Maintaining car battery when self isolated?

[ericmark]

Well it did not take much to show fully charged

very quickly the charge rate dropped to 0.8 amp it took a little longer

to drop to 0.1 amp and it has remained at 0.1 amp showing 12.9 volt for quite some time, so it would seem less than 5 Ah to recharge the 95 Ah battery and the battery is only suppose to charge to 90% anyway.

As to how much sulphation has taken place of course can't tell, so will leave on 0.1 amp charge for the rest of the day, car will be used Tuesday so want enough time for battery to settle before use.

 

[EddieM]

My jag needs a turn over at least once a fortnight, although as JohnD points out this isn't really ideal unless you get the engine up to temp. Mind you I have other issues, I've got half a tank of full left, problem is I put that in in February!

 

[JohnD]

My jag needs a turn over at least once a fortnight

Save up for a battery charger.

 

[EddieM]

Save up for a battery charger.

More like save up for a house with a garage and or off street parking. Anyway I have a jump starter. All a bit moot at the moment as the park brake is jammed on.

 

[ericmark]

Oh I remember that with father-in-laws Toyota, it was in the garage with bonnet under a work bench, and battery discharged so could not release the hand break, so had to jack up rear and pull it out of garage with my car so I could open bonnet to charge, it seems there was a release point some where near back seats, but could not open rear doors.

I don't think there is much of a problem with diesel left in a car, yes there is a problem with petrol in the higher volatile parts evaporate, however may be a problem with adblue it seems that does go off, how long I don't know, affected by sun light so never buy stuff stored outside, we have a service contract which includes adblue top up, but the main agents where we have the contract is closed, seems odd as Jaguar and Land Rover is same agency and farmers still working of course.

I read

Provided that it is kept in the optimal conditions — out of direct sunlight and at a temperature between -6°C and 25°C — your AdBlue can last up to 18 months in storage. If you store it at a higher temperature than this or in a vented container, the shelf-life will only be around 6 months.

so it may be a problem?

 

[ericmark]

So how have we all got on? The Jaguar XE I have used the Smart charger twice, the other cars and batteries it has been a rotation, seems rare the charger is not connected to a battery of some sort, however it seems most people still using their cars, we got it on TV 5 miles with maximum of 20 for shopping or medical then a medical appointment in Telford 42 miles away, which we were not going to refuse because over 5 miles away.

 

[EFLImpudence]

You need to test your eyes more often.

 

[ericmark]

At long last caravan storage place has reopened, so been able to retrieve the battery, it was below 3.8 volts so charger just showed err, so put on motorcycle charge rate with a 7 Ah in parallel with the 90 Ah off the caravan to get it started, then 12 hours latter put on car to recharge.

Although it now shows charged, it is clear from graph that 90 Ah worth of charge has not gone in, average of 3 amp for 12 hours = 36 Ah and 0.8 amp for 24 hours call it 24 Ah so total is 60 Ah not 90 Ah. So it seems that 0.1 amp charge is still charging the battery, the voltage is dropping and once it hits 12.8 volts I will get a pulse of charge at 0.8 amps until at 14.4 volts then back to 0.1 amps again, from experience this is likely to happen for some time, as it puts in the last little bit.

So this is the question, how long after the charger shows fully charged which clearly would be enough if putting directly in a car in regular use, but where the battery is simply stored after it needs to be fully charged, yet with around 8 batteries to maintain, simply leaving it on 24/7 is not an option either. I need to swap the charger to next battery at some point.

I have noted the AGM batteries tend to hold their charge longer, so even after 6 months sitting in garage, maybe longer, it recharged very quickly. So some batteries need charging once a month, others once every 3 months. But it is how long after the charger shows charge complete do you wait before moving charger.

I must apologise, turns out battery is only 75 Ah not 90 Ah as thought, so seems it has fully recharged.