[wanderernomad]

Yesterday my car refused to start. All lights came on but instead of a crank all I got was a tick noise and nothing moved. Got the driver to push start it later in the day and he took it to a workshop who diagnosed it as a battery fault. 2 days ago the turn indicators had stopped working and I had thought that maybe the fuse has gone kaput. But yesterday they came on as well when the battery was changed. Now they are charging my battery to see if it works. Upon checking I was told that the PLATES HAVE GONE HARD. Now what does that mean? There was enough electrolyte in the battery and it is only about 15 months old EXIDE MHD 700. How can I check if the alternator is charging it fully or not?

[evilshantanu]

Originally Posted by wanderernomad

Yesterday my car refused to start. All lights came on but instead of a crank all I got was a tick noise and nothing moved. Got the driver to push start it later in the day and he took it to a workshop who diagnosed it as a battery fault. 2 days ago the turn indicators had stopped working and I had thought that maybe the fuse has gone kaput. But yesterday they came on as well when the battery was changed. Now they are charging my battery to see if it works. Upon checking I was told that the PLATES HAVE GONE HARD. Now what does that mean? There was enough electrolyte in the battery and it is only about 15 months old EXIDE MHD 700. How can I check if the alternator is charging it fully or not?

All the modern cars give you a warning on your instrument panel in case the alternator is not working fine.
Additionally in your normal stop and go city traffic you cannot expect a full charging of the battery, a couple of highway trips can do the job for you on that front.

[wanderernomad]

There is hardly any stop and go traffic here and most of the running here is highway mode only. Though the car gets driven from a weekend to weekend only. But would that make the battery go bad?

[wanderernomad]

Could this issue be because of the higher 100 W bulbs that I had recently put in? These were bought from dx and am not sure how much current they were drawing. How can we check it? Anyway the battery has come back from charging and every thing seems to be fine. Have changed back to stock bulbs as of now and will wait till next saturday to see if the battery stays fine or not.

[drsingh]

Guys, I have a query regarding my car battery.

This battery is about 10 months old.

Its an AMARON BLACK 'maintenance free' battery.









Yesterday morning my dad left the keys in the ignition while attending an emergency. I discovered it this evening and the battery refused to crank the motor after two lazy half cranks.

I removed the battery and attached it to this "automatic battery charger ".This is unbranded. I use it sometimes for my enfield battery.It charges the enfield battery at 2 amps.

Here it is set up and attached to the car battery and charging at slightly more than 6 amps.




Any idea how long it takes to charge the battery?

Is it safe to let it be overnight and let the charger auto cut at its own free will?

I thought it was sealed as it is "maintenance free " but as you can see it is not sealed. I have opened up the caps while charging.
How do I check the electrolyte level in this battery? There seems to be no indicator or transparent area to see the levels.

[sohail99]

I have had similar instances of battery not able to crank after I didn't drive my car for like a month!

Now I have a Battery charger/maintainer/desulfator connected to my car always. It keeps desulfating the battery and when the charging completes, it automatically switches to float charge mode and maintains the battery in that charge! Its amazing!

Regarding battery fluid, you can fill till you can see the fluid level, just not to the brim, enough to submerge the plates!

some info - http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/a...urface_charge/

[drsingh]

Originally Posted by sohail99

Now I have a Battery charger/maintainer/desulfator connected to my car always. It keeps desulfating the battery and when the charging completes, it automatically switches to float charge mode and maintains the battery in that charge! Its amazing!

Can you post a link to the product you are using? Or something similar from eBay or something?


Does anybody have experience with these 'automatic chargers ' or understands the technical details?

Kindly share knowledge about its reliability .

[petrolhead_chn]

I had my car grounded for about a month (road maintenance in my area). However I used to idle the car once in 3days (i.e) start, idle the car until the engine reaches optimum temperature, use the A/C for about 5mins, open/close the power windows and then shut down the car. I was repeating this once in 3days.

Yesterday, when I was trying to take the car out finally, I was surprised the car did not crank though the dash lights, windows and remote lock were working. I took the battery to a nearby shop and he found that electrolyte was empty in two slots and he said that the battery is kaput. The battery in discussion is Exide maintenance free. He said the battery is not showing optimum charge. It was showing somewhere between 9v to 11.73v. He said he would try charging it overnight and check with some load. He also added that if the results are same I will have to purchase a new battery @ 4800 amco brand.

I am worried and am in a fix! Please suggest what I could do from here?
Could I exchange the battery? If it is a new battery, can I go for a higher amps battery?
My car is a Baleno.

