Car battery

Merlin5 · 22 Apr 2020 at 18:47

cuke2u said:
No need to remove the battery with smart chargers at all.
Cheap one here https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/2007037079

Problem is I don't have my own garage or off street parking, and I'm lucky if I ever get a space outside my house. I'd need to trail an extension cable across the pavement overnight.
I guess it would be fine to do that during the day depending how many hours it needs to charge.

jpaul · 22 Apr 2020 at 21:03

you can remove the battery and take it in doors, providing'ish you can lock the car manually ..
price is good ... however I see it will not charge a completely flat battery ... not sure if that is, practically, a problem

Scythe · 22 Apr 2020 at 23:13

Merlin5 said:
Scythe, what charger do you recommend? And I thought a battery was meant to be removed from the car so it can be charged via mains. Halfords do one like that for £39, says 15 hours to charge on 5.4A. Don't know if that's a good charger to get?

By the way, Green Flag are doing an all bells and whistles breakdown package including national recovery and onward travel for only £78 plus £10 cashback through Quidco. I've heard they're pretty good these days. Do you know if they mostly farm out to local garages or use their own vans?

I've not used that charger but it will do what you need perfectly fine. https://www.halfords.com/motoring/b...ery-charger---vehicles-up-to-2.0l-329075.html

If you cannot run a cable to it due to on-street parking, then you can remove the battery which is simple enough to do with a 10/12mm spanner and a spare 5 minutes.

Merlin5 · 23 Apr 2020 at 00:13

Scythe said:
I've not used that charger but it will do what you need perfectly fine. https://www.halfords.com/motoring/b...ery-charger---vehicles-up-to-2.0l-329075.html

If you cannot run a cable to it due to on-street parking, then you can remove the battery which is simple enough to do with a 10/12mm spanner and a spare 5 minutes.

Yeah, I can easily remove it. Just appears to be a bracket screwed across the top of the battery that's holding it. I'll just have to be careful to not let either disconnected terminal lead touch any metal on the car, I'll have to make sure they're wedged with something. I'm more likely to buy a smart charger like the one cuke2u linked which should charge a bit quicker than that big halfords one.

Orionaut · 23 Apr 2020 at 08:06

Scythe said:
I've not used that charger but it will do what you need perfectly fine. https://www.halfords.com/motoring/b...ery-charger---vehicles-up-to-2.0l-329075.html

If you cannot run a cable to it due to on-street parking, then you can remove the battery which is simple enough to do with a 10/12mm spanner and a spare 5 minutes.

Funnily enough, up until relatively recently, Battery lugs were 3/8" Whitworth.

Why, I have no idea??

But As I am sure some will remember. You could use a 1/2" spanner or a 13mm, and it would do the job, but neither would feel a really good fit.

I discovered, quite by accident, (You know, grabbing the nearest available spanner when in a hurry

) that a 3/8" Whitworth however was a perfect fit. ??

Very strange.

On another note, one of the problems with disconnecting a battery is that many of the more modern cars are so clever that they will lose their minds if the battery is disconnected (Certainly as regards ICE and so on) so before doing so check that you have all the relevant codes that you might need for when you connect it back up. Also check to see if you need to do various resets for things like electric windows or even ECU coding. I much prefer my older cars really. None of all this ******** to worry about! :/

Merlin5 · 23 Apr 2020 at 09:46

It's ok, I disconnected the battery a few days ago for a few minutes with a 10mm socket. All I had to do was put my favourite radio stations in again.

Drollic · 24 Apr 2020 at 16:46

I've ended up ordering one of the cheap maypole 12v 4a chargers from amazon. Car was only driven the other day for around 10 miles and it's already at 12.25v. For £20 hopefully you can't go wrong.

Rroff · 24 Apr 2020 at 16:52

Orionaut said:
On another note, one of the problems with disconnecting a battery is that many of the more modern cars are so clever that they will lose their minds if the battery is disconnected (Certainly as regards ICE and so on) so before doing so check that you have all the relevant codes that you might need for when you connect it back up. Also check to see if you need to do various resets for things like electric windows or even ECU coding. I much prefer my older cars really. None of all this ******** to worry about! :/

I had a strange one with this recently - I used a backup emergency starter to maintain power on a vehicle known for throwing a wobbly and it kept the immobiliser, etc. from locking out which it is well known to do but the infotainment system still reset to defaults (but fortunately didn't lock) despite continuous power.

mrk · 25 Apr 2020 at 14:50

Edit*

Wrong thread!

Steven Rimmington · 27 Apr 2020 at 11:02

I asked about this a few weeks back, guess what? My car didn't start this morning after nearly 4 weeks been stood. I have been thinking more like the 18650 batteries when they go below the charge rate they then are damaged. Is it the same for car batteries? Once its been dead it can damage the cells? I have no idea.

