Battery Chargers.

Hving just come into a small amount of buckshee cash, unfortunatly not
enough for a new tilt for Daisy, but enough for some of the little fiddly
bit essentual to keep both Land Rovers on the road, I have a fue questions
befor I spend my windfall.

Battery chargers. What do I look for when purchasing a battery charger?

On a related note ,how can I tell if my battery is knackered and not just
suffering from lots of short stop start journeys?


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Your help is, as always, greatfully receved.

Rory Manton

1957 109 Series One, Daisy
1965 Series 11 SWB GS , Rose.

On or around Tue, 23 Nov 2004 05:17:47 +0000, Rory Manton
<[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:

>Hving just come into a small amount of buckshee cash, unfortunatly not
>enough for a new tilt for Daisy, but enough for some of the little fiddly
>bit essentual to keep both Land Rovers on the road, I have a fue questions
>befor I spend my windfall.
>
>Battery chargers. What do I look for when purchasing a battery charger?
>
>On a related note ,how can I tell if my battery is knackered and not just
>suffering from lots of short stop start journeys?

charge it up by doing a long journey or by using a charger

personally, I think fairly well of the Absaar chargers. I've had various
cheap plastic ones, and the absaar one I have now has outlasted all of 'em.
This one does "normal" or "fast" charge rates. If you have the money, a
starter/charger is handy for the occasions when you find the battery's flat
in the morning.

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?ts=94610&id=16368

is something like mine, although it doesn't do the faster charge rate, but
then mine doesn't do 6V... same make, to all appearances - badge
engineering, no doubt.

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?ts=94610&id=33221

looks reasonable value for a small booster. Obviously, these come in many
sizes and prices; it has a bigger brother, for example:

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?ts=94609&id=13884


Machine Mart/Clarke do a good range as well.

On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 07:38:02 +0000, Austin Shackles wrote:

>> Battery chargers. What do I look for when purchasing a battery
>> charger?

What do you expect this battery charger to do? Occasional trickle
charge after vehicle has been stood for a while. Bung in enough charge
to start the engine in an hour or so when you've left the lights on
over night. Have enough grunt to be connected for 15 mins and also
augment the battery for starting.

>> On a related note ,how can I tell if my battery is knackered and
>> not just suffering from lots of short stop start journeys?
>
> charge it up by doing a long journey or by using a charger

Doesn't show up a battery that is knackered for starting but OK
otherwise. Take it to a garage and ask them to test it. Basicaly they
pull 30 or 40A from it and measure the voltage. If it drops more than
2 or 3v it's knackered as far as starting is concerned.

--
Cheers [email protected]
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

Dave Liquorice wrote:

> otherwise. Take it to a garage and ask them to test it. Basicaly they
> pull 30 or 40A from it and measure the voltage. If it drops more than
> 2 or 3v it's knackered as far as starting is concerned.

Correction - basically they will pull 300 or 400A from it.


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EMB

In article <[email protected]>, EMB <[email protected]> writes
>Dave Liquorice wrote:
>
>> otherwise. Take it to a garage and ask them to test it. Basicaly they
>>pull 30 or 40A from it and measure the voltage. If it drops more than
>>2 or 3v it's knackered as far as starting is concerned.
>
>Correction - basically they will pull 300 or 400A from it.

Dave is (as ususal) correct.

I've just replaced the battery on Marge as it was almost new but faulty.
Fault Symptoms: flattening over a 3-5 day period of standing.
Confusing data:
1. All cells of correct specific gravity & electrolyte level.
2. Charging to correct voltage.
3. Discharge current when fully charged in excess of 200A,
recovering normally.

Several people who should know looked at it and proffered opinions. We
tested it with a heavy current shunt (one of those concertina things
with big spikes) and a high-current clamp ammeter. This did NOT show the
fault. I even changed the alternator, to no avail.

Eventually, I took it back to the (specialist) battery dealer, where
they tested it exactly as Dave says, on a meter that had an adjustable
shunt. The process was to test it at a current of approx 1/2 the rated
A/H capacity, so for a 90A/H battery that meant 45A. The meter had
current and voltage indication. On that test it obviously failed, and
you could see the voltage dropping off over a minute or so. I still
don't know exactly what he physical fault was, but hte dealer had seen
this before.


Regards,

Simonm.

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