Battery charging when its cold out

[Donald]

This afternoon as the temp was approaching 0F I connected up a Schumacher Speedcharger battery charger to the battery in my Bobcat. I have not used the Bobcat since Nov and its been in an unheated barn. Immediately the battery charger said it was 98% and the charger proceeded to charge it. Maybe 30 minutes latter it was 100%. I find that odd as I would have expected it to be down to 80% or so not having been used for a couple of months.

The battery is a large truck battery and this is an older 843 Bobcat so there is nothing electronic to require juice if the Bobcat is shut off.

I now have my Batteryminder and its temp compensated. See how that goes.

I assume its cold weather related.

I do not believe the Schumacher Speercharger is temp compensated.

 

[901Memphis]

No the Schumacher is definitely not temperatures compensated.

I suspect the bobcat is better at not having parasitic draw compared to a modern car because of the less complex electronics on it.

 

[old1]

Some batteries in some applications don't drain much. I have left the battery untouched in my 65 mustang while stored for the winter for the last several years, and when I test it in the spring both the voltage and the specific gravity are good to go. Now of course my 95 ford ranger that hardly gets used summer or winter, I put a green knob quick disconnect on, so it is always ready to go too.

 

[toneydoc]

That battery must be in good condition not to lose much charge. Heat kills a battery and then they happen to fail when it gets cold. Keep her charged up

 

[eljefino]

My mom used to keep 9V batteries and film in the back of the fridge. Slows the chemical self-destructing. (You don't have parasitic discharge.) Just warm it up before use for best results.

 

[Donald]

Its an Interstate battery. Less choice when its not a car or pickup truck size battery.

 

[Trav]

Just make sure the case on any battery is not bulged in freezing weather. A bulged battery is usually the sign of a frozen battery and can explode when put on a charger especially higher amp or jump start ones.

 

[wrcsixeight]

The colder the weather, the less the self discharge of a battery is. If there are no parasitic loads, a fully charged battery kept cold might only self discharge slightly when sitting unused.

http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/self_discharge

Do not believe the % remaining readout on the speed charge. In cold weather restart it on the agm lowest amp setting it will float at 13.5 or .6 which is more appropriate for 40F average on a 13.2@77f flooded battery.

The AGM setting also keeps the whack job schumacher from going as high as 16.4 volts, as my Sc2500a occasionally decides to do.

 

[GaleHawkins]

Donald I have stopped using the same charger for the same reason. I think the software errors on the side of under charging batteries.

My go to charger is a manual 6 amp charger that is $20 at TSC a few times a year. I was down to my last one and picked up two at $20 each a few months ago.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/traveller-2-6a-manual-battery-charger

The cool feature I have learned is it is the best battery tester that I have found in my 65 years. If overnight on the 6 amp setting a 12v battery charging rate will drop to 1 amp and the output voltage will work up near or to 16 volts if the battery is in good health. If it will only drop down to say 2 amp charging rate overnight it is best to save up for a new battery.

I just put it on Ford car this afternoon that we got last month. Within one hour the charging rate was down to 1 amp and the output voltage. It looks like a new Ford Mastercraft and this charging rate within only one hour proves it health.

When the charge voltage is at or near 16 volts it is also providing an equalizing charge that is a feature on some high end chargers. I have forgot and let batteries charge at this 1 amp rate for weeks without issues. In hot weather that could over charge a battery I expect.

A manual charger is handy when a battery gets discharged too low for an Automatic charger to sense it is a battery and start charging the highly discharged battery.

 

[JHZR2]

Sounds right to me. The group 49 in my mb diesels can sit for months and still be more or less full soc. No radio memory, ecu, fuel,pump pre-prime, etc...

 

[Donald]

Its -14F here near Albany which is crazy cold for us here. Turned off my BatteryMinder 2012 as its says operating temp only to 0F.

BatteryMinder has a couple of new chargers on their website that seems to have all the options ever needed. A little pricey however.