Battery Won't Charge

Audio, Electronics and Lighting questions and answers

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zephyrus17
Fast Driver
Posts: 440
Joined: Fri May 14, 2010 10:32 pm
Vehicle: NA6
Location: Adelaide

Battery Won't Charge

Postby zephyrus17 » Sun Aug 01, 2010 2:59 pm

I went back home for a holiday for 1 month and my 1990 na6 won't start. I bought a Projecta 400 trickle charger, set it to 12v, and connected the positive to positive, negative to negative. But it only says "Power On", the "Charging" light doesn't come on. The charger manual says it's just simply dead flat. Is this car a positive charged car so I have to connect the positive lead to the body and then to the battery?
Momo (aka 1990 white NA6)

zephyrus17
Fast Driver
Posts: 440
Joined: Fri May 14, 2010 10:32 pm
Vehicle: NA6
Location: Adelaide

Re: Battery Won't Charge

Postby zephyrus17 » Sun Aug 01, 2010 7:20 pm

Sorry for the double post, but I couldn't edit my previous one.

After some calling around, it turns out the previous owner used an acid based battery since he told me to 'add distilled water'. The charger won't work so I'll try Battery World tomorrow and see if I can get myself supercharge gold or some good gel based battery.
Momo (aka 1990 white NA6)

SPy vs. SPy
Racing Driver
Posts: 902
Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2004 7:40 pm
Vehicle: ND - 2
Location: In a fast car, so not an NC.

Re: Battery Won't Charge

Postby SPy vs. SPy » Sun Aug 01, 2010 9:06 pm

zephyrus17 wrote: Is this car a positive charged car so I have to connect the positive lead to the body and then to the battery?


The body of the car is ground or Negative, Positive is anything supplied by positive side of the battery and the alternator.

If you have the negative connected to the negative terminal of the battery then you have a dead short across your charger, hence no charging.

Disconnect the battery on both terminals and connect the charger Neg - Neg and Pos - Pos see what it says then.

If you have been advised to add distilled water I would be getting the alternator checked as it sounds like it is over-volting which is not good.

I would get the above checked ASAP and also get a Gel Cell ASAP too before your boot rusts off the car.
Went for a drive and there were slow cars everywhere, why are NC's so common . . . must be NC = Normally Cardiganed.

GP
Racing Driver
Posts: 1025
Joined: Tue Nov 21, 2006 10:42 am
Vehicle: ND - 2 GT
Location: Brisbane

Re: Battery Won't Charge

Postby GP » Mon Aug 02, 2010 1:09 pm

also get a Gel Cell ASAP too before your boot rusts off the car

Or better still an AGM battery
Graham

Mr Morlock
Speed Racer
Posts: 6444
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2008 11:40 am
Vehicle: NB8B
Location: Melbourne

Re: Battery Won't Charge

Postby Mr Morlock » Mon Aug 02, 2010 8:49 pm

check out what GP is saying- there was a very recent useful discussion about the right battery for the MX5

Insofar as charging is concerned the battery charger has a black lead and a red one. You connect these to battery red- positive + and black negative .If it is a wet cell batt it is probably wise to remove the plugs and also make sure there is distilled water covering the plates. The charger when switched on should show it is charging. A flat batt may take a couple of days to charge.


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