Battery charging question....

[Silvia]

Bought a little charger from Jaycar mainly to keep the NB original 11yr old battery going. It's a 1 Amp one that has a red light when charging and green when trickle charging - and after half to one hour it goes fine onto trickle mode...
I have two other cars (Corollas) one with a 3 yr. old battery and one with a new battery, but no matter how long I leave the charger on them they don't go into trickle mode (make lots of bubbles though...) both batteries function fine but when I leave them unused it would be good to know they are on trickle charge to keep the battery ready to go..and I don't want to overcharge them (if that's possible?) by leaving them charging full power mode for weeks......
Anyone know what's going on?

[bootz]

If you get a solar one there is no need for elect connection.

[taminga16]

Hi Silv,
Somewhere on the charger there will be indication of the output, in the mean time don't allow the battery to "make lots of bubbles though..." all of that vapour has to go somewhere and you will find that you are constantly topping up the electrolyte, the cause may be some calcification in the cells or electrolyte levels, and do not use tap water.
A drive is always better than a static charge, get those cars out for a good thashing. Check out 'INOX Battrolyte', I used it in my diesel ute when new (7 years ago), the car has lived outside for the past four years we have extreme frosts and the battery is showing no signs of giving up.

[Silvia]

thanks Greg
It's one A/H power , but instructions are sparse. Yes I do use battery conditioner and honestly, the older Corolla battery has never failed without a charger ,even when we were 9 weeks OS
With the bubbles, comes increased using up of the battery conditioner, you are right.
What I'm not understanding is that while it takes less than an hour to bring the MX original battery up to trickle charge level ,
the new and the older conventional batteries never get up to that trickle level, though the charger is obviously working.....

[Apu]

Get a solar one. Plug it into the cigarette lighter, leave the panel on your dash.

[taminga16]

I have a Solar charger for my mower and it only makes about 300 milliamps, set and forget, I use a pulse charger on my motorcycles that runs through a timer,on and off once a week. Are you dissconnecting the batteries prior to charging?
Greg.

[Silvia]

Thanks guys - Silvia lives in an underground cave far from Qld. sunlight and all it's harm.
No, charging from mains , "real" electricity is what I use and the power is going to the batteries ok.
It's just that two of them refuse to cooperate and reach "trickle level" no matter how long left on. Instructions read
to clamp onto terminals , but after looking up the interweb I've tried removing negative cables and clamping to an earth instead and removing battery from cars completely (radio hates that and needs resetting) all to no avail.

[hks_kansei]

If the batteries aren't going flat is there a need to keep them on the charger?


Battery size may play a role as well, MX5s use pretty tiny batteries compared to some others.
The MX5 battery charges a lot faster than the Kingswood's battery at home. And the kingswood battery is substantially larger than the MX5

[Silvia]

We go overseas often for a month or more and it's good to know there isn't a flat battery on return home. The Corolla batteries are pretty small - in size about the same though not AGM type of course.
Maybe I should call the battery co.?

[JBT]

Disconnect the batteries while you are away.

[Mr Morlock]

the MX5 battery if original is an AGM and a fast charge will kill them. A trickle charger is essentially charging at a low rate and is ideal for the MX5. Like a lot of things why not go down to the local auto elect and ask for some advice. I cannot see what harm a trickle charger would do to a standard battery since it is supposed to stop charging when it reaches full charge. It was common practise to remove cell plugs when charging lead acid batteries. Removing batteries also can be a bit tricky eg radio etc and sometimes engine idling can be a problem on some vehicles. Most batteries will be ok with a jump start or even a recharge provided the condition is reasonable. As JBT inferred - batteries on some cars draw current which you are not always aware of and so disconnecting if practical can assure it is not draining incrementally.