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msgchef

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Hi
Was away for a bit and when I visited Seaweed I discovered completely drained house batteries [2]. We'll skip the part where its my fault.
the Genius Charger showed flashing red/green lights indicating a fault, however I did some research and it showed that to charge a completely drained battery requires a charged battery. So I combined house and Starter and then the charger indicated a that it would now charge. Giving it time now but thought I would check in with the group and see if I am doing this correctly. any thing else to do besides not letting it happen again as I know this a fast way to shorten battery life.
thanks
Paul
 
Paul-

You need the second battery so that the charger can recognize there is a battery there to charge.

The "good" battery has voltage and resistance, which is sensed by the charger, and then it responds by trying to charge it.

The combined batteries will have low voltage, and the charger will then try to charge them.

To wit:

" If the battery is lower than about 10 volts, then the charger may not be able to recognize that a battery is attached to it. A battery charger will try to sense if a battery is attached for safety reasons. If it does not see a battery, then it will not put out any energy.

There is a trick to get your battery charging.

Put a battery in parallel with a dead one to connect to charger.

Get another battery that is good and has a charge. Place it next the dead battery and connect them together in parallel. Plus to plus and minus to minus. Let the batteries sit like that for about 5 or ten minutes to stabilize.

Now hook up your charger to the pair of batteries as if they were one single battery. The charger should recognize the batteries and start charging. Disconnect the charger every few hours and separate the bad battery from the good one. Measure the voltage. If it is increasing, then the battery is taking a charge and may be possible to revive. Try connecting the battery charger to it and see if the charger will recognize the battery. You may need to hook up the other good battery in parallel again. But eventually, if the dead battery is taking a charge, it should be able to be charged alone."


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Joe. :teeth :thup
 
I think your on the right track but your discharged house battery may be damaged.

If the charging system will not charge the battery it's usually because the battery shows no voltage and is totally discharged, so by attaching a fully charged battery to the dead one you're basically fooling the charger.

After about an hour or so the discharged battery should begin to get warm if it gets hot that means there's probably something wrong with one of the cells.

Try to charge the battery by itself after a couple hours, if it starts taking a charge on its own you might be fine.

If you eventually get a green light on the charger disconnect the battery and check resting voltage after a day or so.

The actual resting voltage, or the voltage a battery will settle at 12-24 hours after being removed from the charger, is closer to 2.1 volts per cell, or about 6.4 volts for a 6v battery, and 12.7 volts for a 12v battery.

if voltage across the terminals is less than 12.7 volts you probably have a bad cell or two and most likely the battery will need to be replaced.
 
I certainly agree with the above. I clamp the charger terminals to the "discharged" battery, and then turn battery switch to "All". I would want to remove the good battery as soon as possible.

After you have changed the battery (and I would not be worried by 12.6--vs 12.7--volts on the fully charged battery) I would put one of the pulse desulfator on the damaged battery. Leave a good smart charger on both batteries, and be sure the battery is in the float mode when using the pulse desulfator

http://www.pulsetech.net/PP12L-PowerPul ... -7291.aspx

There is also the question of equalization vs desulfation technology. Both will help. I favor the desulfator.
 
If charging unsealed lead acid 12V batteries, whether in a bulk or final charge
mode, is it wise to open/vent the 6 caps to the 6 chambers since hydrogen
is being released in the charging process?

IMHO, if kept closed, pressure would build up (?dangerous?).
If vented, hydrogen escapes (flammable, explosive).

Another way to ask the same question is what causes a battery to explode
when being charged?

Aye.
Grandma used to say, "There is no such thing as a dumb question."
 
Foggy":39yyg7a0 said:
If charging unsealed lead acid 12V batteries, whether in a bulk or final charge
mode, is it wise to open/vent the 6 caps to the 6 chambers since hydrogen
is being released in the charging process?."
Click to expand...

True, but to open vents every time your charge the batteries? That is overkill. This is why batteries need to be a vented area, and not in the cabin, if flooded lead acid. AGM are "safe" in a cabin. We don't know what amperage he is charging the batteries. If it is the built in charger probably no more than 10 amps.

There has to be a source of ignition for the hydrogen--and equally important is that there be no spark! When a battery explodes usually there is an internal short, which can be due to a defect, low electrolyte level, old battery, and deposits between plates, intra cell connections, corrosion of the terminals, or an external to the cell spark.

I regularly charge 440 amp hour bank of batteries starting at 100+ amps in the initial (bulk) phase in batteries which are designed for this type of charging current. The only item which is monitored by the charger is the battery temperature. If the temperature goes up, the charger cuts back on the current. The caps are designed to allow the Hydrogen gas to escape, or be recombined to form water.

Also in equalization phase, where the battery is exposed to a higher voltage than normal, there will be more escape of Hydrogen gas.
 
thats why I love this site. Unbelievable amount of knowledge shared. Hadn't had a chance to execute the process and tests mentioned but will tomorrow.
I will update with results. Thanks to all who took time to inform.
Paul
 
Well dodged an expense. Both Batteries charged up to 12.6.

I bought a desulfacator at Amazon, same one Dr. Bob recommended for $36
Hopefully it will repair any damage I did and give me a bit more life.
thanks to all for advice and education on batteries. I didn't know what I didn't know.
Paul
 
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