Disco 2 Battery Charger

Intestinalworm · Jul 25, 2022

Battery flat and couldn't open bonnet on D2 Td5, used key on driver's door and got son (lot lighter and more flexible than me) to pop the bonnet lever, then opened the bonnet and removed the flat battery out of the vehicle and checked with multimeter - down to 3.6V. My mistake, had left it for a fortnight without running it with the immobiliser on - obviously drained the battery! Just forgot!

Hooked up the battery charger (it's a very basic Projecta charger, "3500mA charging power", and about 30 years old - a hand-me-down from my dad, but reliable until now). Anyway, all was going well and then I heard what I thought was a pop and a smell of burning from inside the charger after about a minute!

I suspect the charger is for the bin - read somewhere that it could be a capacitor blowing, but in any case, at the very least the voltage regulation could be gone and it wouldn't be safe to use it again!

I don't want to go out and spend a pretty penny on a "bells and whistles" battery charger. I heard CTEK chargers are good. Any recommendations/thoughts?

Current battery is 1100 CCA and 130 A/H - I suspect some chargers may be limited by A/H?

sierrafery · Jul 25, 2022

IMO you need a new battery too cos once it gets so flat it can have a short inside that's why it killed the charger too. I know nothing about CTEK chargers as i have a RING RESC612(which i can recommend without fear) but a good charger is not limited by the battery's AH, the ideea is that the higher the AH is the longer it takes to fully charge it that's all

Intestinalworm · Jul 25, 2022

Geez, didn't know that! New battery?

sierrafery · Jul 25, 2022

Once you get a decent smart charger you'll see if you need a battery too or not cos the SC has diagnostic capability and protections so it will not be able to resurect a dead battery

PopPops · Jul 25, 2022

Intestinalworm said:
Geez, didn't know that! New battery?

To support what Fery said, once the battery voltage falls much below 12v, the battery will degrade chemically very quickly and can be ruined within a few hours, or very few days.

As you will probably need a new charger anyway you have nothing to loose to get a decent intelligent one which is short circuit/overload protected and see if it will recover your existing battery. I don’t have any recommendations for a charger though, but CTEK have a good reputation.

sierrafery · Jul 25, 2022

PopPops said:
a decent intelligent one which is short circuit/overload protected and see if it will recover your existing battery.

+1^^^, though i've seen reviews from some schmucks who blamed a quality charger that it wasnt good enough to charge theyr flat battery without even thinking that the battery was FUBAR

Intestinalworm · Jul 25, 2022

Time flies when you get caught up with other things - must remember to disconnect the battery (on any car) if not using it for a week or two +! Thanks for educating me on this - you live and you learn!

Looking at the CTEK MXS5.0 as a first step, and then we'll see how we go with the battery!

sierrafery · Jul 25, 2022

Intestinalworm said:
Looking at the CTEK MXS5.0 as a first step,

That's quite to the limit IMO as it will struggle with an old 110AH battery which lost power(provided it's healthy just weak), better get a stronger one like 7.0

miktdish · Jul 25, 2022

One of these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314083118027?epid=18024577904&hash=item4920d00bcb:g:AlEAAOSwqHZg3F5X which will likely confirm your battery is dead, and a new battery.

Stanleysteamer · Jul 25, 2022

Ring, I think, make good ones. I have one at home and it can resurrect old batts although you sometimes have to pull the stunt of connecting two batts, one good one not so, in parallel to convince the charger to go for it rather than just hold up its hands like a snowflake and give in!
This one
https://www.ringautomotive.com/en/product/RSC612

PopPops · Jul 25, 2022

Intestinalworm said:
Time flies when you get caught up with other things - must remember to disconnect the battery (on any car) if not using it for a week or two +!

As an aside, at the current drain quoted in the WSM, you should be able to leave the battery connected for a couple of months before it is even 1/2 discharged. Maybe you have an unexpected drain?

Stanleysteamer · Jul 25, 2022

PopPops said:
As an aside, at the current drain quoted in the WSM, you should be able to leave the battery connected for a couple of months before it is even 1/2 discharged. Maybe you have an unexpected drain?

Methinks too as well!
although if the batt is just on the edge...........of dying...........

Intestinalworm · Jul 25, 2022

PopPops said:
As an aside, at the current drain quoted in the WSM, you should be able to leave the battery connected for a couple of months before it is even 1/2 discharged. Maybe you have an unexpected drain?

Parasitic drain eh?

Wife said it was 3 weeks of not being driven. Before I stopped driving it and used one of the other vehicles - organising head gasket bits and bobs from the UK - I had checked the battery and it said 12.3V (so a bit low really); so it was low to start with. Will organise a new battery!

sierrafery · Jul 25, 2022

Intestinalworm said:
Parasitic drain eh?

Wife said it was 3 weeks of not being driven. Before I stopped driving it and used one of the other vehicles - organising head gasket bits and bobs from the UK - I had checked the battery and it said 12.3V (so a bit low really); so it was low to start with. Will organise a new battery!

You should check the charging system cos it should let the battery at 12.7V after a drive and if only one diode out of the 8 in the pack is gone it will deliver the voltage and look OK with multimeter or other tester but can drain the battery once stopped, unfortunately the only way to check that is with oscilloscope, remember this Battery or Alternator the only100% certain way to see if a "classic" alternator like the D2 has is perfect is described roughly here https://www.brighthubengineering.co...w-to-test-an-alternator-with-an-oscilloscope/ (the waveforms are important cos there are some mistakes in that article) ... i've seen myself not one which passed the rudimentary voltage tests and charged "normally" around 14V DC but had the uneven waveform and caused a parasitic drain

backinblack · Jul 25, 2022

Intestinalworm said:
Looking at the CTEK MXS5.0 as a first step, and then we'll see how we go with the battery!

I bought one of these for my slightly smaller (good) 1000cca 115ah battery and plugged it in inside the house and extended the output on 10metres of cable to the battery and it wouldn't even try to top up the battery, replaced it with a Ring Automotive RSC806 Smart Battery Charger and it works perfectly. The CTEK is now connected to the much smaller bike battery and working fine.

I also have a RING RESC612 (or one that looks the same, it's in the garage and I can't be arsed to look

) that @sierrafery recomended and although it worked extremely well for a few years the cooling fan is going.

miktdish · Jul 25, 2022

Stanleysteamer said:
Ring, I think, make good ones. I have one at home and it can resurrect old batts although you sometimes have to pull the stunt of connecting two batts, one good one not so, in parallel to convince the charger to go for it rather than just hold up its hands like a snowflake and give in!
This one
https://www.ringautomotive.com/en/product/RSC612

You didn't look at my post/link then ...

sierrafery · Jul 25, 2022

miktdish said:
You didn't look at my post/link then ...

But you did look at mine where it was already recommended before that ?

miktdish · Jul 25, 2022

sierrafery said:
But you did look at mine where it was already recommended before that ?

Yes but I missed the link ..... where I could see the picture and the price

kermit_rr · Jul 25, 2022

I like my ctek, does what is supposed to and is better than my previous charger at actually fully charging a battery.
Once you've got the new battery, charge it before putting on the car. Then check out your alternator to be safe

Stanleysteamer · Jul 25, 2022

miktdish said:
You didn't look at my post/link then ...

No i have to confess I don't click on every link, but then at least there are three of us now saying Ring is the Thing!!!

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