Dud Battery chargers?

[Crazy Dazz]

I have a very flat (but not “dead”) battery that I am trying to charge.
Pulled out my trusty old Projecta that I have had forever, and strted charging it up. Checked back in a few hours and the charger is dead as a dodo.
Pulled out a Arlec I had, it too stated fine and died within an hour. Oh well, old chargers.
Went out and bought a couple of newies. Projecta 4300, and something from Malz called an “Icanic.”
Tried the Malz one, it lasted all of 5 minutes.
The new projecta seemed to be going ok, but left it on several hours (its automatic) charger is now dead and battery worse than ever.

Even had me checking to make sure it’s a 12V battery, and that I had +ve and –ve around the right way.

These have all been 4~6 amp chargers. Should I be going with something bigger?
If the battery has dropped a couple of cells, could that be destroying the chargers? I can’t see how, but FMD FOUR chargers???

[tex]

Id say your battery is rooted mate!

Hasn't any of those chargers got a circuit breaker / fuse / reset / overload?

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by tex

Id say your battery is rooted mate!

Hasn't any of those chargers got a circuit breaker / fuse / reset / overload?

No fuses, even opened them up to check.
I assume they would have overload cut-offs, but even after letting them sit for hours, they don't come back.

Thing is previously, I have charged really stuffed batteries and left them on charge for days.

I can only assume that maybe the battery has lost several cells and so is effectively close to a dead short?

[GREGL]

Mate spend the extra and get a C-Tek . $125 or so and all the inbuilt safety features you reqiure for safeguarding your cars electroncs. No offence but Projecta is a bit like a cheap tyre , built to a price. (my 30 year old Arlec still works fine but I don't trust unattended).

[eyes87]

Mate if your battery is dead flat your gonna struggle to find a charger that will bring it back up. That is if its even still any good. I love ctek. I've sold them for 7-8 years now but even a good one of those will struggle with a dead flat battery. The way they operate just wont allow them to.

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by eyes87

Mate if your battery is dead flat your gonna struggle to find a charger that will bring it back up. That is if its even still any good. I love ctek. I've sold them for 7-8 years now but even a good one of those will struggle with a dead flat battery. The way they operate just wont allow them to.

Ok, but does that explain why they have all ***** themelves? (My old ones have done it before, but that is probably because of their uncontrolled design.)

[Gavin]

When your battery is very flat the chargers will trip out on internal thermal overload. give them some time and they will cycle back on. it may take a few days to get the battery charged, you may be lucky.

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by Gavin

When your battery is very flat the chargers will trip out on internal thermal overload. give them some time and they will cycle back on. it may take a few days to get the battery charged, you may be lucky.

Yeah, was just gonna post an update.
My ole faithful Projecta is back in business after an extended cool down.
The “Icanic” from Malz, still “works” but just trips out quickly.
My not-new but not that old Arlec is cactus,
And the New Projecta has **** itself

[FGII-XR6]

sounds like you might have a shorted cell, that would explain the high current draw. it would also explain why it isn't completely dead as the other cells would be delivering power and the bad cell being shorted just lets the power through

[kempy311]

Sometimes you need to link the battery with another one in parallel to put some juice back into them before chargers will do anything.

[jaydee]

As said, CTek the only way to go. I was able to rejuice a completely dead battery that had been sitting in the car for over 6 months without starting.
Put it on charge for 48 hours came back to life no probs.

[Silver Ghia]

When a battery gets to this stage its best to get rid of it and buy a new one.

And if its only being used periodically, get a floating charger like a c-tek to keep it fully charged.

[Olbucko]

Originally Posted by eyes87

Mate if your battery is dead flat your gonna struggle to find a charger that will bring it back up. That is if its even still any good.

Don't know about that! Recently I recovered an XF EFI Ghia that had been sitting in a paddock for seven years with the battery still in it.

After getting the car home I connected the completely dead battery from the Falcon to my trusty old Arlec charger that I bought in 1976 and charged it at 1 amp for about 3 weeks. To my surprise it came good. I installed it in my old rodeo ute that I use once or twice a week and six months later it is still working OK.

The battery is an Australian made Century 450 CCA amps

[mik]

bigger is better i think, i bought a 20 amp charger about 15 year ago, from dead flat to cranking it does`nt too much time to put charge in, i think mine was arlec too, no complaints.

[mash again]

I have an old charger with 6 v and 12v on it. Dead flat charge with 6 volt then some hrs later switch to 12 no dramas. Seems some of the newer electronic chargers wont charge if they cant see an electrical path (ie dead flat battery). it sees it as an open circuit. The old units using a transformer werent that smart, more expensive to build though and so we get the electronic units which for the most part do a better job. i have retrofitted tiny charging units in the enclosures that had the old chargers from 30+ years ago in industry, huge inclosure with tiny charger inside, looks funny when you open the door.

[eyes87]

Originally Posted by Olbucko

Don't know about that! Recently I recovered an XF EFI Ghia that had been sitting in a paddock for seven years with the battery still in it.

