How do I use a car battery charger?

sand_hun

Some of you may have seen my previous topic about not being able to get into my car and then having a flat battery.

I'm starting a new topic as I need advice on how to use a mains-powered 'trickle' charger. I tried searching on YouTube but most of the videos I found were American.

In the interests of saving time I just bought a cheap charger (£34) from Halfords. They ran a quick test on my battery and confirmed it needs charging rather than replacing.

Sorry in advance if what I'm about to ask are daft questions, but here goes...

1) If I've understood it properly, I need to plug it into the mains and attach the red clamp to positive and the black to negative. But does this mean I need to leave the bonnet open all night? During the charging process, where does the charger itself go? On the floor next to the car, or do you rest it somewhere on the bonnet?

2) Since I am trailing an extension cable out of the window, I'm a bit worried about it getting wet if it rains! How do other people deal with this? I guess maybe I can protect it with a waterproof cover of some kind.

3) What are the smaller red and black eyelet type things for?

 

Mildly_Miffed

First off... Is that really a "trickle" charger? They were very old-school, low-current (I'd say 4A was too high for that) and very dumb. They'll kill your battery if you leave them on once the battery's charged. You'd like to hope that this is actually a smart charger for that price, so will monitor the battery to not over-charge it. It won't be a good one, for that price and from that retailer, but it'll be better than if it really is dumb.

1. No, you don't need the bonnet open all night. You can shut the bonnet to the safety without crushing the wire.

2. You'd like to hope it was rated for external use, but we're talking about a cheap-and-nasty bicycle shop... Put it wherever it sits best. If it sits under the bonnet, great - you've got some weather protection.

3. They're for permanently fitting to the battery terminals, rather than using the croc clips, so you can leave your car/motorbike/lawnmower/whatever on charge all the time. ASSUMING it's a smart charger, not just "trickle".

Ectophile

Black is negative, red is positive.

The ring terminals would be used as an alternative to the croc clips.  It assumes that your battery terminals have suitable screws that you can use to clamp the rings in place.

If you intend to leave it for a longer period, it's probably best to find a good place to tuck the charger, then close the bonnet.  Find some route to getting the mains lead out without squashing it with the bonnet.  Possibly drop the plug straight down to the ground underneath the car.

Either don't charge in the rain. or get a waterproof outdoor mains lead.

Ayr_Rage

Mildly_Miffed said:

First off... Is that really a "trickle" charger? They were very old-school, low-current (I'd say 4A was too high for that) and very dumb. They'll kill your battery if you leave them on once the battery's charged. You'd like to hope that this is actually a smart charger for that price, so will monitor the battery to not over-charge it. It won't be a good one, for that price and from that retailer, but it'll be better than if it really is dumb.

1. No, you don't need the bonnet open all night. You can shut the bonnet to the safety without crushing the wire.

2. You'd like to hope it was rated for external use, but we're talking about a cheap-and-nasty bicycle shop... Put it wherever it sits best. If it sits under the bonnet, great - you've got some weather protection.

3. They're for permanently fitting to the battery terminals, rather than using the croc clips, so you can leave your car/motorbike/lawnmower/whatever on charge all the time. ASSUMING it's a smart charger, not just "trickle".

The Halfords advanced chargers are smart, don't scaremonger please. they switch to maintenance mode when the battery is charged.

You could've at lease read their website before jumping in feet first, the OP was looking for advice.

sand_hun

Ah yes, my mistake it’s a 4A smart charger, not a trickle charger.

A waterproof outdoor mains lead sounds like a great idea, I hadn’t thought of that.

The battery terminals look like this

Mildly_Miffed

Ayr_Rage said:

Mildly_Miffed said:

First off... Is that really a "trickle" charger? They were very old-school, low-current (I'd say 4A was too high for that) and very dumb. They'll kill your battery if you leave them on once the battery's charged. You'd like to hope that this is actually a smart charger for that price, so will monitor the battery to not over-charge it. It won't be a good one, for that price and from that retailer, but it'll be better than if it really is dumb.

The Halfords advanced chargers are smart, don't scaremonger please. they switch to maintenance mode when the battery is charged.

You could've at lease read their website before jumping in feet first, the OP was looking for advice.

Frankly, it wouldn't surprise me if that particular retailer WAS flogging dumb chargers.

I do apologise for not being bothered to go and trawl their website, instead just asking to clarify the information presented by the OP.

