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Old 02-27-2021, 10:41 PM
Poncho60 Poncho60 is offline
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Default Battery condition?

I've got a battery sitting in my car unhooked. I've been regularly charging. Up until a day ago, the battery has been around 12.6V before charging. When the charger was turned on, the amp reading would immediately go up to 8-9 amps and then drift down to 3 amps or a little less. A day ago I went to charge it. The voltage before charging was like before, 12.58V. However, when I hooked up the charger and turned it on, the amp gauge went to about 3 amps and then dropped to about half that. When I checked the voltage shortly after removing the charger, the battery voltage was basically the same as all the previous times I had charged it. When it was charging the voltage was around 15V or a little higher. Wondering if my battery is toast or the amp gauge on my charger is bad. Any feedback would be much appreciated. Thx RA

  #2  
Old 02-28-2021, 06:37 PM
tjs72lemans tjs72lemans is offline
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If I read this correct, your battery is charged and your charger is acting as it should. When first charging, the meter will read high and as it senses no need to charge a full battery, it starts to fall back on the charge it wants to send. If it didn't do this, it would continue to send too high of a charge to a full charged battery and cause problems to your battery. A better way to keep a battery charged fully, is to use a battery maintainer. It quits sending a charge when fully charged. If battery drops voltage, maintainer automatically sends a charge to the battery.

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Old 02-28-2021, 10:01 PM
Poncho60 Poncho60 is offline
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Thx for the reply. What you stated I already understand. I am wondering what is up since on this latest charging session, the amps did not jump up to 8-9 amps when I initially turned on the charger. Went to about 3 amps immediately and then immediately dropped to about 1-1/2 amps and stayed there.

  #4  
Old 03-01-2021, 01:52 AM
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Jack Gifford Jack Gifford is offline
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Same ambient temperature?

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Old 03-01-2021, 10:27 AM
Poncho60 Poncho60 is offline
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Temp probably about the same..mid 40's ? About 3-4 weeks between charges, but in between we had about 2 weeks of pretty cold weather. It's an attached, insulated but unheated garage. Probably got down to mid to high 20's for a few of those days.

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Old 03-01-2021, 10:50 AM
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Stuart Stuart is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Poncho60 View Post
Temp probably about the same..mid 40's ? About 3-4 weeks between charges, but in between we had about 2 weeks of pretty cold weather. It's an attached, insulated but unheated garage. Probably got down to mid to high 20's for a few of those days.
A disconnected battery will discharge more slowly in cold weather, so it's possible what you saw with a lower amp reading is the battery just didn't need as much charge.

For what it's worth, I typically disconnect the battery in my car in the fall and don't touch it again until spring, and it still has enough charge on it to start the car.

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