Question about [Older] Battery Chargers ....

[eetmesoon]

Battery issues again; went to start my VX Saturday 20th June...zippo! Zilch! Not even enough battery power to unlock the doors. Battery visigauge was showing "red" so I guess it was cactus. Bought a new 540 CCA battery on Monday. fitted to car Tuesday....checked all connections, tested and car started no issue at all. Left if for a couple of days and went to get some items from inside the boot. Opened and retrieved from boot - easy! Sunday 28th go out to go for a drive...battery dead flat again...WITH NO USAGE!!...so I put my old Arlec automatic 12v charger on and leave it charge for about 11 hours. Go out to check...still flat and not able to operate doors.

Consider it an unlikely possibility that there MAY be a leak somewhere within the Electrical System that caused the batteries to discharge...so I disconnected leads from battery to car...and then connected the Arlec to the Battery. Left if overnight for a good 12 hours....go out to check and battery still as indicated by Red on the visigauge.

So I call the Autobarn shop where battery was purchased...they tell me that as it's a newer Calcium battery...an older charger won't work properly and his story sounded convincing, but am still not sure.


Seeking advice here from Members more knowledgeable than me...my question; Has battery technology and manufacture changed so much that older type battery chargers are not up to the task of completing a re-charge? As far as I was aware the Supercharge SMF58VT Silver Plus Battery was just a normal Lead Acid type Battery...

 

[lout]

a calcium battery charges to a slightly higher level
so it wont fully charge, only about 90%
more than enough for normal day to day use

 

[Pollushon]

Stick a multimeter on the charger and see if it's making the numbers it should. You want at least 12.9v and amps depends on the ah of the battery. You'd want at least 3amps for a battery that size to not wait until the end of time

 

[rambunctious]

I had a similar problem so phoned Century Batteries and spoke to a very knowledgeable person in their service dept who advised me to charge the battery for at least 24 if not 36 hours to bring up the green on the battery indicator.
And do this on a regular basis.
As for the old Arlec not being up to speed with latest batteries I am like a deer with no eyes (no ideer) but it was only about a year ago I sold the old Arlec as I had already come by a later CTEK charger.
These cars do use battery when sitting and not being used so you need to charge them as I do on a regular basis.
And most important make sure the battery terminals and inside the clamps are shiny clean by cleaning with a battery tool/emery cloth/sand paper/etc

 

[ephect]

Don't know about your charger, but most won't start charging unless there is a load. A flat battery doesn't count.

So jump start it first connect your charger and turn it on. Leave your car running for 5-10, with a few revs here and there. Then turn the car off. It should charge

 

[vc commodore]

With it sitting for 5 days and end up with a dead flat new battery, either that new battery is cactus, or you have a massive power drain....It should take at least 2 weeks to flatten a battery that bad it won't open a car door...

So whilst you're checking out about battery chargers, check out why it is draining the battery so quick and get the new battery load checked

 

[losh1971]

I didn't think calcium were suited to a VT charging system. Old charger probably not much good on a calcium as they only put I about 2 amps and Max out at about 13.5 volts.

 

[Pollushon]

You won't find a lead acid battery these days that isn't calcium. That's why they're sealed. It improves them dramatically. Modern chargers have no issues restoring a battery and if the indicator is white it's fine, red means it's outside of its minimums but in many cases I've recovered a battery in that state

You just need to get amps into it

 

[losh1971]

Weird I bought a standard lead acid battery 12-15 months ago for the VR. It was a Supercharge Gold.

 

[Ginger Beer]

My Ctek charger wouldn't charge a dead battery, I grabbed a cheap SCA 7 stage charger and it was good to go

So good that I got another 2 SCA 7 stage chargers, one for my bike that lives on it as the Harley will kill the battery in a week or two, and one for the boy for his bike that sits in the garage for months at a time

I've sinced also used them a few times bringing dead flat plant and truck batteries back to life after sitting dead flat for months

Not bad for "cheap" chargers