Charging battery

[Ragingrob]

Damn I have a lot of questions for you guys huh! Oh well gotta learn some way!

OK so I've put my battery on a battery charger as it seemed a bit low...all the battery charger has to offer is an ampere reading, no lights or anything. Soooo....how do I know when it's charged? How long does it usually take to just top up a battery?

Cheers .

[Ragingrob]

OK found out in the reader's digest - Book of the car . Apparently it's charged when reading falls to 1amp, sweet!

[davereid]

Thats just an estimate - the battery should not be allowed to get hot, or gas (like a frying egg sound). Generally I just give most small batteries 1/2 an hour on a car charger and they are AOK.

[breakaway]

Thats just an estimate - the battery should not be allowed to get hot, or gas (like a frying egg sound).

Oh dear. I got back from the North Shore, and took the arse end of my bike apart, and heard a hisssss sound coming from the battery. I didn't think much of it till I read this.

Is this bad? I've never had any problems with the battery before.

(Sorry for hijacking thread )

[davereid]

No, its prolly OK. A battery will charge any time that the voltage at its terminals is higher than the voltage the battery can produce. So a 12v battery in perfect condition will normally sit around 12.5-13 volts. Your alternator will produce about 13.8-14.5, so your battery will charge. It will get a little warm as it charges, and produce a small amount of gas as part of normal charging. But if you overcharge it (pretty hard on the bike unless the battery is crook) but very easy on a car charger, the battery will get very warm. And it will produce gas - hydrogen. Its dangerous as its very explosive, but its also a sign that the battery is self destructing.

So.. in summary, a small amount of gas is normal, but a hot battery with lots of bubbling is bad.

[Sidewinder]

OK found out in the reader's digest - Book of the car . Apparently it's charged when reading falls to 1amp, sweet!

sounds good to me. thats how our chargers for our electric forklifts work at work

[Pancakes]

sounds good to me. thats how our chargers for our electric forklifts work at work

You could have also said" ...... forklifts at work work." and then I would have given you rep for using the same word twice in a row correctly but nooooo, you have to go and mess it up!

Rob, get a testlight. Handy for heaps of stuff and you'll get used to how bright it gets at different voltages too.