[Shanks_Jazz]

I drive a Honda Jazz, a month less than 3 yrs old and mileage of 33km. It's battery was working fine till morning and when I tried restarting it some tine back the dashboard lights just flickered. Thankfully I was infront of a car repair shop and they jump started it. Meter readings were 12.9 before load. And 8.8 after load. Frankly I don't understand what these nus mean.

Planning to get it changed through battery hai.

[shady]

My 2016 Figo had starting trouble post the lockdown in May even though I made it a point to start it and run the engine once a week. Called up Ford service, they visited & jump started the car and told me to keep the engine running for 40 minutes to charge the battery. The service guy advised if the car had starting trouble again it would be better to replace the battery.

All was well till mid July and the car did not start again.This was during the Bangalore lockdown. 4 years and 40K kms later, changed it considering the need to use the car for any emergency in the current covid situation.

[guptavis]

Hi all, after the baleno's battery gave some trouble, just checked the battery in my alto. Was shocked to see its over 9 years old!! Bought in June 2011. Still going strong! Its a Bosch branded one, the dealer told me its made by amaron when I bought it.

*Will upload pics later as its giving some error

[Grr7]

The Exide battery for my Corolla Altis Diesel was installed on 10/09/2015 and started showing signs of dying recently. Surprisingly, the voltage is still in good range, however, the service center diagnosed the issue with two cells of the battery going bad.

A life of almost 5 yrs by Exide in a diesel vehicle which was dormant for almost 1 1/2 years is a good service life by the battery.

Have replaced the Exide with my preferred battery brand: Amaron, 55Ah model, for a price of Rs 4500 (after exchange). The car is now more eager/prompt when started.

[guptavis]

Originally Posted by guptavis

Hi all, after the baleno's battery gave some trouble, just checked the battery in my alto. Was shocked to see its over 9 years old!! Bought in June 2011. Still going strong! Its a Bosch branded one, the dealer told me its made by amaron when I bought it.

*Will upload pics later as its giving some error

Replaced the stock Panasonic battery in my Baleno Petrol July 2016 (after 4 years) from the same dealer. Sadly, the dealer is now selling only PowerZone Automotive Batteries made by Amara Raja (although has Amaron, Livguard and Luminous inverter batteries). Was in two minds about going to another dealer to get an 'Amaron' branded one. But since my earlier experience of two batteries with this dealer has been good and he was pushing that the 'PowerZone' is just a different brand and the internals are the same as 'Amaron', i agreed to get this one (He had said the same thing about Bosch 9 years ago). The details on the battery are as below:
Brand: PowerZone
Model: APZ-54-0PZ40B20L (35Ah)
Month of Manufacturing: 06/2020
Warranty: 30 + 24 months
Price: Rs.3000/- after exchange


I have noticed that the new Amaron Batteries have the CCA and RC written on the box and the battery case, but this is not so with PowerZone.

[R2D2]

Was able to resurrect my infrequently used Altis petrol's battery (now 3 years and 3 months old) from the dead, well literally dead. The car wasn't used since end Feb because I used Ola or Uber till the lockdown was announced in 4th week of March. The OCV was 11.96V better than the 9V last time in Dec @ 30 months old, which necessitated a warranty claim but the battery was recharged and returned to me by the dealer.

I connected the battery to my C7 started the regenerate program which took about 1 day and a half to bring the voltage up to about 12.9V. What I realised is this battery would require a higher voltage and a desulphator. Easy-peasy. Connected an infinitum desulphator and switched the C7 to power supply mode which provides a constant voltage of 13.6V @ a max of 5A. Left it for two days after which I could hear vigorous bubbling. The charger was disconnected. OCV after a rest period of 12 hours was 12.93 V and now, about 20 hours later, reads 12.86. Perfect!! The battery will be topped up, cleaned and fitted back. The car needs a good wash which I have planned for next week. Now to repeat the process with the other car.

I also noticed Amaron has now extended teh warranty to 66 months instead of 60 on the 45AH battery. Probably to compete with Exide's 77 month warranty on the new Epiq model.