BlueonBlue

The op could ,once they get used to using the halfords charger , consider a jump starter from Gooloo or Grepro etc
These if compatible give you lots of options to start you up anywhere in cold wet winter or summer ...you keep it in the car .
You would then need to run the car to fully charge the battery ie this has a fuel cost vs home charger 
Make sure any jump starter you consider has the "dead flat battery boost feature" and also wont damage your type of car electronics

Here is a £34 example your car may or may not need larger but somethings better than nothing if isolated .
https://www.amazon.co.uk/GOOLOO-Starter-2000Amp-Supersafe-Portable/dp/B09CZC48RT?th=1
or £36
https://www.amazon.co.uk/GREPRO-10000mAh-Vehicles-motorcycle-Flashlight/dp/B0BBV7KC7Z/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?adgrpid=141883184130&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.1SJRDselh4pqGap1ORr35Ew09
or £40
https://www.amazon.co.uk/GREPRO-Starter-Vehicles-Motorcycle-Flashlight-dp-B0DBGZF3C6/dp/B0DBGZF3C6/ref=dp_ob_title_auto

or the all singing dancing Gooloo GT series you can get this with more discount at times
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09CZ74YB1/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?pf_rd_p=1c6bb402-4eed-48b5-8611-f22c0b9cfed1&pf_rd_r=15SFF4JQ77EET2E6F7CC&pd_rd_wg=6R5so&pd_rd_w=UHXD2&content-id=amzn1.sym.1c6bb402-4eed-48b5-8611-f22c0b9cfed1&pd_rd_r=78b962dc-163f-4ea6-a15c-47c2bd75394d&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWxfdGhlbWF0aWM&th=1

Dont look at the unknown brand names posted from china... just check that they are safe to use on your electrics/car type and are the size needed for you car.

By the way Halfords are not the best value at all and may even railroad you .....if you can research items and prices its far more sensible especially batterys .
Halfords batterys are just Yuasa many of which can be bought for far less than even Tayna sells them for .Check out GSF with a discount code and or GSF on ebay with discount codes which go up and down .
Tayna may be ok or the best for a EFB battery though .

Anything electronic can be a pain... I get that....and halfords know we are often lost .... so they upsell overprice all sorts of things.

QrizB

sand_hun said:

I'm starting a new topic as I need advice on how to use a mains-powered 'trickle' charger. I tried searching on YouTube but most of the videos I found were American.

In the interests of saving time I just bought a cheap charger (£34) from Halfords. 

As about, you've bought a smart charger not a trickle charger. That's a good thing. It'll start off charging relatively quickly (although at 4 amps it'll still take 15 hours to charge your 60Ah battery from flat, if it ever goes completely flat again) then switch over to a constant -voltage maintenance charge where it just makes up for the 30mA parasitic.load the RAC man measured.

sand_hun said:

1) If I've understood it properly, I need to plug it into the mains and attach the red clamp to positive and the black to negative. But does this mean I need to leave the bonnet open all night? During the charging process, where does the charger itself go? On the floor next to the car, or do you rest it somewhere on the bonnet?

I've got a similar charger (mine is cheap and Chinese). There's enough space under my bonnet that I can tick my charger into a gap (make sure the engine is cold) and then close the bonnet without squashing the charger, or pinching the power cable. There's also room around the charger to let air circulate (they get warm in use).

sand_hun said:

2) Since I am trailing an extension cable out of the window, I'm a bit worried about it getting wet if it rains! How do other people deal with this?

The socket ends of the extension cable should be under the bonnet, with the charger. The plug end should be indoors, in your house. Between the two there's only electrical cable, which should be waterproof.

sand_hun said:

3) What are the smaller red and black eyelet type things for?

As about, they're for permanently attaching.  Probably not worth it in your case, although I do use a set of those with my solar panel charger (as referenced in your previous thread).

paul_c123

Some cars need the bonnet closed and latched to be able to lock them and set the alarm (eg Jaguar, Land Rover). For these, I'll run the 12V wires to the battery but leave the charger outside. To avoid it getting wet, I'll stick both the mains extension lead's socket(s) and the charger underneath the car. For cars where you can leave the bonnet open and still lock them (Vauxhall, Audi, VW, others) you could place the charger and the extension lead's sockets underneath the bonnet to ensure they're kept dry.

daveyjp

Once you do get it charged take it to a reputable garage for another test as once batteries start going bad they generally don't get better.

My daughter flattened my wife's car battery earlier this year.  It was 7 years old and the car does mainly short hops so it didn't surprise me and I had my suspicions it was failing before Christmas.  I bump started the car and charged it over a 10 mile run, but then had it tested.  CCA was about 60% of the output when new so no surprise it wouldn't turn over.

QrizB

daveyjp said:

Once you do get it charged take it to a reputable garage for another test as once batteries start going bad they generally don't get better.

The battery has been tested by both the RAC and Halfrauds, two organisations that would have fallen over themselves to sell the OP a new battery if it was "going bad".

This particular battery apparently went flat due to under-use of the car. If properly cared for it could have years of life yet.

(My 2013 car was still on its original factory battery until a fortnight ago. I'm expecting the replacement to out-live the car.)