Stupid battery charging question..

[aaronjb]

It's time for 'Aaron's daft question of the day'..  s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

On all my other cars I've always unhooked the battery before putting a charger on, but then they've always either had no alarm or an aftermarket alarm..

So, my daft question of the night is - should I disconnect the -ve before charging, or not.. If I do, I suppose I'd better locate the manual otherwise I'll set the alarm off  s:) s:)

(wonders where he left the manual..)

Ta,
Aaron

[GSB]

Probabley not playing strictly by the rules, but in all my driving days, I habe never disconnected the battery to charge it in the car... The reason usually being that I cant be bothered...

[aaronjb]

Cheers Grant - for some reason I've always been paranoid about it.. I suppose that's going back to my first battery charger (which was my granddads  s:eek: :eek: s:eek:  )..

Thinking about it - if the cars electrics can handle having jump leads slapped onto the battery, it can easily handle a little bit of trickle charging from a modern battery charger..

Now.. wonder if I can get the boot lid shut with the charger in so I can leave the doors locked..  s:? :? s:?   s:) s:)

Ta,
Aaron

[Anonymous]

This may help, search buttons are wonderful  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:    s:lol: :lol: s:lol:    s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

 m http://www.mr2roc.org/forum/viewtopic.p ... ery+charge m

[aaronjb]

This may help, search buttons are wonderful  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:    s:lol: :lol: s:lol:    s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

Pfft.. I'll give you 'search'...  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:   s:) s:)

Hmm.. to leave connected or not.. meh, more confused now  s:P s:P

If I can find where I left the manwhel, I think I might just disconnect the battery.. If not, I'll risk it.. heh  s:) s:)

Aaron < lazy bugger..

[Anonymous]

Manual says disconnect  s:roll: :roll: s:roll:

[GSB]

Thats the safest way to do it. However on the real world, it rarely happens... Steve IS correct in what he says in the linked post above, but the practicalities of life sometimes get in the way. Occasionaly, horrific design gets in the way too, take the TVR Tuscan for instance. To get at the battery you have to remove the NSF wheel, and then take out the arch liner to even see it... They do allow you to connect a charger to the battery via a plug and socket arrangment in the sill though, but the batttey remains connected during charging. Same goes for that little Lotus Elise based track car they made a few years ago (340R or something?). That requires the entire body to be removed in order to get at the battery!

Modern vehicle electronics are essentially bulletproof now, You can even wire ECU's up completly wrong and get away with it, so the risk is minimal... its just a shame that if it does go wrong, you have to pay out an awful lot of money to fix it!

[aaronjb]

Cheers Grant - I'll take the risk I think and put the charge on it in a bit set to trickle, as it's been stood for a couple of weeks again - last time I left it standing it struggled to crank, and seeing as the first thing I need to do is start it and drive a mile to the petrol station..  s:) s:)

Manual says disconnect  s:roll: :roll: s:roll:

If I can find where I left the manwhel

s:roll: :roll: s:roll:

[aaronjb]

Crud..

Checked the battery - 9.4v  s:( s:(  (It's been stood for three weeks or so I should think) but my long extension is nowhere to be found, so I'll have to remove the battery..

Does anyone with a UK car know if the alarm will start going off when I pull the battery? There's nothing about it in the manual (which I found under the seat, d'oh)..

Ta,
Aaron

[edit] Ignore me - I found the extension lead (hidden behind six boxes, the cars hardtop and under a table at the back of the shed..  s:lol: :lol: s:lol: ) Phew.

[kanujunkie]

best thing for a good charge, if it starts, go for a good long drive!  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

but you should disconnect the battery to trickle charge it. A full charge should only be done by a qualified technician as it involves balanceing the SG (specific gravity) of the battery before charging and in most cases the battery is sealed and this can't be done. Trickle chargeing it tries to slowly bring the voltage back to normal as it would when your driving the car. So back to my first point, go for a good long drive, much more fun.  s:D s:D

[aaronjb]

So back to my first point, go for a good long drive, much more fun.  s:D s:D

 s:) s:)  I'd love to.. don't have the time these days  s:( s:(  I tend to be working 9am-3am 7 days a week, which doesn't leave any time for.. well, anything  s:( s:(  I've got to the point of pondering selling the '2 as I simply don't use it..

It's down to the fuel light anyhow, so needs a charge before I go to the petrol station - otherwise I'll stop there.. and end up calling the AA out  s:) s:)

Might squeeze a drive in this evening though, as I need to use the car tomorrow to pick my mother up from the station - don't want to be breaking down then really!

[kanujunkie]

s:( s:(  I've got to the point of pondering selling the '2 as I simply don't use it..

Noooooooh! don't do it, you'll only regret it mate  s:( s:(