[petrolhead_chn]

Originally Posted by petrolhead_chn

I had my car grounded for about a month (road maintenance in my area). However I used to idle the car once in 3days (i.e) start, idle the car until the engine reaches optimum temperature, use the A/C for about 5mins, open/close the power windows and then shut down the car. I was repeating this once in 3days.

Yesterday, when I was trying to take the car out finally, I was surprised the car did not crank though the dash lights, windows and remote lock were working. I took the battery to a nearby shop and he found that electrolyte was empty in two slots and he said that the battery is kaput. The battery in discussion is Exide maintenance free. He said the battery is not showing optimum charge. It was showing somewhere between 9v to 11.73v. He said he would try charging it overnight and check with some load. He also added that if the results are same I will have to purchase a new battery @ 4800 amco brand.

I am worried and am in a fix! Please suggest what I could do from here?
Could I exchange the battery? If it is a new battery, can I go for a higher amps battery?
My car is a Baleno.

Is Amaron 42b20L good enough?

[Aroy]

It is a good practice to keep checking the electrolyte level in each cell at least once a month. I have had instances when my car refused to start and on checking the level one or two cells was very low. I just filled the cells with RO water, waited half an hour and the battery was rejuvenated enough to start the car.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by petrolhead_chn

I had my car grounded for about a month (road maintenance in my area). However I used to idle the car once in 3days (i.e) start, idle the car until the engine reaches optimum temperature, use the A/C for about 5mins, open/close the power windows and then shut down the car. I was repeating this once in 3days.

That is a bad idea. Actually you are using up more current to start the car and run the appliances, than the alternator can possibly replace during that brief idling. It would have been better to leave it alone for that entire month.

[wanderernomad]

Originally Posted by sohail99

I have had similar instances of battery not able to crank after I didn't drive my car for like a month!

Now I have a Battery charger/maintainer/desulfator connected to my car always. It keeps desulfating the battery and when the charging completes, it automatically switches to float charge mode and maintains the battery in that charge! Its amazing!

Regarding battery fluid, you can fill till you can see the fluid level, just not to the brim, enough to submerge the plates!

some info - http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/a...urface_charge/

Sohail a link please for the gadget you are using. It would be usefull to many.

[sohail99]

Originally Posted by drsingh

Can you post a link to the product you are using? Or something similar from eBay or something?

Does anybody have experience with these 'automatic chargers ' or understands the technical details?

Kindly share knowledge about its reliability .

Originally Posted by wanderernomad

Sohail a link please for the gadget you are using. It would be usefull to many.

I was using the Battery Tender initially - http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender...battery+tender

But, for it to charge the battery while its in the car, the parasitic loads should be non existent to minimal.
When I used to connect it, my DRLs used to come on as the DRL relay sensed the increased voltage when battery tender tried to recharge the battery! So I had to remove the DRL fuse so that it can recharge properly!
but charging at 800mA is really slow, though its good for the battery!
What I hate about it, is that it has only one multi-LED to indicate everything, so it can get confusing if you dont read the manual

This charger takes 100 to 240 VAC input so its compatible worldwide and its waterproof!

I keep it in my car just in case.

Now, I'm using Batteryminder charger - http://www.amazon.com/BatteryMINDer-...battery+minder

It can also run on 100-240VAC and I like it as its more informative on what its doing! and it works great!

There are other chargers/maintainers with integrated jump starting capability via your household AC! This is a good one - http://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-SC-...rds=schumacher

Input is 120VAC though! :(

Ebay.in has manual chargers like this - http://www.ebay.in/itm/Target-12-vol...item41772a73d4

[petrolhead_chn]

Originally Posted by Gansan

That is a bad idea. Actually you are using up more current to start the car and run the appliances, than the alternator can possibly replace during that brief idling. It would have been better to leave it alone for that entire month.

Thank you @Gansan. This is probably the first time I've left the car grounded. I'll follow suit next time.

@all, can somebody enlighten on what is the cranking voltage for Baleno or for petrol cars in general? What is the maximum voltage drop allowed when the engine is cranked?

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by petrolhead_chn

@all, can somebody enlighten on what is the cranking voltage for Baleno or for petrol cars in general? What is the maximum voltage drop allowed when the engine is cranked?

Off hand I cannot say, but it is easily checked at the battery shop. If you have a multimeter you can check it at home.

The voltage drop is not as critical as the starting current that the battery can deliver (though excessive drop will decrease the current). Some batteries have a very low resistance and can pump in a lot of current at lower voltages - 8V to 9V, while others cannot.