Tennentslager Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Not enough solar available at this time of year for my 125Ah leisure battery so bought a trickle charger 4Amp and brought the battery home for an overnight charge. Took it back to the Hut and wired it back up to the charge controller and it's now reading 1.2v? Previously it was 11.8v so how have I managed to sook the juice out of the battery instead of putting more in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crofter Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Even a completely irrevocably dead battery will still read something like eight or nine volts, in my experience. Apologies for stating the obvious, but is there any chance that the display only has two digits and is actually reading 12v? (which would still not be ideal as it should be about 13.2 for a recently charged battery in good condition). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tennentslager Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 No it's a nice LCD display with lots of space. Also shows low bat indicator which wasn't on yesterday... Maybe the charger is faulty, any way to check, I don't have any meter... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crofter Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 You could try putting a bulb across the terminals and see if it lights up? LED ones are fairly sensitive to voltage but I'm guessing you may not happen to have a 12v one lying around to hand. The Crofting way would be to check if you can get a spark by brushing a wire connected to one terminal across the other terminal (fleeting contact only). If the battery really is at 1.2v then you won't get anything. Another obvious one, does the charger have different modes? E.g. a 6v one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temp Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Did you "charge" it backwards? I think most chargers will blow a fuse if you do that but if not then that might explain it. Has the battery been left cold and flat for any length of time? I found that's a good way to kill a lead acid battery. I now try and keep them on a float charger between use to prolong their life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tennentslager Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 I hope not. I'm guessing but I reckon the charge controller protects it from a full discharge. The controller has connections for solar panel, battery and load/output. Watching the controller panel, once the battery is around 11.8v it cuts all output and won't come back on until the panel has charged it back to 12v. This has been fairly common for the last month. The charger I bought was cheap at 12 quid but it has reverse polarity protection in that it will blow the fuse which I didn't do. I'm now suspecting that disconnecting the battery from the controller has caused it to have a hissy fit. Might go back up tomorrow and give it a chap with my claw hammer. Or maybe spend a tenner at screwfix and buy a multi meter??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Multimeter is the first bit of kit you need. At the moment your just fumbling around in the dark . Get a reading off the battery and come back to us. Can you connect all the 12v stuff up directly to the battery and see if the charger actually did charge it? If not, can you check the fuse on the output side of the charger? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tennentslager Posted December 31, 2016 Author Share Posted December 31, 2016 Battery is at 12.53v so twiddled a bit and bingo...loose connection at charge controller. Houston we have lift off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crofter Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 Isn't it nice when things turn out to be simple Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 (edited) It is still worth buying a multimeter and an ampclamp, they can tell you a lot about what is happening in wires. Edited December 31, 2016 by SteamyTea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tennentslager Posted December 31, 2016 Author Share Posted December 31, 2016 Yes, got the one from screwfix for a tenner, that's how I knew the battery was at 12.53v? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 Happy days. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steptoe Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 As an aside, 4amp charge on a 125Ah battery is not a trickle charge in reality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 10 hours ago, Steptoe said: As an aside, 4amp charge on a 125Ah battery is not a trickle charge in reality. Yup. Shouldn't matter if it's a smart charger as it'll charge according to the state of the battery. Mine stops and gives a 'fully charged' indication and then gives just a tiny tickle to maintain it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steptoe Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 We use this type of charger, It's actually a slightly different variant, but made by the same people, I'd rate them as excellent chargers, http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/performance/battery-chargers-conditioners/optimate-4-dual-program-charger-with-free-extra-waterproof-battery-sae-lead Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now