Charging Battery - -Amps?

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I have a 2005 Civic and the battery has been struggling the past couple of weeks in the cold weather. I have only taken short trips with the car the past month. I have a smart charger which allows me to charge at 2, 4 or 6 amps. I am not in a rush. Is it any better to charge a battery at 2 or 6 amps in terms of battery reliability? What would you charge it at?
 
I am absolutely not an expert on this but my smart charger will try settle in at 2 amps and then less as it charges, but if the battery was quite depleted it might start out at 6 amps. Take a look at what it is doing at the 6 amp setting and what it does at the two amp setting. If it starts at 6 and stays there, try 2 amps (if you have more time). The lower setting is probably better if you have the time.
 
My Ctek charges at 4.3 but I have no control over that. What charger do you have, I thought smart chargers adjusted all that for you.
 
Originally Posted By: Duffyjr
I thought smart chargers adjusted all that for you.

They do, but some of them also allow you to limit max current that can be pushed. For a small motorcycle/OPE battery you may want to limit current to 2A. For larger car batteries, 10A or more may be appropriate.
 
Lower amps will be a more complete charge but will take longer. Also easier on the battery.
 
Originally Posted By: tmorris1
Lower amps will be a more complete charge but will take longer. Also easier on the battery.


For a normal car battery 6 amps is pretty low IMO.
 
The initial current is not as important as charging long enough to fully charge the battery.
The charger maintains about 14V, then the charge current the battery accepts will fall
as the battery fills up.
A healthy battery of the size in a Civic (~50AH)will accept less than 2 amps when nearly full.
Example, recently charged the battery in my Matrix:
First, I do it every 3-6 months due to infrequent use (6K miles/yr) and short trips.
Battery rest voltage 12.5V. Temp ~60F
Using an adjustable supply (I like to be in control) set to 14V, initial charge current 2A (limit of supply).
Falls to 0.75A at 5 minutes, 0.65A at 2 hours, still 0.65A at 4 hours, 0.23A at 12 hours (overnight).
So you see the current reached a plateau that lasted for several hours.
It takes time to drive out sulfation on the plates.
My last battery was still going strong after 9 years of this routine when I swapped it.
Just didn't want to try for a 10th winter.
 
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If it won't charge up then yes I will be looking for a new battery. I am just trying to get whatever I can out of it.
 
Originally Posted By: Rand
Originally Posted By: tmorris1
Lower amps will be a more complete charge but will take longer. Also easier on the battery.


For a normal car battery 6 amps is pretty low IMO.


Yup. For a 60 AH battery, 6A current is barely 0.1C. That should be well within what the battery can handle.
 
How old is this battery?? Has it been maintenance charged regularly before this?? What type of battery is this?? AGM, flooded ?? If this battery is 6 years or older then you really should just buy a new one if possible.
 
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The battery is four years old, flooded, it has been maintained by checking water level and charging at least a couple times a year.
 
I have recently gotten a NOCO Genius smart charger. Very good at returning battery to full operating condition including de-sulfating. A bit spendy, but well worth it for good battery maintenance
smile.gif


Older chargers are mostly limited by voltage and do not pulse charge. Really good smart chargers can spike the voltage to de-sulfate, and keep the battery from cooking.

In all cases you should see a battery "on the float" at 13.8 or slightly higher when done. If not there, keep charging
smile.gif
 
Well, to finish the story... I charged it at 6 amps all day yesterday until I went to bed. At that time I set it back down to 2 amps. This morning when it got up the green light showed that it was fully charged. I hooked the cables back up and the car started right up. It is a relatively warm February day at 8 degrees C (46 F). I will see how long it lasts when the cold weather returns. Thanks to everyone for your help.
 
Same reason I bought the SOLAR PL2320 listed in the following link:

http://www.cloreautomotive.com/sku.php?id=503


Originally Posted By: BrocLuno
I have recently gotten a NOCO Genius smart charger. Very good at returning battery to full operating condition including de-sulfating. A bit spendy, but well worth it for good battery maintenance
smile.gif


Older chargers are mostly limited by voltage and do not pulse charge. Really good smart chargers can spike the voltage to de-sulfate, and keep the battery from cooking.

In all cases you should see a battery "on the float" at 13.8 or slightly higher when done. If not there, keep charging
smile.gif
 
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