To slow or quick charge new car battery that hasnt been used in 3 ish months?

[ezbtr]

and it's dead, havent tried to jump start, and did a quick charge few weeks ago for 3 hours, barely got one or two cranks out of it, slow 12V 2A or quick 12V 6A charge from battery charger in garage? Was doing quick charge last pm and shut it off before going to bed and it was at 60%. It's on a piece of wood on garage floor, no rush, just want to move beater Camry to street so I can get Yukon closer to house y
I used to slow charge my boat batteries overnight as charger has an auto shut off option and one batt was deep cycle the other just plain old car battery

 

[Gyrene]

Re: To slow or quick charge new car battery that hasnt been used in 3 ish months?

I had always heard a slow charge is better, that a fast charge runs the risk of buckling plates.

 

[midcarolina]

Re: To slow or quick charge new car battery that hasnt been used in 3 ish months?

I wouldnt consider 6 amp fast charge.....either will work , the 2 amp will just take three times as long to charge.

 

[ezbtr]

Re: To slow or quick charge new car battery that hasnt been used in 3 ish months?

Always thought 2 amp easier on battery? Longer life? I'll unplug tonight to be safe (still on crutches) and keep at 2 amps, But thanks guys

 

[bruceb58]

Re: To slow or quick charge new car battery that hasnt been used in 3 ish months?

If you let it die and its been sitting discharged...good luck!

 

[bigdee]

Re: To slow or quick charge new car battery that hasnt been used in 3 ish months?

If you let it die and its been sitting discharged...good luck!

Yup. When you hook up the charger it may not accept a charge (amp meter will read very low). Sometimes if you leave the charger on it for a long time it may eventually accept a charge (amp meter will read high indicating battery is dead but accepting a charge).

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: To slow or quick charge new car battery that hasnt been used in 3 ish months?

It's on a piece of wood on garage floor, no rush,

Is that old saw still around? :facepalm:

"Back in the day" battery cases were made out of a fairly permeable rubber compound....they could actually leak acid....form a conductive path....and discharge completely.....even terminally.
For the last 1/2 century that has no longer been true.
Storing a battery on a concrete floor these days may actually slow the charge decay slightly. As Martha would say, "that's a good thing".

I'd agree with Bruce....you will have done more long-term damage by allowing the battery to sit in a discharged state than you will with whichever charging option you choose.

I wouldn't give up on it just yet, though. I've had them inexplicably return from the dead.

 

[82rude]

Re: To slow or quick charge new car battery that hasnt been used in 3 ish months?

yup ,battery on floor dying is an old wives tale told to scare motor heads.has a life of its own,just like higher octane gas makes my car run better.my battery charger has a reconditioning mode which if the battery has internal issues it will switch to before declaring the battery pooched or otherwise.

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: To slow or quick charge new car battery that hasnt been used in 3 ish months?

My battery charger won't even attempt to charge a completely dead battery, it has to sense at least a small amount of energy in the battery before turning on. Often times if I have had a battery go completely dead, I will put a 1 am battery maintainer on it, to get at least a small amount of juice into the battery, then once the bigger charger can sense the juice, it will be charged at 6 amps, until fully charge as shown by a battery tester. My bigger concern in this situation is why did the battery drain to dead in 3 months?

I left my 85 diesel truck out all winter long, from late Oct until just a couple of weeks ago, just sitting with no maintainer on it, jumped in, turned on to get the glow plugs hot, two pumps on the petal and she fired right up, ran it for about 10 minutes check the batteries with my tester and they showed fully charged.

 

[CharlieB]

Re: To slow or quick charge new car battery that hasnt been used in 3 ish months?

Two pumps on the pedal.

With a diesel?

Huh!

Old habits die hard.

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: To slow or quick charge new car battery that hasnt been used in 3 ish months?

Two pumps on the pedal.

With a diesel?

Huh!

Old habits die hard.

It has a small leak in one of the injector tubes, I need to replace this summer and it is not one of the new power strokes, it is an old IDI with the old mechanical lift pump in it.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Re: To slow or quick charge new car battery that hasnt been used in 3 ish months?

My battery charger won't even attempt to charge a completely dead battery, it has to sense at least a small amount of energy in the battery before turning on.

This is typical of almost all chargers now a days.

Often times if I have had a battery go completely dead, I will put a 1 am battery maintainer on it, to get at least a small amount of juice into the battery, then once the bigger charger can sense the juice, it will be charged at 6 amps, until fully charge as shown by a battery tester.

Again, most "maintainers" (like Battery Tender) will not even try to change a completely dead battery. Old cheap "unregulated" chargers will just keep putting out their max current rating for as long as they are connected.

This is the best solution I have ever heard of for long term battery maintenance. It will work with the common 2 level chargers (typical 2A/10A). First, set the charger to the lower power and charge your battery for at least 24 hours. Then buy a cheap "light timer", plug the charger in and set it to run for 1-2 hours once a day.

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: To slow or quick charge new car battery that hasnt been used in 3 ish months?

I have a really heavy duty roll around charger as well, I don't use it often, but that puppy will hit a battery with a boost starter charge that often times blows sulfation off the plates and bring a battery back from the dead, it is almost like hitting a drill battery with a welder!

 

[rbh]

Re: To slow or quick charge new car battery that hasnt been used in 3 ish months?

The new pulse chargers are great for bring batteries back from the dead. the idea is they break up the sulfation on the plates by pulsing a high amp charge then resting, this way the plates do not warp and short out.

+1 on the low amp charge for long duration to attempt to bring a battery back to life.

 

[ezbtr]

Re: To slow or quick charge new car battery that hasnt been used in 3 ish months?

Has showed is taking a charge on 2 and 6 amp, on 6 amps now, charger is maybe 11 years old, smaller, and worked great on boat

 

[ezbtr]

Update! To slow or quick charge new car battery that hasnt been used in 3 ish months?

Update! To slow or quick charge new car battery that hasnt been used in 3 ish months?

it worked!!! Mix of slow and quick charges 2.5 days, showed 14 V w/ my meter, started right up last night, will check again tonight

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Update! To slow or quick charge new car battery that hasnt been used in 3 ish mon

Re: Update! To slow or quick charge new car battery that hasnt been used in 3 ish mon

it worked!!! Mix of slow and quick charges 2.5 days, showed 14 V w/ my meter, started right up last night, will check again tonight

Great, you day went better than mine, had a server die on me and still can't find them damn blades for the Sawzall!


Argh!

 

[ezbtr]

Re: To slow or quick charge new car battery that hasnt been used in 3 ish months?

and started right up today again!!

 

[ezbtr]

Re: Update! To slow or quick charge new car battery that hasnt been used in 3 ish mon

Re: Update! To slow or quick charge new car battery that hasnt been used in 3 ish mon

Great, you day went better than mine, had a server die on me and still can't find them damn blades for the Sawzall!




Argh!

I've had that stuff happen with servers! ugh

 

[midcarolina]

Re: Update! To slow or quick charge new car battery that hasnt been used in 3 ish mon

Re: Update! To slow or quick charge new car battery that hasnt been used in 3 ish mon

and still can't find them damn blades for the Sawzall!


Argh!

Go pick up a new pack, then you'll find the others in no time at all.........works for me every time.....