It has a sensor that indicates when your charge is too low and needs to start charging, or senses your battery is charged and will stop supplying a charge. https://www.patreon.com/dannyjohnsonThis is a quick video about the battery tender. Float chargers are microprocessor controlled and will only charge a battery when it is able to accept a charge. Eliminating surface charge helps to ensure a reading that accurately reflects the alternator’s charging capabilities. These are entry-level prices that don t include labor. Green Light on Steady –It indicates that the charge is complete. To determine whether or not your battery charger is putting out as much voltage as it’s supposed to, you’ll first need to make sure that there’s electricity running to it. One bad battery can bring the performance of the entire set down. When this happens for a long time, the battery acid levels will drop due to evaporation, the lead plates will sulfate and can be exposed (which will cause irreparable damage), and the chemistry in the battery changes for the worse. However, check you battery specifications for the proper charge rate. Have battery load tested. Phases of a modern three-stage smart charger: I prefer to have an actual battery charger with a higher upfront amperage that can bring back a nearly dead battery in a decent amount of time but that is intelligent enough to switch to a lower amperage float mode and only top off my battery when it needs it. If it reads 11.5 volts or lower, the battery is most likely sulfated and needs replacing. How To Tell If Your Battery Needs To Be Recharged. I recently found that my battery was dead. When a battery is very low on charge, say 40%, it can accept a higher amp charge and readily convert the electrical energy into potential chemical energy (that can then be released as electricity when a circuit is completed). If you’re looking for a fantastic battery charger and maintainer (with float mode, NOT trickle) that will keep your batteries constantly in prime condition and healthy without fear of overcharging, I recommend this charger from Amazon that I have been using for over 6 years without a single hiccup. While both can effectively charge and top off your battery if used correctly, there are a few precautions you’ll want to take before hooking these up to your car or other battery and simply setting it and forgetting it. wikiHow, Inc. is the copyright holder of this image under U.S. and international copyright laws. If the voltage is less than 12.4 volts (for a 12 volt battery) or 24.8 volts (for a 24 volt battery), which is typically 75% of charge, the battery may be too heavily sulfated to be fully recoverable. For example, a good place to charge any battery is a well ventilated room with plenty of space for the battery to “breathe.” Use the right charging mode for different battery types. This Duracell® charger with Float mode was about double the price of the Deltran Battery Tender®, but also comes with an optional “Recovery” mode which will desulfate the battery if I choose to do that for optimal battery life. Save Share. This image is not<\/b> licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text content and some other images posted to the wikiHow website. Cramming too much electricity (amps, in the case of a charger) will result in the battery converting as much as it can into storable energy, but the rest has to go somewhere. When searching for a float charger, there are certainly very task-specific float chargers that only have a low amp rating and are designed specifically to supply a small current. If there’s no change in the reading, a failing alternator could be to blame. Reply. I have brought a few back from the dead. Some multimeters have input ports that make it possible to plug certain types of power supply jacks directly into the tool. To avoid this, always double-check that it's set for the type of current you're gauging at a voltage higher than that of your device. Switch the position of the probes and try again. For reference, a standard lithium ion battery is rated for around 4 volts of electricity. The + of the charger has to match the + of the battery, and the + of the battery is indeed shielded. This may mean the battery already has a full charge. As the battery approaches its full charge, it cannot accept as much electricity because it is running out of capacity to store it. This means that as the excess electricity passes through the electrolyte solution, it causes the hydrogen and oxygen molecules within the battery acid to break down, evaporate, the battery to heat up, and sulfation to occur on the lead plates inside the battery. This image is not<\/b> licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text content and some other images posted to the wikiHow website. "charge" the battery if it ins't 100-percent, and it won't overcharge a battery. The reason that a trickle charger can damage a battery if hooked-up for a long time can be explained by what happens when a battery charges. A good battery tender has smart technology built into it (I can’t think of any that don’t) that knows when the battery has reached its full charge and shuts down automatically. Warning: Operating your multimeter on the wrong settings could overload it, or even result in more serious damage such as an explosion. Start by testing the resistance on the charger with your multimeter. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc.
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