PS - I would sincerely recommend all car owners buy a battery charger for those just-in-case situations. And preferably a set of jumper cables (check Amazon) too. My chargers have saved me money many times over, I really don't worry about battery discharge at all. I normally replaced my Exide car batteries every 3-3.5 years, it is a consumable, but an Amaron battery's ability to be resurrected from the dead is amazing. The previous Amaron went for about 4 years and was replaced only as a precaution.

[WhiteSierra]

Originally Posted by R2D2

Was able to resurrect my infrequently used Altis petrol's battery (now 3 years and 3 months old) from the dead, well literally dead.

The OCV was 11.96V better than the 9V last time in Dec @ 30 months old

I connected the battery to my C7 started the regenerate program

Connected an infinitum desulphator and switched the C7 to power supply mode which provides a constant voltage of 13.6V @ a max of 5A. Left it for two days after which I could hear vigorous bubbling. The charger was disconnected. OCV after a rest period of 12 hours was 12.93 V and now, about 20 hours later, reads 12.86. Perfect!!

Hi, can you please provide more details of infinitum desulphator? I looked up on Amazon, it shows that the product is out of stock, but not much information provided. What exactly does it do?

I recently resurrected my 7 year old Qualis battery with help of Schumacher series battery charger (Made in U.S.A) it had been a saviour many times on multiple cars that I own. I have a battery charger but I'm curious to know about the infinitum desulphator. And isn't two days too much for the battery to be charged? I thought after going into trickle charging mode (100% completion of battery charging, probably 2-3 hours of trickle charging is good enough). I did the same with my qualis battery resurrection. It's a 15Amps fast charger, charges a battery 0 to 100% in 6 hours.

This has both slow 3A and fast 15 A charging modes. Along with different battery types. It can charge Standard, AGM and Gel type batteries. It can also charge 24 volts (truck batteries) , never tried though! After charging 100%, this will go into maintenance mode (where desulphation happens on the cell battery plates). After 100 %, it's advisable to leave in this maintenance / trickle charging mode for 2-3 hours. It will revive older batteries for longer use.

PS - I would sincerely recommend all car owners buy a battery charger for those just-in-case situations. And preferably a set of jumper cables (check Amazon) too. My chargers have saved me money many times over, I really don't worry about battery discharge at all. I normally replaced my Exide car batteries every 3-3.5 years, it is a consumable, but an Amaron battery's ability to be resurrected from the dead is amazing. The previous Amaron went for about 4 years and was replaced only as a precaution.

What you said about Amaron's ability to resurrect dead battery is true. 7 years old battery was dead but resurrection and running just fine. That too for a diesel engine,which would take lot of load while cranking.


Right from Sierra days, we got 2 Pairs of Jumper cables as we used to have multiple cars at home and we used do frequent highway trips. The cables on Amazon and other online shopping portals are too thin, the cables which I have are good enough to start trucks too. It can handle good amount of voltage and amperage. It's always better to buy a cable from your local parts store only after physically assessing them.


All my battery, alternator and fusebox testing tools.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by WhiteSierra

Hi, can you please provide more details of infinitum desulphator? I looked up on Amazon, it shows that the product is out of stock, but not much information provided. What exactly does it do?

That's a nice battery maintenance kit you have there. Where did you buy the Schumacher charger from?

This should help: https://infinitumstore.com/

They are based in Malaysia and I bought 2 12V units direct from them in 2015 IIRC. Whether they work or not is really up in the air but I feel they do because they have helped me recover batteries that I would have normally replaced. The key to using this gadget is to charge the battery using a constant voltage charger @ about 13.6-15V. A smart charger won't do the trick as they drop the voltage to float values of 13.1-13.2 and it is the slightly higher voltage that works on breaking sulphate crystals. I have several chargers from different manufacturers ranging from 1.25A to 25A but the most frequently used one is the Bosch 7A or the CTEK 5A model which strikes a good balance between quick charging and maintenance. Larger batteries can take more powerful chargers. Some chargers have an automatic or manual regeneration or desulphate function which must be used separately before connecting the infinitum desulphator.

The jump start cables on amazon that I refer to are the AmazonBasic models. They are well made. Infact DBHPian @libranof1987 just bought a set last month.

