Are all car battery chargers pretty much the same?

mikey72

britishboy wrote: »

Cheers again mikey,will put her on a long charge for a day or 2 Thursday once Lidl one hits the shelfs, do you know if the Lidl one will kick start my battery if its very flat? Read somewhere smart chargers only top up and keep optimised, and dont have enough ooomph to revive a dead one? Is this true?

No
if the battery is completely dead, the charger won't recognise it.
I have an old, 4A charger that I can kick the battery off with, but I have rarely had to use it for years.

I did find I can start mine off on the "motorcylce" setting, which is a lower charge, and for some reason this has worked a couple of times when the car setting didn't.

longwalks1

Does the fact my central locking doesnt even work, and ignition key wont even turn mean my battery is completely flat? If so, im assuming that means thr last time i was using the car, the 2 hrs last monday with nothing on while i was driving, the battery either wasnt charging, or has drained itself this last 8 days? Mikey you seem to know abit about RR's (apologies if worng), mine had the resistor upgrade for the HVAC (or whatever it was), may i ask what you mean when you say pre-heating?

longwalks1

Have ordered a new alternator drive belt just to be on safe side as well

mikey72

reeac wrote: »

The amphours used to start a car that's in good order are negligible. Let's say 500 A [at most] for [at most] 10 seconds which is 1.4Ah out of a 100Ah battery and, again if the car's in good order, the battery will be being charged all the time that the engine is running. Check the charging by starting the engine and then switching on everything and noting if the headlights brighten up when you rev. the engine - they shouldn't. If they do then check the alternator belt tension - especially if you hear it squeal when you rev. up suddenly. If all OK then, as I said earlier, check for battery drain.

The cold cranking capacity is the current a battery can give for 30s, before being discharged. 920A for this battery.

The 110A refers to the capacity, usually measured at 1/10 of an amp, and is a different type of measurement.

mikey72

britishboy wrote: »

Does the fact my central locking doesnt even work, and ignition key wont even turn mean my battery is completely flat? If so, im assuming that means thr last time i was using the car, the 2 hrs last monday with nothing on while i was driving, the battery either wasnt charging, or has drained itself this last 8 days? Mikey you seem to know abit about RR's (apologies if worng), mine had the resistor upgrade for the HVAC (or whatever it was), may i ask what you mean when you say pre-heating?

It's not a good sign I'm afraid.


Pre heating, it's the glow plugs a diesel engine uses to pre heat the cylinders so the diesel ignites when you try to start a cold engine. On a big engine, they draw a lot of current to get them hot enough (glowing red) before you crank the engine over. Newer cars are better than older ones, but they still draw the amps.

It's possible the new battery isn't holding a charge well, the cold shows up problems with them quite quickly.
It should still be under warranty, so worth getting it checked.

I have to say though, if I've had a battery go flat, I've always found it only charges well after I've used a charger on it, or done a long drive for several hours, so maybe the two hours just wasn't enough.

longwalks1

Cheers again, getting the battery checked, how do i do that?

and i dont tihnk ill bother calling out Mr AA again to start me today if im getting the charger Thursday, its flat anyway, so guessing 2 more days of 'flatness' wont hurt?

mikey72

britishboy wrote: »

Cheers again, getting the battery checked, how do i do that?

and i dont tihnk ill bother calling out Mr AA again to start me today if im getting the charger Thursday, its flat anyway, so guessing 2 more days of 'flatness' wont hurt?

Where did you buy it?

I wouldn't call out the AA again, a day or two won't hurt.

longwalks1

bought it online, from battery2u (corny name I know)

mikey72

I don't know the answer, normally I'd just go back with it, and let them test it.
I think I'd charge it, see how it goes, then phone them if it's still a problem.
Hopefully a decent charge will sort it out.

Notmyrealname

britishboy wrote: »

Would it fully charge itself if left running for long enough, with nothing unneeded on

No. The alternator output on tickover would be so low that at best it would just about run the fuel pump and engine management.

A 2hr run won't fully charge a 110A battery.