charging the battery

Originally Posted by Linny40

when we bought Georges car battery was a bit iffy sometimes it would start and other times it would do nothing. someone told me it might be the alternator, but no warning lights came on. Decided to take it to a garage, rather than test the battery we opted for a new one at aprox £40 Corsa 1.2 sxi 52 plate. Car had been garaged for some time so battery just died. After new battery are works like a dream! we were told to charge battery car would have to run for at least an hr or so ( waste of petrol) so cheaper in the long run to get a new battery than keep testing and running car to see if it will charge!

never charge a dead battery with the alternator linny.it is really hard on the alternator and can cause it to fail.alternators are only meant to maintain the charge in the battery and take up the slack when the battery cant supply enough current to run everything. Al.

The battery should rest around 12.6 volts. if the battery goes dead and them gets charged it is called deep cycling. a conventional battery can only take a few cycles before it begins to sulffate causing the battery to short out in side. when this happens the battery can't stay around 12.6 at rest it will rise past 13 volts. this can happen without knowing. therer is a way to fix it but buy then you better off getting another battery. if the battery cells begin to go bad the battery will rest lower than 12.6 volts. either way the electrolites in a battery if off and the battery will fail in time. for the record batteries can not be trusted after three years and alternators are designed to charge and run the car at the same time. i know im late sending this thread but people reading this to get insight might find this helpful.

Auto tech and after market speacialist

never late it is open season for batteries