[WhiteSierra]

Originally Posted by R2D2

That's a nice battery maintenance kit you have there. Where did you buy the Schumacher charger from?

This should help: https://infinitumstore.com/

They are based in Malaysia and I bought 2 12V units direct from them in 2015 IIRC. Whether they work or not is really up in the air but I feel they do because they have helped me recover batteries that I would have normally replaced. The key to using this gadget is to charge the battery using a constant voltage charger @ about 13.6-15V. A smart charger won't do the trick as they drop the voltage to float values of 13.1-13.2 and it is the slightly higher voltage that works on breaking sulphate crystals. I have several chargers from different manufacturers ranging from 1.25A to 25A but the most frequently used one is the Bosch 7A or the CTEK 5A model which strikes a good balance between quick charging and maintenance. Larger batteries can take more powerful chargers. Some chargers have an automatic or manual regeneration or desulphate function which must be used separately before connecting the infinitum desulphator.

The jump start cables on amazon that I refer to are the AmazonBasic models. They are well made. Infact DBHPian @libranof1987 just bought a set last month.

Thanks a lot for the information. Looks like I should add this infinitum desulphator to my kit. Regarding Schumacher battery charger, I bought it from the U.S through my friend about 6 years back. It is microprocessor controlled and has a fan to cool down the circuit. I charged batteries more than 50 times and it still works as good as brand new. As it is an American product, It has 110 v input instead of 220v. So the box next to it is a step down transformer. I use it with the charger.

AmazonBasic products are usually good. Although they are made in china, since there in Amazon stamp on it, there will be a good quality control check for sure. I thought you were mentioning about other products which are sold commonly in all e-commerce sites. Especially in Shopclues, I saw many counterfeit products and I was one of their victim long back. I switched back to Amazon for good.

[guptavis]

Originally Posted by saket77

That is astonishing! Coincidently, I recently set a record as well; though didn’t break yours.
My Zen’s battery gave up last week. It was fitted way back in January 2014! So, 6.5 years and that is the max I’ve got of any battery. It was an Exide Matrix. Replaced it with Exide Mileage.

My Alto's Bosch S4 35Ah battery was working fine after over 9 years when i sold it this month!

Originally Posted by R2D2

Was able to resurrect my infrequently used Altis petrol's battery (now 3 years and 3 months old) from the dead, well literally dead.
......
Connected an infinitum desulphator and switched the C7 to power supply mode which provides a constant voltage of 13.6V @ a max of 5A. Left it for two days after which I could hear vigorous bubbling. The charger was disconnected. OCV after a rest period of 12 hours was 12.93 V and now, about 20 hours later, reads 12.86. Perfect!!
......

PS - I would sincerely recommend all car owners buy a battery charger for those just-in-case situations. And preferably a set of jumper cables (check Amazon) too.

Originally Posted by R2D2

The key to using this gadget is to charge the battery using a constant voltage charger @ about 13.6-15V. A smart charger won't do the trick as they drop the voltage to float values of 13.1-13.2 and it is the slightly higher voltage that works on breaking sulphate crystals. I have several chargers from different manufacturers ranging from 1.25A to 25A but the most frequently used one is the Bosch 7A or the CTEK 5A model which strikes a good balance between quick charging and maintenance.

My Baleno Petrol's 4 year old battery (Panasonic 34B19L) failed to crank the engine last month. It had to be push started. Subsequently, it used to take longer to start. On showing it to the Maruti showroom, they didnt even look at the battery and said it needs to be replaced since its 4 years old!! The local mechanic said that I can try to charge it.

I have zero aftermarket accesories on my car. I switch all electrical equipment ON only after the engine is running and swith them OFF before shutting off the engine. My Alto's battery had been going strong for 9 years and City's for almost 5 years with green colour in the 'Magic Eye'. So i didnt expect Baleno's battery to go bad so early (4 years).

