Trickle charger

[Wino]

1 hour ago, StephenFord said:

Given enough time, did all the battery bars eventually come up for you?

No Stephen they didn't. It got as far as 3 bars when it registered 14.4v then I went to make a coffee and upon return it was reading 13.2v and two bars. 

Incidentally when I got in the car the following morning ( yesterday) the gizmo was still reading 11.9v via the interior socket. Only tonight after I finished work it was showing 12.4v on the gizmo so perhaps it needed a couple of key cycles to register it. 

[StephenFord]

20 minutes ago, Wino said:

No Stephen they didn't. It got as far as 3 bars when it registered 14.4v then I went to make a coffee and upon return it was reading 13.2v and two bars. 

 

That's odd, mine has always registered 'full bars' (5 from memory) when battery has reached full charge... Wonder if you have another car you can trial it on to confirm if it's the charger, or, your battery.

[Wino]

12 hours ago, StephenFord said:

That's odd, mine has always registered 'full bars' (5 from memory) when battery has reached full charge... Wonder if you have another car you can trial it on to confirm if it's the charger, or, your battery.

It was only on charge for 3hrs so perhaps it needs longer or maybe the system itself wont allow the battery to be charged over 80% ?

Hopefully it will be put on charge longer after my shift pattern ends on Sunday but I do have chauffeuring duties on Monday 🙄 

[StephenFord]

34 minutes ago, Wino said:

It was only on charge for 3hrs so perhaps it needs longer or maybe the system itself wont allow the battery to be charged over 80% ?

 

That could be the issue, 3 hours isn't that long for a '1st' charge. I've left mine on from dawn till dusk before, though now, a couple of hours will see it all fully charged up.

[Andyr55]

You need to leave it for longer. My charge went up and then down.

did you wait for the display to go green? 

[Wino]

It will be left for longer next time which hopefully will be Tuesday.

[Wino]

2 hours ago, Andyr55 said:

 

did you wait for the display to go green? 

Hard to tell when you have a green deficiency. Have great fun trying to read labels at work that have blue on a yellow background 🤣

[TomsFocus]

On 10/6/2021 at 4:42 PM, Wino said:

Ordered one of the Maypole chargers yesterday as my commute has now shortened to 1.6 miles each way after the recent house move. It arrived about an hour ago. 

Connected it up to the battery and its reading 12.6v compared to the gizmo connected via the dash port was reading 11.9v so a big difference.

20 mins in and its sitting at 12.8v.

When will I know its fully charged, does it automatically switch itself off ? 

Put mine on this morning.  Also read 12.6v...coincidence?  

Instructions suggest that 14.4v or 14.8v is the max charge so I guess that's when all 5 bars will be illuminated.

[Andyr55]

3 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Put mine on this morning.  Also read 12.6v...coincidence?  

Instructions suggest that 14.4v or 14.8v is the max charge so I guess that's when all 5 bars will be illuminated.

And the display goes green…..

[TomsFocus]

I've run out of time today so had to end it before full.

4 hours from 12.6v to 14.9v.  70Ah battery.  4 solid bars, one flashing.

Just checked the Focus quickly as well, still enough power to operate the RCL.  12.0v showing...  Anyone know how low it can go before the locks won't work? 

[Paulkp]

I cannot answer your question directly Tom, but on my 2001 Puma (which I had for eight years and 80k before I passed it on with 110k)  The boot solenoid would stop working, and just groan, but I could still start the car !  There could only have been one strand of copper running from the control module to the solenoid in the boot!

Thank fully all my cars do not have anything smart about them, (not even the driver !) batteries are not enhanced, and I generally use a charger that I got for my 21st Birthday so well over 40 years old !  Slightly modified, much thicker charging cable (think good quality loudspeaker cable) and I have an inline digital meter showing Voltage and Current.  I built a trickle charger from an "Elektor" magazine article about thirty years ago for winter storage, and I also have a trickle charger that came out of the£1.00 bin in Halford !  Batteries in cars have fly leads, using Tamiya Plug/sockets with fuses.

[StephenFord]

9 minutes ago, Paulkp said:

...and I generally use a charger that I got for my 21st Birthday so well over 40 years old ! 

Hey, I have one of those LOL

[unofix]

4 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Anyone know how low it can go before the locks won't work? 

Hi Tom, round about 12.0V the keyless locking/unlocking will only work on the drivers door (I know it happened to mine recently). It seems that at 11.6V the keyless system will shut down (but it might still unlock with the keyfob button). Anything below 11.4V expect to have to use the manual key

[Paulkp]

On 10/9/2021 at 6:55 PM, StephenFord said:

Hey, I have one of those LOL

I reckon you are younger than me.....

