Instruction/Workshop Manual, Advice Please

[Ozmadman]

I bought a superb (really) charger recently made by RING It has an 8 stage smart charging programme including a desulphation phase (High frequency spikes to break down sulphate crystals) and a RECOVERY stage which can lift the "dead" but undamaged batteries back to health. I got my one on Amazon (private seller) for nearly half price.

I just bought this one


Paul

This arrived today, stuck it on the 12v battery which showed on my voltmeter at the time as 11.94 volts and within 5 minutes the indicators on the smart charger told me it was 100% charged?? stuck the voltmeter on the battery and it shows only 12.20 volts. The same thing happened with my 6v battery which showed 5.93 volts yet 5 minutes later it showed fully charged on the indicator on the charger but only registered 6.2 volts on the meter?? reckon my cheap voltmeter is reading wrong??


Paul

[Les Howard]

Were you measuring when charging?...When the Smart chargers have reached full charge they stop charging and just monitor the voltage. Just before full charge is reached and the charger is supplying current you should read 14.4v or thereabouts and at around 14.5V the battery is deemed to be fully charged and the Smart charge will either go to trickle charge or stop completely and just monitor. Half the voltage for the 6V battery...so 7.25 V is fully charged.
So yes your meter could be at fault. HOWEVER...if the batteries have a high internal resistance, you can get an artificially high voltage created during charging which will trick the charger to assume the battery is full and soon as the charge is removed the battery voltage will drop down quite a bit. If the logic of the Smart charger is working correctly it will analyse this big drop and either deem the battery to be faulty OR try to desulphate the plates with high frequency, high voltage spikes (if the charger has this facility...some Smart chargers don't) OR continue to charge possibly at a higher voltage until things improve.

Try measuring your car battery if you have one or a new dry cell...better still compare with another good quality meter...let us know what your findings are....

PS...Also worth doing is discharging the batteries by switching on the headlight for a minute (charger completey removed) then re attach charger and switch back on. Monitor the voltage rise with a good meter....you should see the voltage rise fairly quickly back to their maximum and then drop back at the same time your charger flags up full charge.......The voltage should not drop down too quickly but over an hour they should still be around 12.6 or 6.3 or slightly more and maintain this for at least a week....My RING charger has a built in digital volt/amp meter...one of the reasons I consider it the best...fan cooled too when too hot...neat!....Les

[Ozmadman]

Thanks Les, first of all they are both motorcycle batteries and are off the bikes and indoors, both bikes are covered up outside for the winter now so it will be a bit difficult to try the "headlamp thing" and also no electricity nearby to use the charger. Anyway, left the charger on the 6V battery overnight and this morning with the charger still on the battery and with it showing full charge it was only showing 6.5 volts, with it off now (took it off 15 minutes ago) it is showing 6.3 volts. It is on the 12volt one now and that is only showing 13.5 volts with the charger still on the battery and with it showing full charge! just to say I have never had any problem starting the bikes due to battery problems. the 12v battery is new and the 6 v is 3 years old and is showing no visible signs of sulfation. Maybe my multimeter is at fault then and giving me false readings??. Just another point, the charger has two charge rates for each 6v and 12v (.9a for batteries up to 14 amp hr and 3.5a for 14 amp hr to 120) I am obviously using the lower one as mine are only 5 amp hr and 11 amp hr respectively, can use the higher setting? will that help or do more harm than good?

Thanks again, maybe we need a battery thread for others to get a better understanding of these things

Paul

[Les Howard]

Hi Oz...the voltages don't seem too bad really. I'm assuming they are fully charged and the charger is resting or minutely trickle charging so you will get the sort of readings you have. As said above, Smart chargers will automatically switch off or switch to a very low trickle when the batteries are full. The voltages you have are also cold voltages and these will be lower anyway. Modern Smart chargers can be left on indefinitely and you might even see some improvement over the next week anyway. just swap them over every few days or weekly.
As for the higher charge rate. 3.5A won't be too much for the bike batteries and in reality this figure is the maximum and probably won't charge at that amount unless they are absolutely flat anyway. A general rule charging current is 1/10A of the batteries amp hour capacity. The 0.9V setting is what I would use most of the time for these. Some say it is worth over charging the battery for a short period too, just to fizz the electrolyte and mix it up a bit, but this can only be done with a basic uncontrolled charger and only with a conventional wet battery that you can see the electrolyte. With Sealed AGM types I would stick with the Smart charger and let it do its stuff....Les

[Ozmadman]

Ok, thanks just as a check I "tested" the meter using a new 9 volt 6LR6 (was PP3 in old money) domestic battery and that showed a reading of over 9 volts so I reckon the meter isn't too far out. No more stressing about this, got a good charger now so will keep them both charged up for the winter as best as they will go and enjoy by biking next year.. thanks again Paul

[Ozmadman]

Sorry, one more question... the input says 220/240v 60 watts does that mean that as long as it is switched on it is drawing 60 watts from the mains??? if that is the case it would be cheaper to buy a new battery every year if you were to leave it on for long periods??

Paul

[Les Howard]

Yep, 60W is the max amount when charging fully. The quiescent (standby consumption) is probably around 5-10W..If you want to know for sure these energy consumption monitors are pretty good...not necessarily this model there are lots of them.http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Plug-in-Elect ... 41853b9510

You make a good point though...even tiny amounts of electricity add up enormously if left on 24/7 for a year...Just 5 watts amounts to a staggering 44 Kilowatt hours but cost is around a fiver! (depending on your tariff) .....I'm just going out now to switch my one off!....Les

[Ozmadman]

Well, looks like the 12v "new" battery is knackered?? It has dropped to 9v within 3 days of being charged and now my new high tech smart charger is "telling me" when I have attempted to charge it again that it is finished.. All the illumination lights come on straight away which either indicates a fully charged OR faulty/damaged battery if it is not fully charged, which it isn't. Plus to seal the deal the charger is making a clicking noise, This is the charger trying to start the charge and then switching off again a definite sign that the battery can't accept a charge and is duff..

Paul