Luckily I have two cars, need to decide if buying a trickle charge is best or just jump start it?

andy_mk3 · 27 Apr 2020 at 11:28

Steven Rimmington said:
I asked about this a few weeks back, guess what? My car didn't start this morning after nearly 4 weeks been stood. I have been thinking more like the 18650 batteries when they go below the charge rate they then are damages. Is it the same for car batteries? Once its been dead once it damages the cells? I have no idea.

Luckily I have two cars, need to decide if buying a trickle charge is best or just jump start it?

A deep discharge will permanently remove some of the capacity of the battery. If the battery isn't too old it should recover fine and won't have an impact on it.

Trickle charge is probably a better idea if you can. Jump starting will work but it would take hours for the alternator the charge the battery up. A slow trickle charge would be more optimal for the battery really.

Steven Rimmington · 27 Apr 2020 at 11:37

no idea what said:
A deep discharge will permanently remove some of the capacity of the battery. If the battery isn't too old it should recover fine and won't have an impact on it.

Trickle charge is probably a better idea if you can. Jump starting will work but it would take hours for the alternator the charge the battery up. A slow trickle charge would be more optimal for the battery really.

Thanks

I will order a trickle charger and do it this way. Like you say I will need to drive the car after to bring it back up to charge. I will just be wasting fuel and don't need to use the vehicle

The car is oldish 2014. It's been driven daily for a few years, guess something must be draining if after 4 weeks or would this be completely normal? I hope it's not damaged, looked on ECP and a OEM battery is £100+

Jonnycoupe · 27 Apr 2020 at 11:54

Steven Rimmington said:
I asked about this a few weeks back, guess what? My car didn't start this morning after nearly 4 weeks been stood. I have been thinking more like the 18650 batteries when they go below the charge rate they then are damaged. Is it the same for car batteries? Once its been dead it can damage the cells? I have no idea.

Luckily I have two cars, need to decide if buying a trickle charge is best or just jump start it?

Lead acid can be worse as the plates can suphate as they build up with suphur as the battery state of charge drops, hard charging can clear them, really tired battery plates can warp and if they touch and short you will never get the battery voltage back to where it should be.

jpaul · 27 Apr 2020 at 12:09

... mine wouldn't have started after 3weeks - abs light wasn't going off, so had removed/charged it, day before supermarket

I've Posted ctek pic before ... but if I replace my basic 20yr old, charger, would want one, with desulfation 'mode' ... ctek reviews have some negatives about long term reliability.

mrk · 27 Apr 2020 at 12:28

What are the negatives? Literally every dealer uses a CTEK on tehir showroom cars as do loads of general folks so given the volume of these out there the number of negatives will always be high as it's just the way it is with every popular product.

jpaul · 27 Apr 2020 at 13:48

mrk said:
What are the negatives? L

buttons being of poor quality/longevity , and welded plastic case versus predecessors , so could not open it up to spray servisol on them c5 .

edit : after reading that, rather than spending £70, was looking at the aldi lookalike
https://www.aldi.co.uk/auto-xs-car-battery-charger/p/090030347442700 £15
currently out of stock when i looked on thursday ..
3 year guarantee ... but yes, they don't guarantee it won't kill your battery

Amos91 · 27 Apr 2020 at 16:58

jpaul said:
buttons being of poor quality/longevity , and welded plastic case versus predecessors , so could not open it up to spray servisol on them c5 .

edit : after reading that, rather than spending £70, was looking at the aldi lookalike
https://www.aldi.co.uk/auto-xs-car-battery-charger/p/090030347442700 £15
currently out of stock when i looked on thursday ..
3 year guarantee ... but yes, they don't guarantee it won't kill your battery

Buttons being poor lol. I've owned mine a year and pressed the button for the first time this week.

mrk · 27 Apr 2020 at 17:24

Can't say I have found any issue with the button. If you're pressing it many times every day then the button surface will wear away of course as it's that kind of material and I've seen it on device remotes before etc but as you only need to press the button a few times to set the mode (it seems to remember the mode) then I can't imagine it needing to be pressed any time after if all you're using it on is car batteries!

Scythe · 27 Apr 2020 at 19:53

What a load of nonsense, why would you regularly change the charging mode unless you're swapping between vehicle types? Maybe an industrial user throwing them about perhaps.

For what its worth, I've had two CTEK units for about 5-6 years now which are permanently on between September and March which is when my motorcycles are in storage and have zero problems. I also used one on my car (BMW 320d) for 6 months whilst I couldn't drive due to medical issue and also got a family friend's van running with one last week.

If you read any product for long enough you'll find complaints.

Phemo · 27 Apr 2020 at 22:48

I've been swapping my CTEK between my 3 cars for a while now - two cars with AGM batteries and 1 car without, so I am pressing the button a few times when I switch between the AGM and non-AGM charge modes. Still not had a problem with it though, especially as it's not exactly something I'm doing on a regular basis. If/when I do then I'll figure out a bodge, even if I have to crack the thing open and solder a fresh button on.