£1.00 Halfords Trickle charger

Homebuilt Trickle charger connected to Volts (red) and Amps (green) inline indicator

And the Trusty Davenset !

[Wino]

Update...

It's back on charge as of noon today.

Charger showing 12.9v when plugged in and two segments showing so will see how it today.

Slightly off Topic but this weeks commute was a grand total of 12.3 miles and returned a whopping 38.1mpg in normal mode 😮

[Wino]

Further update.......

battery fully charged by 4:30pm all segments lit and charger reading 13.1v which seemed a little odd as it was up to 13.8v during the charging process but I left it to it's own devices until all the segments were full.

Been out tonight for a short ish trip to local Asda 6.7miles away and the stop start kicked in as and when it should of.

Will leave it a month of short commute to work and back and see where it's at.

[unofix]

Hi David/Wino, you should consider using Forscan to adjust the battery state of charge which is most likely set to 80%.

I changed mine a few weeks ago now to 95% and everything just seems to be much happier (even me !).

[Wino]

32 minutes ago, unofix said:

Hi David/Wino, you should consider using Forscan to adjust the battery state of charge which is most likely set to 80%.

I changed mine a few weeks ago now to 95% and everything just seems to be much happier (even me !).

Hahaha......Computers and cars not an ideal mix. Struggling to remember the last time the Laptop was switched on. Finding it is the first issue.

[Wino]

Update ......

With the weather turning colder and commuting in darker mornings and evenings also having used the aircon and heated seat during this weeks commute with a grand total of 52.3 miles mostly around town so stuck the charger on this morning to see what it is reading and 12.2v down from 13.1v after last weeks charge.

Will it do any longer term damage to the battery if I keep putting it on charge on a regular basis ? 

 

[StephenFord]

16 minutes ago, Wino said:

Will it do any longer term damage to the battery if I keep putting it on charge on a regular basis ? 

 

Nope...

[Wino]

7 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

Nope...

I'm thinking along the line that it wasn't put on the charger for long enough first time around although all 5 segments were lit and it was reading 13.1v. 

I've put on charge about an hour ago and it's gone from 12.2v all the way up to 15v and dropped back down to 13.2v and keeps creating the same process but each time it drops down its reading slightly goes up so up to 15v down to 13.2v then up to 15v down to 13.3v > 13.4v>13.5v and so on.

The instructions are not very clear tbh but I'm presuming it goes through this mode of up/down until it reaches its maximum SOC.

[StephenFord]

Just now, Wino said:

I'm thinking along the line that it wasn't put on the charger for long enough first time around although all 5 segments were lit and it was reading 13.1v. 

I've put on charge about an hour ago and it's gone from 12.2v all the way up to 15v and dropped back down to 13.2v and keeps creating the same process but each time it drops down its reading slightly goes up so up to 15v down to 13.2v then up to 15v down to 13.3v > 13.4v>13.5v and so on.

The instructions are not very clear tbh but I'm presuming it goes through this mode of up/down until it reaches its maximum SOC.

Boy, are you ever over thinking this LOL It's called a 'smart' charger for a reason. This is my original charger bought 40 years ago...

I use to have to measure the voltage regularly, decide if I wanted to leave it on charge, wonder if the gauge was accurate etc etc LOL

The charger you have, just plug it in and forget about it, when battery is at maximum available charge, you'll have 5 x bar battery on screen and it will glow green. Don't try and second guess it, it really is smarter than you! 🤣

 

[Wino]

Lol. After having typed my previous post it has dropped back to 13.1v and all 5 segments are full. 👍

I think it's done 😄

[unofix]

3 minutes ago, Wino said:

has dropped back to 13.1v

mmmmm....... I think it's under done. A fully charged battery just off charge should be 13.6V and then drop back to about 13.4V after 1 hour.

Don't be in a hurry to disconnect the charger - you can't over charge it, you could leave it on charge for a week and it would still be fine.

[Wino]

7 minutes ago, unofix said:

mmmmm....... I think it's under done. A fully charged battery just off charge should be 13.6V and then drop back to about 13.4V after 1 hour.

Don't be in a hurry to disconnect the charger - you can't over charge it, you could leave it on charge for a week and it would still be fine.

It seems to stay at 13.1v and briefly goes to 13.0v for perhaps 1 second then stays at 13.1v for a while and rinse and repeat with all 5 segments lit.