![]() When you allow a problem to fester, it has a domino effect of causing other problems - like you put it on a charger, the battery cooks out, you then drive it around with no functioning battery and burn something else out. The very fact you are putting the car on a charger for monthly gaps is itself a problem. My car has sat 6 months uncharged and started (with a tiny bit of complaining) on a 3 year old battery. Your car should be able to sit 1 month uncharged and start right up. You have to have a zero tolerance policy toward electrical problems that drain the battery when the key is in the "off" position. What Should You Do With a Drained Battery Once a car battery has been drained below a state of full discharge, the damage has been done. ![]() If your car has battery-draining gremlins, fix them Note this brand isn't even offered on Amazon they mainly trade to industry, which has no tolerance for cheap junk that doesn't work. If you want to leave a charger on 24x7, you need to use a charger capable of the task. If this is an alt-technology battery like lithium, then it was either misapplied (9-cell nickel) or is a piece of junk. I gather no one was adding or checking water routinely otherwise by month 3 they would be noticing the battery was using an awful lot of water and that would prompt them to take a hard look at the standby charger. This is so common that I assume this is what happened. The charger was not a proper 3-stage charger, or didn't know how to shut off at the end of stage 3, and so it cheerfully overcharged the battery to its eventual doom. I suspect what happened is your staff bought what was readily available on the marketplace that claimed to be a "good one" (don't they all), slapped it on there, and expected the charger and the battery to "just get along". Not every charger is equalĪnd the market is so flooded with cheap junk that it's really hard to find a good one. Lithium packs are even more feisty given their fiery failure modes they absolutely require internal protective circuits to shield the battery from overcharge or undercharge. ![]() For instance a 9-cell nickel pack will be destroyed if placed on a lead-acid charger a 10-cell nickel pack will simply undercharge, which doesn't harm it. These require different charging curves and are not compatible with lead-acid chargers. Now it is possible to get other chemistries of battery such as nickel or lithium based. (Gold-plated cell interconnects? Corinthian leather plate spacers?) If the technology is lead-acid, age in years will be the single most important factor, and there will be little performance difference between a common run-of-the-mill Exide and a "quality" car battery, whatever that is. This is halfway between a daily automotive use (where that is true) and less-than-once-yearly emergency-power use (where that is also true). I had to use this method last year and the culprit was the remote locking system picking up my wife's keys somehow and activating the lock solenoid all night long.Any auto battery used monthly and competently charged in-between should last 4-8 years depending on conditions. ![]() It's going to take some testing with a multimeter to tell how much voltage will develop during small current draws, but it's probably at least 10 watts to drain a healthy battery overnight during the summer. It will always register a few milliamps to keep the radio stations set but if it goes up, you will know. 12V Car Battery Protector, Smart Automatic Battery Voltage Disconnect Switch Kit with LED Digital Voltmeter Display, Universal Auto Remote Control Power-off Switch Anti-leakage Power Protector 1 Count (Pack of 1) 5 8299 (82.99/Count) Save 5 with coupon FREE delivery Fri, May 5 Or fastest delivery Thu, May 4 Only 7 left in stock - order soon. A multimeter is more sensitive, but you have to watch it carefully. If you don't have a relay, a flashlight lightbulb wired in series with the ground cable will do the same thing, show when current is flowing. Use the relay to turn on an alarm so you can go see what's causing the draining. Even a small current from an activated circuit (like the door light) should cause the relay to trip. You could set up a low voltage relay in-line on the battery ground cable (obviously only for when parked at night). ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |