[TR] Battery troubles

[DAVID MASSEY]

 The old style chargers MUST be monitored, especially with newer batteries.  If you leave it hooked up too long you will boil off the electrolyte.  How long?  Depends on the state of charge.  What is the state of charge?  Is it 50%, 25%, 75%?  You can figure that out if you take an open circuit voltage reading, adjust for temperature and look it up on a chart.  Then guess how long to set the timer.
Or take a voltage reading periodically and don't forget to turn it off.  

Yes, the alternator doesn't do the three-phase charge regimen but it does regulate the voltage to 14 volts.  The old school chargers are just a transformer and a rectifier and when the battery achieves full charge the voltage will continue to rise and boil off the electrolyte.  The smart chargers will self-regulate to prevent that.  But if you want to babysit you charger by all means knock yourself out.

I am in the business of battery powered transport devices for medical equipment and patient transport and we use a lot of chargers to recharge the AGM batteries we use to power the devices and they work quite well and are well suited to the end users who will just plug them in and walk away for the weekend.  An old-school charger just simply will not work for us.

Hooking up a faulty battery to a smart charger and getting unsatisfactory results doesn't mean the charger is at fault.
 
Dave 

 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Alex & Janet Thomson <aljlthomson at charter.net>
To: 'bill beecher' <notakitcar at yahoo.com>; 'Chris Simo' <ccsimonsen at gmail.com>
Cc: 'list Triumph' <triumphs at autox.team.net>
Sent: Thu, Oct 15, 2020 9:06 am
Subject: Re: [TR] Battery troubles

I agree with Bill - get a conventional style next time, if you can find one. Even my local NAPA man said to buy an old charger and have it repaired rather than buy a "new, improved, new technology, it's faster, more efficient, easier, etc., etc." type of charger. I laugh when I see newer, fancier chargers with all of these different settings that recognize all of the different battery types - does the vehicle's alternator have all of those settings????

Use an old style charger and just monitor with a volt meter. 

Alex Thomson

-----Original Message-----
From: Triumphs [mailto:triumphs-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of bill beecher
Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2020 9:38 AM
To: Chris Simo
Cc: list Triumph
Subject: Re: [TR] Battery troubles

Call the manufacturer and ask them if it is telling you if a known good battery Is  bad. 

If it’s like my new Shumacher(sp?) charger it require some juice to work.  If the battery is 100% flat, it won’t see it.  Also, you cannot use as a power supply while bench testing anything.  It does have the Reddit’s that tell you what the voltage it or the percentage of charge.  

I’ll buy a conventional style next time.  

My two cents,
Bill B

#dontkillgrandma

On Oct 15, 2020, at 8:30 AM, Chris Simo <ccsimonsen at gmail.com> wrote:


My Tr4 hasn't gotten out at all this summer.  I put my new battery charger on it -  It's all electronic  vs my old one that just had a 3 position switch and an analog meter.

This new charger is quite fancy, it will tell you if the battery is connected backwards,  light a light with a bad battery, etc.  Trouble is I"m not sure I trust it.

I've had this thing tell me 4 batteries are bad.  I havent been driving my truck, my wife hasn't been driving her Z4,  and my mom's car battery showed bad as well....

I think I'm going to buy an old school charger and see what happens.  It's cheaper than buying one of the four batteries....

Or they just sat so long they died.....    Anyone have experience with those newer fancy chargers?  Any issues or concerns?

Thanks!
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