Charging a discharged battery - never done this before!

kittykat500

Hi
I've got a Toyota Verso 1300 cc that had the boot left open for a number of days and now there is not a peep out of the engine/lights, etc. so I am surmising that the battery is dead.  I've found a battery charger in my shed that was used on my previous car (I think), a Focus, but it says 'over 1800 cc and Diesel' charger but suitable for all 12v lead acid batteries.  The Toyota has a 12V battery installed.  Is it OK to use this charger?

kittykat500

This is the exact charger:
https://www.ecosia.org/images/?q=halfords%20over%201800cc%20%26%20Diesel%20charger#id=76617DA1F74B6B3B3389AB7085D36B58E9838000

_Jem_

Sorry I cant help I never like those chargers just in case something went wrong, My ctek charger has been my trusty friend. 

benbay001

Does the car have stop start? 
Personally i wouldn't think twice about using it. Just keep an eye on the battery and make sure it doesn't get too hot.
Edit: ultimately Halfords writing should be taken as gospel and if they say no, then its obviously at your own risk. But engine size and fuel type doesn't correlate to battery capacity directly.

shaun_from_Africa

That charger will be fine to use but bear in mind that the battery itself may well be knackered.
When a battery is discharged, there will be a formation of lead sulfate crystals on the plates and this formation is generally reversed when the battery is recharged.
A deep discharge however can lead to far more of a build up than is normal, not all of which will dissipate when a recharge is carried out so the battery loses some of its capacity.
It might be okay for a while but there is a good likelihood that it will need replacing sooner rather than later. 

molerat

If it is a standard lead acid battery it will be fine.  If the car has stop start you will probably have either an EFB (enhanced lead acid) which you will get away with charging up once or AGM (gel) battery which you should not charge with this and will need a suitable smart charger

kittykat500

Thanks everyone for your help.  Just one other thing.  Am I right in thinking that it's best not to clip the black crocodile clip to the negative, but to earth it somewhere on the car frame - to stop the radio, etc. getting damaged.  It says in the manual to unclip the grounding cable too - wherever that is!

facade

You are probably sorted now, but anyway-

Disconnect the lead that goes from the battery negative terminal to the bodywork at the battery, connect the charger to the battery, leave it on all day, then remove charger and reconnect battery negative lead.

You will need your radio code, and the drivers window will need resetting.

AdrianC

kittykat500 said:

Thanks everyone for your help.  Just one other thing.  Am I right in thinking that it's best not to clip the black crocodile clip to the negative, but to earth it somewhere on the car frame - to stop the radio, etc. getting damaged.  It says in the manual to unclip the grounding cable too - wherever that is!

Doesn't make any difference - the car body is electrically the same difference as the -ve terminal. The "grounding" cable is the one between the terminal and the body.

Just attach the charger - +ve first - and wait.

The charger's output is measured in amps - and is probably about 5A at most. When the car is running, the alternator puts out about 80A or more... The "1800cc+" is just a very, VERY rough rule of thumb for "this is a reasonably beefy charger, so OK on bigger batteries". All batteries are rated in Ah - amp-hours. 5A for 20hrs is 100Ah.

If the battery has been run very flat, it may well be toast now or in the not-so-distant future.

roddydogs

What has "diesel" or the engine capacity got to do with the charger?

AdrianC

roddydogs said:

What has "diesel" or the engine capacity got to do with the charger?

Bigger battery takes more charging, small charger takes longer.

That's it.