Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Terbs]

Hi all....

The battery on the 2.5 is flat...it has not been used for a month. I assume this means the battery is dying. Starts first time when I attach a starter pack and runs sweet. Then stays charged if used regularly. Cold weather naffs it.

I want to charge the battery temporarily until I get a new one (seen some about £50 - £60). Question is, I assume you disconnect the earth terminal to charge, but as the power sounder has been taken out, can you just undo the terminal and remove the lead as on older cars. Or do you still have to go through the 15 second sequence. What happens if you connect a charger without disconnectiong the earth terminal ?? Always wondered
I have radio code so no problem there (its already gone into Safe mode)

Thanks
Tony

[Andy B]

no need to disconnect the battery when charging, just ensure the charger is turned off before disconnecting. 

If you do disconnect the battery, the 15 secs 'rule' applies though for the alarm. 

[Terbs]

Thanks Andy....will get to it

I won't disconnect the battery....anything for an easy life

[Nick W]

A month is a long time for a connected battery to stay charged in a modern car. Leaving it connected whilst flat will do it no good at all.
A smart charger is what you need. The Ctek ones come with a hardwire kit that makes connecting/disconnecting it quick and easy.

[Kevin Wood]

Yep, I'd expect even a healthy battery to be dead with a month of not being used.

As said, get a CTEK or similar (Lidl?  ) to leave on it if it's going to be parked up for long periods.

[Terbs]

So what you are saying is when we clear off to our caravan, attach this Ctek charger to whichever Omega we leave here, and it will keep the battery topped up.

[Kevin Wood]

So what you are saying is when we clear off to our caravan, attach this Ctek charger to whichever Omega we leave here, and it will keep the battery topped up.

Yep.

You even get a little plug on a lead that you can attach to the battery so it's quick to hook up.

[Marks DTM Calib]

As for the connecting to the battery whilst still on the vehicle, that depends on the charger 

[Dave DND]

leave on it if it's going to be parked up for long periods

Sorry to Hi-Jack a thread, but it seemed relavent -

Very Curious, as I have no real experience of these CTEK chargers - are you saying that it is ok to leave them connected to the battery for long periods of time - ie:winter hibernation or laid up Motorcycles?

Has anyone had any "good" experience doing this with solar panels (not the el-cheapo fag lighter plug in ones) but proper solar ones, and if so, what size panels do you need? Must be some caravanners amongs you with solar on the roof.

I currently have a car in the garage that doesn`t really see much tarmac (as it has no roof), and I would like to keep battery topped up so if I see sunshine, I can just jump in it without having to charge it first.

[TheBoy]

Leaving my CTEK connected to my ZX10 seems to always make the battery flat...  ...as if the charger wasn't there.

No idea why, I suspect the battery (why should it go flat on its own, no drain on it), but it was the same on the previous battery as well.

[Marks DTM Calib]

leave on it if it's going to be parked up for long periods

Sorry to Hi-Jack a thread, but it seemed relavent -

Very Curious, as I have no real experience of these CTEK chargers - are you saying that it is ok to leave them connected to the battery for long periods of time - ie:winter hibernation or laid up Motorcycles?

Has anyone had any "good" experience doing this with solar panels (not the el-cheapo fag lighter plug in ones) but proper solar ones, and if so, what size panels do you need? Must be some caravanners amongs you with solar on the roof.

I currently have a car in the garage that doesn`t really see much tarmac (as it has no roof), and I would like to keep battery topped up so if I see sunshine, I can just jump in it without having to charge it first.

Indeed you can connect and forget Dave, they are considered the Rolls Royce of charger almost.

The key thing is that battery charging is actualy very difficult to do well and long term. There are at least three stages of charging, Bulk (80%), absorption (20%) and float (maintenance), the trouble is that the float charge can boil them dry (as per burglar alarms etc!).

The more advanced chargers adjust the charge rate dependent on ambient temperture (as the battery celll voltage is dependent on temperature) and when in float mode, will actualy stop charging and drop into a monitor state and then re-charge when required, some even carry out a gentle discharge and top up.

The result is a charger that will not damage the battery and maintain it at a fully charged level indefinately. Whats more is that because the charge is kept at or very close to 100%, sulphation does not occur (which is the biggest killer for batteries and can start to form at charge levels sub 90%)

As for the solar panels, I have been playing with one for maintaining the battery on a loading shovel we have stored line side at a remote location, sadly the results are not great as there they lack the intelligence required (as per above) to 'look after' the battery long term.

Its worth noting that there are other options for chargers other than Ctek now as the rest of the industry catch up.

[Marks DTM Calib]

Leaving my CTEK connected to my ZX10 seems to always make the battery flat...  ...as if the charger wasn't there.

No idea why, I suspect the battery (why should it go flat on its own, no drain on it), but it was the same on the previous battery as well.

Hmmm, something must be fooling the charge monitor circuits.

[TheBoy]

Leaving my CTEK connected to my ZX10 seems to always make the battery flat...  ...as if the charger wasn't there.

No idea why, I suspect the battery (why should it go flat on its own, no drain on it), but it was the same on the previous battery as well.

Hmmm, something must be fooling the charge monitor circuits.

From memory, the battery is 14Ahr, which is within the CTEK's spec. Although its not a great quality battery.

Its on, as we speak, I bet it won't even pull in the starter solenoid if I tried to start it. After reconnecting, I bet it would charge for about half an hour, then go to float.

"Seems" to be OK on a normal sized car battery - the one I removed from Goldie is kept topped up on the CTEK, for about a week every 6 months or so....

[TheBoy]

Its XS800, BTW

[Dave DND]

Leaving my CTEK connected to my ZX10 seems to always make the battery flat...  ...as if the charger wasn't there.

No idea why, I suspect the battery (why should it go flat on its own, no drain on it), but it was the same on the previous battery as well.

I borrowed a so called "smart charger" for a while from one of our distributors and had exactly the same problem on my Honda 650 - if anything, the battery took longer to go flat with the charger disconnected ! My initial feelings were that whilst the battery was the correct size according to the documentation, that in reality, the current draw may have been too insignificant to turn the charger on, and the charger was simply viewed as a "load" instead - never tried it on the car

I know that you cannot simply plug a solar panel in, and there are some sophisticated charger / monitor interfaces out there, but tryig to read up on them is a bit of a minefield - curious though, what size solar panel are you using?