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/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl General Category >> The Cafe >> Battery charging question /cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1418920181 Message started by rl153 on 12/18/14 at 08:29:41 |
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Title: Battery charging question Post by rl153 on 12/18/14 at 08:29:41 A friend of mine has a classic car, that doesn't run that often. The battery is 3 years old and looks like new. I didn't check it before we started charging it , but after 7 hours charging on a 2-10 amp charger, it read 12.49 volts. The charging rate was at 6 amps most of the time. I was wondering if we should continue to charge it to try to get it higher? This seemed like a long time to charge, and I'm concerned we could cook the battery or something . what do you think . I think the car will start now. |
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Title: Re: Battery charging question Post by oldNslow on 12/18/14 at 08:38:45 A modern 12V car battery is going to take a long time to fully charge at 6Amps. The car's alternator(or generator depending on how "classic" the car is ) probably puts out around 30 Amps. Newer car charging systems are much higher - 60 Amps or more. You can safely charge that battery at 20 Amps. |
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Title: Re: Battery charging question Post by Dave on 12/18/14 at 09:13:33 The battery in my car is 40 amp hours. Using a 6 amp charger, it would take 40/6= 6.7 hours to bring it to a full charge from flat dead. If the battery was sitting dead for 2 years.....it may no longer be any good. A 3 year old battery is 3 years old....even if it isn't used often they deteriorate, especially if allowed to sit without any charge. If the car will start, then take the charger off, start the car and let the generator/alternator do the charging. Then put a battery tender on when the car is stored again. |
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Title: Re: Battery charging question Post by oldNslow on 12/18/14 at 09:32:02 For fully discharged batteries, the following table lists the recommended battery charging rates and times: 80 Minutes or less [32 ampere hours or less] 15 Hours @ 3 amps 5 Hours @ 10 amps 80 to 125 Minutes [32 to 50 ampere hours] 21 Hours @ 4 amps 7.5 Hours @ 10 amps 125 to 170 Minutes [50 to 68 ampere hours] 22 Hours @ 5 amps 10 Hours @ 10 amps 170 to 250 Minutes [68 to 100 ampere hours] 23 Hours @ 6 amps 7.5 Hours @ 20 amps Above 250 Minutes [over 100 ampere hours] 24 Hours @ 10 amps 6 Hours @ 40 amps |
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Title: Re: Battery charging question Post by justin_o_guy2 on 12/18/14 at 10:31:55 aint even gonne TRY to help unless you come across with at LEAST what kinda car info, color, engine, some drool stuff,, |
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Title: Re: Battery charging question Post by rl153 on 12/18/14 at 13:52:50 OK JOG, the car is a 69 AMX, 390,bored out,Dark Blue, edlebrock 4 barrel,Really clean.It has around 80k mi on it,and its beautiful. He enters it in alot of shows,and has a room full of trophy's.Thanks all you guys for your answers,it's really Helpful. Where does it tell you how many amp hours a battery is? |
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Title: Re: Battery charging question Post by oldNslow on 12/18/14 at 15:46:40 Quote:
Most car batteries won't have that on the sticker on the battery. Car batteries are most often rated for CCA - cold cranking Amps - which is basically a measure of how long the battery can supply enough juice to run the starter and crank the engine over at 0 degrees. The higher that number the better. The sticker will also state the "Reserve Capacity of the battery. This is a measurement of how many minutes a battery can withstand a steady drain- I think they use 25 Amps. before it needs to be recharged. Tells you how long you can leave the lights on with the car shut off before the battery won't crank the engine. I don't know if there is a way to translate CCA or RC into Amp Hours. |
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Title: Re: Battery charging question Post by Steve H on 12/18/14 at 18:36:23 Here's a little blurb from Optima about reserve capacity and CCA. The Battery Council International (BCI) has created a group of standardized specifications that help give consumers an apples to apples comparison from one product to the next. Cold cranking amps is one of those specifications, as is Reserve Capacity. So what is Reserve Capacity? It is a time measurement that explains how long a fully-charged battery can deliver 25 amps of current in an 80°F-environment, before the battery is discharged down to 10.5 volts. - See more at: http://www.optimabatteries.com/en-us/experience/power-source/battery-reserve-capacity/#sthash.GfwpVjHF.dpuf Thus, reserve capacity can be roughly calculated into amp-hours if you really want to. take the minutes of reserve capacity, multiply by 25 (amps) then divide by 60(minutes in an hour) to get amp-hours. This will get you somewhere close. There are other variables in there too regarding the way the battery is made internally, how well it handles slow discharge (if you're really discharging at 1 amp), lots of chemical reaction stuff that I don't even pretend to understand. Note that down to 10.5v is DEAD. A starting type battery will not tolerate this type of use for more than a few cycles before it begins to rapidly deteriorate. They are designed to provide a blast of current quickly and then be quickly recharged. Most of the renewable energy folks say never take a battery below 60% if you want it to last and they prefer never below 80%. They've had years of playing with batteries to figure it out. And, they are using expensive deep discharge batteries. If the car is going to be sitting, self-discharge will have the battery pretty well dead in a month. Use a battery tender or put on a 2 amp charge for a day every other week to keep the battery up. |
