Reply to: Car battery - Trickle Charger

[DealorNoDeal]

The battery on my daughters mini was totally dead. Five months of zero use in the lock down. I didn't renew her expensive insurance last year, as it was a bit pointless.

Instead of charging the dead battery, i just bought a new one, was £100 for a branded 70 amp stop/start AGM battery.

I thought it would be £185 for a stop start battery, the kind of quotes i was getting from Halfords, but shopping around the internets was able to find a reasonable price for a battery that is in reality going into a small car and so shouldn't be so expensive..

Probably not a bad move. Letting a car battery go flat can seriously damage the battery. Do this a few times and the battery will probably be knackered and won't hold a decent charge.

You can get leisure batteries which will tolerate being repeatedly discharged but ordinary car batteries won't.

[Fraidycat]

The battery on my daughters mini was totally dead. Five months of zero use in the lock down. I didn't renew her expensive insurance last year, as it was a bit pointless.

Instead of charging the dead battery, i just bought a new one, was £100 for a branded 70 amp stop/start AGM battery.

I thought it would be £185 for a stop start battery, the kind of quotes i was getting from Halfords, but shopping around the internets was able to find a reasonable price for a battery that is in reality going into a small car and so shouldn't be so expensive..

[rossb2]

I use this for charging
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Fully Charges a 90 amp hour car battery in a few hours. Cheap at 35 pounds.

I am not using my car at all during lockdown, so I do a full charge every 2 weeks.

[BR14]

it's not for charging from empty. it's for maintaining full charge on an already charged battery.
and it's a <>£30 black mat on the parcel shelf, not worth nicking.

wot i said.

[ladymuck]

Even if it doesn't produce enough current to keep the battery fully charged, it will slow down the loss of charge.

Yes, that's my aim. Once I get it fully charged, I only then need a trickle charger to keep it topped up.

[DealorNoDeal]

It's 4.8W IIRC. I'll pop up to the shops and get a multimeter as it's becoming more and more obvious I need one.

I emailed OptiMate over the weekend and they replied this morning. The OBD connector is an optional extra - £17.99. In their words: "The OptiMate Solar 20W is normally sufficient for supporting against the ignition-off load, however if the car is parked where the panel is likely to receive less than 3 hours direct sunlight per day then you may want to consider the 40W panel."

So I'm going to test the AA one and see how it goes and, if it doesn't work sufficiently well, then I'll splash out on the OptiMate.

Even if it doesn't produce enough current to keep the battery fully charged, it will slow down the loss of charge.

[ladymuck]

What wattage is the AA one?

If you can lay your hands on a digital multimeter, you can get an indication of whether it's charging. The voltage, across the battery, should go up ever so slightly when you connect the panel eg. 12.3V to 12.4V.

It's 4.8W IIRC. I'll pop up to the shops and get a multimeter as it's becoming more and more obvious I need one.

I emailed OptiMate over the weekend and they replied this morning. The OBD connector is an optional extra - £17.99. In their words: "The OptiMate Solar 20W is normally sufficient for supporting against the ignition-off load, however if the car is parked where the panel is likely to receive less than 3 hours direct sunlight per day then you may want to consider the 40W panel."

So I'm going to test the AA one and see how it goes and, if it doesn't work sufficiently well, then I'll splash out on the OptiMate.

[DealorNoDeal]

I read that article in my investigations. Sadly their claim that the OptiMate Solar 20W comes with an OBD connector is wrong and I would have bought that (or one of the others in the range) if it did. I'm going to give the AA one a try and see how I get on (arrives tomorrow).

What wattage is the AA one?

If you can lay your hands on a digital multimeter, you can get an indication of whether it's charging. The voltage, across the battery, should go up ever so slightly when you connect the panel eg. 12.3V to 12.4V.

[ladymuck]

You might find this useful, if only for the background info as to how these things work. You'll need to find out which one would work best on your Datsun (if any):

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/produc...-chargers-2021

I read that article in my investigations. Sadly their claim that the OptiMate Solar 20W comes with an OBD connector is wrong and I would have bought that (or one of the others in the range) if it did. I'm going to give the AA one a try and see how I get on (arrives tomorrow).

[Mordac]

I generally find my first clue to a low battery is the remote locking not working.

You might find this useful, if only for the background info as to how these things work. You'll need to find out which one would work best on your Datsun (if any):

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/produc...-chargers-2021

[ladymuck]

I would advise to buy " LED Car 12v/24v Battery Volt Voltage Meter" that plugs into the Cigar Lighter Plug. Cost £5 to £6- on ebay. You can un-plug it and keep it in the glove box. If you don't use the car often, you can check the readout and if necessary run the engine for ten minutes to charge up the battery.

I advise LM to buy one for her lovely Datsun.

I generally find my first clue to a low battery is the remote locking not working.

[malvolio]

I would advise to buy " LED Car 12v/24v Battery Volt Voltage Meter" that plugs into the Cigar Lighter Plug. Cost £5 to £6- on ebay. You can un-plug it and keep it in the glove box. If you don't use the car often, you can check the readout and if necessary run the engine for ten minutes to charge up the battery.

I advise LM to buy one for her lovely Datsun.

Don't do this if it's a diesel, you'll only clog up the DPF...

HTH

[Paddy]

I would advise to buy " LED Car 12v/24v Battery Volt Voltage Meter" that plugs into the Cigar Lighter Plug. Cost £5 to £6- on ebay. You can un-plug it and keep it in the glove box. If you don't use the car often, you can check the readout and if necessary run the engine for ten minutes to charge up the battery.

I advise LM to buy one for her lovely Datsun.

[DealorNoDeal]

You need a digital multimeter for this.

Checking battery voltage
Do this when the car hasn't been run for a few hours. A fully charged battery should be about 12.6V. Chances are it will be a bit lower than this. Anything much under 12V can cause problems starting or other electrical gremlins.

Let's say it reads 12.2V

How do I know if my charger/solar panel is charging the battery?
Measure the voltage. With a regular charger it should be quite a lot higher eg. 13V. With a trickle charger, or solar panel, it will probably only be fractionally higher, say 12.3V

How do I know if the alternator is charging the battery?
Start the car and measure the voltage. It should read a lot higher, typically over 13V. On my car it's about 14.5V.

[BigDataPro]

Update:

0. Is anyone using CTEK battery chargers? Are they good?

CTEK MXS 5.0 appear to be good (£69). 5 years warranty. Very good reviews. But only time can tell.

1. How can I identify battery type without removing it from the Car?

Battery itself is marked very clearly whether it is EFB or AGM. Entry level SUVs use EFB and higher SUVs use AGM. Mine was EFB

2. How can I clear those fault codes/symbols from Dashboard. Do they go away once the battery is charged?

Fully charging battery doesn't clear the fault codes. You need a fault code reader to clear it.

3. Where do you connect the negative lead from the charger?

Connect it to a earth/ground point. I connected it to Car chasis (as recommended here) rather than negative terminal of battery. Took about 4 hours to charge a non-flat battery to 80%.