Car battery - new one or recharge!?

Inactive

thenap80 wrote: »

You are all so bloody helpful!!

The website link above shows "BATTERY RATED CAPACITY: 12V DC 8.5 Amp (40-160 Ah)". Would this be okay for mine...16v I think I read about mine! Or is it one battery charger size fits all!!?

I do have jump leads but will that not drain the other persons battery. I tried them the other day with my sister's car as a doner car. The Honda dealer said I should not have done that as it could blow up!

Honda said they sell them for 45 quid so may just buy one. Depends on how cheap I can try to charge this one up for!!



Thanks again!

Any bog standard 12v charger will do the job, get one from Argos or similar.

You will not drain the battery of the donor car as long as you leave the engine running on it whilst starting yours.

pogofish

thenap80 wrote: »

The website link above shows "BATTERY RATED CAPACITY: 12V DC 8.5 Amp (40-160 Ah)". Would this be okay for mine...16v I think I read about mine! Or is it one battery charger size fits all!!?

What is the engine capacity of your car and the rating for your battery? All I can remember is that yours is a 16 valve

To a point, one size will fit all but a charger designed for larger engined vehicles with a higher output will be harder on a lower capacity battery for a smaller engine. In that case, a 4 or 6 amp charger will be more suitable for regular use.

For a smaller battery, this seemed a good spec for the price, although I don't know the make.

http://www.fastcardirect.co.uk/cart/challenge-extreme-automatic-battery-charger-p-1276.html

thenap80

Not sure about battery power but engine size is 1,590 cc.


Why would the Honda bloke say it was dangerous to charge by connecting jump leads from sister's car? That confuses me as I thought that was just an alternative way to recharge. In which case, can i charge it up while my battery is out of my car?

pogofish

Jump leads are really more an emergency way of starting a car with a flat battery rather than for charging TBH. It also puts a bit of a load on the electrical systems of both vehicles - Listen how the revs drop on the running car when you switch-on the ignition of the flat vehicle. They should never be left connected any longer than it takes to start the dead vehicle, nor the starter cranked for more than a few seconds at a time.

I can also see how it might put an unwanted load on the flat battery as well - Which could cause the plates to warp if left too long, destroying the battery altogether.

Repeated jump starts might also indicate an alternator/regulator fault, resulting in greatly reduced charging efficency - I had that last year, took a few jumps to figure it out as I was going some distance at the time, so the battery was getting a little bit of charge. When I slowed down to a few miles a day, it died fast.

The thing the Honda dealer may have been referring to is that a faulty regulator can also result in overcharging, which can cause the battery to boil-off its electrolyte, thus getting less efficent and there is a dim possibility this could result in an explosion if it is jumped. I've only seen this scenario maybe three times in 20+ years, One of which involved a car that had been driven from Africa to the North of Scotland with not much by way of ongoing maintenance!

Personally, I'll always isolate the rest of the car's electrics by disconnecting at least the negative lead (or pulling the main fuse) if I'm charging the battery in the car but where possible, I'll remove the battery altogether, to do the checks I outlined earlier. You will usually need to reset any clocks/gadgets in the car and retune the radio after. The bike has a kill-switch that totally isolates the battery so I can charge it in the machine as the gel battery has very little risk of leaking - which is fine because getting the battery out of and back into that model is an absolute annoyance!

For 1590cc, the 4-amp or switchable charger would be fine IMO.

pogofish

thenap80 wrote: »

Not sure about battery power but engine size is 1,590 cc.

A quick google suggests it could be a 12v, 45Ah, Cranking 300-350A, with prices ranging from around £40 to £170! :eek:

But I would be very careful to get the exact physical size and replacement spec as there may be fitting problems otherwise. Again, any half decent aftermarket spares dealer will be happy to advise.

The battery should have a unique code number - Take a note of that and the make along with you.

Inactive

thenap80 wrote: »

Not sure about battery power but engine size is 1,590 cc.

In which case, can i charge it up while my battery is out of my car?

Yes put your battery on a suitable surface, attach charger, do not smoke or have any naked flame near battery whilst charging, leave until charged, re-fit to car...sorted .. as long as the battery is OK.

thenap80

Hi
Me again!

Thanks guys for all your comments. I have used a battery charger and used this on trickle charge over the last 24 hours. The indicator does not say fully charged still but nevertheless have disconnected and obtained a reading (using multitester) of now, 13.10.

My question is, would this now be okay to put back in my car and enough power to start up or should i leave until 'fully charged' is illuminated on charger pack!!?

Thanks again!

Hintza

Pop it in the car in the morning and away you go.

goldspanners

thenap80 wrote: »

Hi
Me again!

Thanks guys for all your comments. I have used a battery charger and used this on trickle charge over the last 24 hours. The indicator does not say fully charged still but nevertheless have disconnected and obtained a reading (using multitester) of now, 13.10.

My question is, would this now be okay to put back in my car and enough power to start up or should i leave until 'fully charged' is illuminated on charger pack!!?

Thanks again!

you would have been as well just jump starting it and letting it charge up via the alternator if you can be bothered to let it do a full cycle on the charger.totally pointless.

thenap80

goldspanners wrote: »

you would have been as well just jump starting it and letting it charge up via the alternator if you can be bothered to let it do a full cycle on the charger.totally pointless.

It's not that I can't be bothered. Merely that I did not know whether on trickle, it would actually reach full charge. I put it on charge at 5pm last night and it was still saying 'charging' at 9pm tonight!!