I checked the battery voltage when off and found it to be ~12.3 Volts. I thought it must be disharged due to less running due to the lockdown.
I had my eye on Bosch C3 for quite some time and tried to order it in the beginning of the lockdown but it was always out of stock. Recently, started going to office so thought I dont need it anymore. But after the Baleno's battery issues, I was about to order it but then the 'Atmanirbhar' thought kicked in and bought an EcoNergy Battery charger after reading some good reviews on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B07Z51H9KW

It claims to have constant voltage charging at 14.4V 5A till battery gets fully charged and after that a float charge at 13.8V.
I checked the open circuit voltage across its alligator clamps and it was 14.4V as claimed. Connected it to the battery in the evening and after 2 hours it was still charging. I left it on for the night. I checked it the next morning ( after about 12 hours), and saw that it had gone into float mode (indicator changed to Red and internal Fan switched off.). Voltage across terminals showed 13.7 volts. Switched off and disconnected the charger and connected it to the car. No juice in the battery. Connected it to charger again and within 2 mins it went into float mode. Left it there for 5-6 hours. Disconnected charger and left it overnight. Next day battery voltage read 12.8V. Connected it to car and it still did not crank! Finally gave up and bought a new battery.

So would you say the battery was beyond resurrection or is there something wrong with the charger? I checked around and found links that said a 35Ah Battery should be charged at around 2A and 5A is too much for it. Exide shows charging current at 2.5A.

https://www.exideindustries.com/prod...e-mileage.aspx


What is the correct charging current for a 35Ah battery. (All my cars have 35Ah batteries )
Should i return the carger?

Originally Posted by WhiteSierra

...
This has both slow 3A and fast 15 A charging modes. Along with different battery types.
......
What you said about Amaron's ability to resurrect dead battery is true. 7 years old battery was dead but resurrection and running just fine.

All my battery, alternator and fusebox testing tools.

Impressive tool kit. Do you charge at 3A or 15A. How big is the Battery (Ah). How much current do you recommend for 35Ah Battery?

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by guptavis

I checked the battery voltage when off and found it to be ~12.3 Volts. I thought it must be disharged due to less running due to the lockdown.I had my eye on Bosch C3 for quite some time and tried to order it in the beginning of the lockdown but it was always out of stock. Recently, started going to office so thought I dont need it anymore. But after the Baleno's battery issues, I was about to order it but then the 'Atmanirbhar' thought kicked in and bought an EcoNergy Battery charger after reading some good reviews on Amazon.

Thing is the C3 and C7 are out of stock due to supply chain disruptions and of course increased demand during the COVID lockdown. They also represent one of the best chargers given their features. For cars with <50AH batteries the C3 is fine but for a larger battery I would recommend the C7. But as a rule of the thumb - C3 for small bikes and cars and C7 for all others.

So would you say the battery was beyond resurrection or is there something wrong with the charger? I checked around and found links that said a 35Ah Battery should be charged at around 2A and 5A is too much for it. Exide shows charging current at 2.5A.

It's very difficult for me to say whether its the battery or charger at fault. Don't get me wrong but the charger you purchased doesn't inspire much confidence either. Remember a good quality charger is a one time investment. I could recommend CTEK and other brands but they are more expensive than the Bosch and while excellent at what they do, they are not really VFM.

To determine the fault one needs to check Sp gr in each cell of the battery. Voltage is not the only determinant of a faulty battery. It may not be starting the car becauase the plates are sulphated and/or damaged. I would recommend you take the battery to a dealer for a full bench charge and a load test. They will charge a nominal fee for this service.

My car battery has been resurrected in the sense it has retained a full charge after being off the charger for 2+ days. So it has passed that test, but two more factors determine its health i.e. load test pass i.e. can it start the car AND what is the residual capacity (in AH) after having spent several months in an idle state connected to the car.

What is the correct charging current for a 35Ah battery. (All my cars have 35Ah batteries Should i return the carger?

Normally charging rate is estimated at 1/10 of AH i.e. it would be about 3-4A for a 35AH battery. Too much charge current will damage the plates. Ideally check the small instruction booklet that came with the battery which will specify charging voltage and current for each stage of the charge cycle.

PS - the magic eye only shows the health of 1 of 6 cells connected in series, so while it is a good indicator of battery health other checks also need to be done.

[9216]

Quoting an earlier post

Originally Posted by Miyata

While idling you could also keep revving to speed up the charging process and let the alternator do its work.