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Title: Re: Battery charging question Post by old_rider on 12/18/14 at 19:09:55 At 6 amps it would take about a full day for it to get anywhere near 13v. I have started my truck (2000 5.4L F150) when the battery was at about 12.3v (old battery before I replaced it), but I use my truck all the time. If the car has been sitting for longer than 3 months without running and its not fuel injected....prime the carb with starting fluid, once it starts it should charge the battery. He has had the car long enough to know its quirks, so if it is not starting, and he is following the same old pattern he has done in the past, get a new battery. I know most show car guys are fanatics about their cars, and always have them trickle charging or simply removing the batteries and replacing them for "show time" so they don't corrode and make a nasty in the engine compartment..... they also drain fuels completely... maybe he is getting lax in his old age. :P |
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Title: Re: Battery charging question Post by ToesNose on 12/19/14 at 04:39:26 I know that the AMX is the performance model but my Mom had a 69 Javelin, it was a cool car ;) |
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Title: Re: Battery charging question Post by Steve H on 12/19/14 at 04:58:24 I almost bought an AMX about 25 years ago. |
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Title: Re: Battery charging question Post by Art Webb on 12/19/14 at 10:22:08 7C474D5B66475B4D280 wrote:
AMX was actually more than just a 'performance model' as the chassis was modified to make a 2 seat 'sports car' on a shortened wheelbase, though the Javelin was the car they started with to do that There was also a 'hopped up' performance model of the 4 seat Javelin, called the 'SST' |
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Title: Re: Battery charging question Post by justin_o_guy2 on 12/19/14 at 13:03:28 Left the key on on the backhoe, not a big motor,3 cylinder, 60ish HP, but it has a pretty Phat battery. I only had a 6 amp charger, after several hours I was discouraged, took it to see if they were gonna stand up for the warranty.. BUT,they tested it and charged it and I have killed it Again,, but I got a bigger charger (HF) and was able to get it charged up with out a trip to town.. Oh yeah, thanks for the Drool Details... |
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Title: Re: Battery charging question Post by rl153 on 12/19/14 at 14:58:49 Thanks for all the useful info.Turns out the battery charged up good, and the car fired up,no problem.My friend is looking into a battery tender.Thanks again. |
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Title: Re: Battery charging question Post by Dave on 12/20/14 at 03:59:44 575E4D52555E0A0902023B0 wrote:
Stay away from thee $6 Harbor Freight ones......they don't have any indicators to show that they are cycling on/off or even working. Spend some money and get a decent one. |
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Title: Re: Battery charging question Post by old_rider on 12/20/14 at 08:23:58 What Dave said.... X2 Buy one that has good reviews.... and don't just look at the stars.... read the reviews, some of the information folks put in them are very useful. You will get a few that are really P.O'd and out of control, but a great majority you will find are helpful. I have a batter tender jr. for the motorcycle, it has an indication light on it. If I was to buy one for the car, I would look at that companies products, my tender jr. has been good to me. |
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Title: Re: Battery charging question Post by rl153 on 12/20/14 at 09:44:50 Thanks, I have a battery tender JR for my bike, and a harbor freight for the car. They both work good, but I'll take your advice and recommend the JR to my friend. Thanks! |
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Title: Re: Battery charging question Post by old_rider on 12/20/14 at 21:32:46 I have read a lot of reviews lately on the jr... I am reading that the plus model is best for cars and the jr. is recommended mainly for motorcycles... since todays cars electronics are a constant draw... However since it is an older amx... the jr. should handle keeping it at max charge when not in use. |
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Title: Re: Battery charging question Post by Kris01 on 12/20/14 at 22:53:14 I have no complaints with the jr. |
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