After getting the car home I connected the completely dead battery from the Falcon to my trusty old Arlec charger that I bought in 1976 and charged it at 1 amp for about 3 weeks. To my surprise it came good. I installed it in my old rodeo ute that I use once or twice a week and six months later it is still working OK.

The battery is an Australian made Century 450 CCA amps

Completely different thing though. New style battery chargers read the voltage in the battery regulate the amount if current going into the battery and if its too low then the battery isnt recognised properly as being there.where's your old Alec is just pumping massive amounts of juice in and is able to bring the battery up.
One way to charge a still good but dead flat battery now days without an older style charger, is to put it back into the car jump start it and let the alternator bring it up for a bit then pull it out and charge it properly. This can damage your alternator though if you do it for too long

[Gavin]

i have used my arlec on a number of occasions on a flat battery and it comes back to life it just takes some time to get some charge on the plates so that it doesn't overheat the charger. If you go too big with your charger you can boil the battery. Chargers Are not all the same (switch mode etc), same for batteries especially if sealed or Maint Free.

[Gavin]

Originally Posted by mash again

I have an old charger with 6 v and 12v on it. Dead flat charge with 6 volt then some hrs later switch to 12 no dramas. Seems some of the newer electronic chargers wont charge if they cant see an electrical path (ie dead flat battery). it sees it as an open circuit. The old units using a transformer werent that smart, more expensive to build though and so we get the electronic units which for the most part do a better job. i have retrofitted tiny charging units in the enclosures that had the old chargers from 30+ years ago in industry, huge inclosure with tiny charger inside, looks funny when you open the door.

Sounds like A good idea

[superpursuit83]

As mentioned if you have another good battery you can link it in parrallel (12v) with the dud.
Then connect charger. It tricks the charger a bit and stops cutout due to pumping too many amps.
Thats if the old battery is not stuffed totally.

[Crazy Dazz]

Well the battery has killed 2 chargers, and the Icanic simply keeps cutting out, and the old faithful projecta runs way too hot. After which battery voltage had dropped to about 2.2 Volts.

$215 for a new battery delivered and installed by RAC, with 2 yr warranty, seems ok.

However I am going to keep my eyes open for a DECENT charger

[uniacidz]

LOL

So how much all up has it cost ya including chargers?

[mash again]

wonder if the battery is partially shorted internally?

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by uniacidz

LOL

So how much all up has it cost ya including chargers?

I returned the new Projecta. I am hanging on to the Icanic, on the basis that it seems to work and may be ok for trickle charging not so dead ones.
But it fried my Arlec, so thats one down.

[FgNewbie]

I'm currently using a Projecta, not fussed either way about it.

To the guys recommending ctek, is this the best model for a falcon
http://www.ctek.com/au/en/chargers/MXS%205.0

edit: it appeared to be the recommended model on their site then I saw others

[mike_nofx]

Originally Posted by FgNewbie

I'm currently using a Projecta, not fussed either way about it.

To the guys recommending ctek, is this the best model for a falcon
http://www.ctek.com/au/en/chargers/MXS%205.0

edit: it appeared to be the recommended model on their site then I saw others

Thats the one I bought.
Heres the actual one, good price too, $90 delivered, and i'd reccomend the seller.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/CTEK-MXS-...item4170f85aab

Also just found this one, has a bonus bumper cover, same price
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/CTEK-MXS-...item5d3d0b5782

[cobramania]

I wouldn't use any other charger than a C-Tek, especially as I have an Optima deep cycle AGM battery.

This is the absolute best charger to have, I've had this for 6 years. http://www.batteriesdirect.com.au/sh...-special).html Watch the video at the bottom of the page for good info on size & usage.

The 5 Amp ones fine for a falcon, but the 7 Amp one gives you more leverage, will charge quicker from a lower voltage charge, & will be useable on just about any 12V car/4WD battery.

You can always go down, (use it on a smaller capacity battery), but you can't go up from the 5 Amp, put too big a battery on it, & it'll keep tripping out on overload.

[Pepscobra]

Another vote for C-tek here.
Had one on my car for nearly 6 years now and battery still going strong.

[STINKY NINJA]

C tek

[russxr67]

Originally Posted by GREGL

Mate spend the extra and get a C-Tek . $125 or so and all the inbuilt safety features you reqiure for safeguarding your cars electroncs. No offence but Projecta is a bit like a cheap tyre , built to a price. (my 30 year old Arlec still works fine but I don't trust unattended).

C-tek aren't much better. I had mine for all of six months and it took a dump. Bought it on a group buy from this forum.

[mike_nofx]

Originally Posted by russxr67

C-tek aren't much better. I had mine for all of six months and it took a dump. Bought it on a group buy from this forum.

I think its more a case of you having a bad one, it doesn't seem typical of a ctek to last just 6 months, and so I dont feel "C-tek aren't much better" is a fair statement.

How many others purchased from this group buy? and did any others have an issue with theirs? by the way, ctek offer a 5 year warranty, so how is the replacement going?