours after they have been used. 4. Never disconnect a battery cable from a car with the engine running, because the battery acts like a filter for the electrical system. Unfiltered (pulsating DC) electricity sometimes exceeding 40 volts and can damage expensive electronic and electrical components such as emmissions computer, audio system, charging system, alarm system, etc. 5. Before recharging, check the electrolyte level and insure it covers the plates at all times and that it is not frozen. After recharging, recheck the electrolyte levels after the battery has cooled and top off with distilled water to the required levels, but do not overfill. Please see Section 3.1 for a filling level diagram. 6. Reinstall the vent caps before recharging and recharge ONLY in well-ventilated areas. Do not smoke or cause sparks or flames while the battery is being recharged because it produces explosive gasses. 7. If your battery is sealed, avoid recharging with current levels above 20% of the RC (or 50% of the ampere hour) rating. For example, 24 amps maximum for a 120 minute RC (48 ampere hour) rated battery. 8. Follow the battery and charger manufacturers' procedures for connecting and disconnecting cables and for operating the charger. Operate in a manner to minimize the possibility of an explosion or incorrectly charging the battery. You should turn the charger OFF before connecting or disconnecting cables to a battery. Do not wiggle the cable clamps while the battery is recharging, because a spark could occur cause an explosion. 9. If a battery becomes hot, over 125 F (51.5 C), or violent gassing or spewing of electrolyte occurs, turn the charger off temporarily or reduce the charging rate. This will also prevent "thermal runaway" that can occur with sealed AGM or Gel Cell batteries. 10. Insure that charging the battery with an external charger will not damage the vehicles' electrical system with high voltages. If this is even a remote possibility, then disconnect the grounded battery cable from the battery before connecting the charger. 11. If you are recharging Gel Cell batteries, the battery manufacturer's charging voltages are very critical. You might need special recharging equipment. In most cases, standard deep cycle chargers used to recharge wet deep cycle batteries cannot be used to recharge Gel Cell and some AGM batteries because of their charging profiles or voltages. Using them will shorten battery service life or cause http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden/charging.htm 10/9/03

BATTERY CHARGING TIPS "thermal runaway".

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12. Usually when a vehicle is jump started, it is not driven long enough to fully recharge the battery. The length of time to fully recharge the battery depends on the amount of discharge, the amount of surplus current that is diverted to the battery, how long the engine is run, engine speed, and ambient temperature. An alternator is sized by the car manufacturer to carry the maximum accessory load and to maintain a battery, but NOT to recharge a dead battery. Recharge with an external battery charger and test the battery. 13. If left unattended, cheap, unregulated trickle or manual two stage battery chargers can overcharge your battery. Avoid using fast, high rate, or boost chargers on any battery that is sealed, sulfated, or deeply discharged. The electrolyte should never bubble violently while recharging because high currents only create heat and excess explosive gas. 14. Battery charging requires patience. When a battery is discharged, more power has to be replaced, because some of the power is converted to heat and lost due to the resistance in the cables, connectors and elements within the battery. For most batteries, an estimate of recharge time is two times the number of amp hours to be replaced divided by the current output of the charger. 15. If a battery is overcharged and all the electrolyte is "boiled" out, some batteries can produce deadly CO (Carbon Monoxide) gas or cause a fire. Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and additional information on car, motorcycle, truck, marine, and recreational vehicle starting and deep cycle lead-acid batteries can be found at http://www.batteryfaq.org. I will be happy to try and answer your lead-acid battery and charging questions. Over 80% of the ones I receive are already answered in the information posted on this Web site, so please check first. Some of the e-mails I receive do not have a valid return address, so please inclose a "reply to" e-mail address in your message. For comments, criticisms, suggestions or questions, please e-mail Bill Darden at william.darden@uumail.de. [I recommend that you hyperlink to http://www.batteryfaq.org rather than republishing this document because this information will be revised periodically to keep up with the advancements in batteries and the changing resources. Revisions will be indicated with a newer date or version number. These documents are in the public domain and can be freely reproduced or distributed without permission.] [Home]

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