I wonder if this applies to the new gen cars with 3 phase alternators having electronically controlled field excitation. I have observed that the charging voltage hardly changes from idling to high revs.

[WhiteSierra]

Originally Posted by guptavis

Impressive tool kit. Do you charge at 3A or 15A. How big is the Battery (Ah). How much current do you recommend for 35Ah Battery?

Hi, Thanks a ton! my Wagon R LXI CNG / Petrol uses the same 35 Ah battery. This 35 Ah battery is most common in almost all petrol cars from Hatchbacks to Sedans.

And addressing your query, it is very simple. If your charger charges the 35 ah battery at 5 amps it just 35 ampere-hours divided by 5 amperes = 7 hours. You have to charge your battery for 7 hours in this case.


Ampere-hours divided by amperes = hours

So if you are charging your 35Ah battery with 1 Ampere output, you should charge it for 35 hours straight.

My Schumacher series Battery charger has 15A (fast charging) and 3A(slow charging) I usually use 3A and leave it overnight. The slower you charge, battery will have better retentivity. So based on calculation, I charge my 35 Ah battery with 12 Volts, 3 Amperes for 12 hours. Charger indicator will show that my battery is completely charged. If my battery is completely depleted or very old, I use trickle charge function, I just keep it in maintenance mode which desulphates all the plates inside the battery. But this did not work on my 4 year old OEM 35 Ah Exide battery. I replaced it with Amaron green in Feb this year. I however revived many Amaron green batteries (on Qualis, Innnova and Sierra) with this charger. That's the only reason I stick to Amaron these days.

I don't excessively charge my batteries as over-saturation by not switching to float charge (this is in case of your charger, as it doesn't come with trickle charge mode) causes grid corrosion on the positive plate. This also leads to gassing and water-loss.


Old OEM Exide battery given brand new by Maruti True value. Served me for 4 years and 25 K kms. (average performance according to me)



New Amaron Flo battery





I bought this for 2900 Rs after 1000 Rs discount for exchange of old battery.

OEM batteries which come with cars directly from showroom (white ones) in general don't last much. Replacement batteries will last longer as per my usage and experience over the years. Hope this information helps you.

[Miyata]

Originally Posted by 9216

I wonder if this applies to the new gen cars with 3 phase alternators having electronically controlled field excitation. I have observed that the charging voltage hardly changes from idling to high revs.

I haven't looked into it, but would you have reasons to suspect anything otherwise? Typically, the current that can be supplied (and hence the power available) between idling speeds and 3-5X idling speeds can change by over 100%!

Analogy - Charging a smartphone with a 5V, 500mA charger vs charging the same smartphone with 5V, 2.4A one. If you were to use one or more of the battery draining apps (facebook / netflix / youtube / navigations / ...) while charging the smartphone, it is likely to die out on the 500mA charging - draining faster than it charges.

The same basic principles ought to apply on the alternators / battery-charging, no?

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by 9216

Quoting an earlier post I wonder if this applies to the new gen cars with 3 phase alternators having electronically controlled field excitation. I have observed that the charging voltage hardly changes from idling to high revs.

All modern cars have 3 phase AC alternators that convert the voltage to DC via a rectifier and then regulate the voltage via a regulator assembly. Some vehicles have integrated rectifiers/regulators and some have separate assemblies. Charging voltage and amperes can also be controlled by the ECU in some cars.

As for voltage and amps it varies depending on the state and type of battery, The charging process does not supply voltage and amps in a linear manner but more like a curve with higher amps till about 80% SoC AKA bulk charging stage) and then tapering off to what is called a topping charge AKA absorption charge. Once the charge is 100% it switches to a float charge or maintenance mode. You can read more here: Charging Lead Acid Batteries

Originally Posted by WhiteSierra

And addressing your query, it is very simple. If your charger charges the 35 ah battery at 5 amps it just 35 ampere-hours divided by 5 amperes = 7 hours. You have to charge your battery for 7 hours in this case. Ampere-hours divided by amperes = hours So if you are charging your 35Ah battery with 1 Ampere output, you should charge it for 35 hours straight.

It's not 35 AH/1A = 35 hours. Charging is not a linear process. See the link I shared.