maddog
Here he comes to save the day!
I will get this started.
A lead acid battery either wet cell or gel cell is still a lead acid battery. There are some minor differences but basicly the same chemistry.
To measure the voltage there are some things you need to know. The voltage will stabalize after a couple hours. So if its been on the charger or just started your car it isnt stabalized. Wait a while before thinking you have the acurate voltage. You should use a digital volt meter even if its a $20 unit from Raido Shack.
On stabilized voltage, 12 volts is dead and 12.8 or above is full charge. There is only .8 of a volt (less than 1 volt !) difference between a dead battery and one that has a full charge.
Lead acid batteries loose 2% of thier charge just sitting in a month.
Lead acid batteries like to be charged and hate to be left uncharged.
When left discharged, often the chemestry inside the battery will not recover fully and you will have taken significant life from it.
Charging -
To charge a battery to 12.8 volts, you have to put a higher voltage to it. (The amperage of your charger is like the rate of charge). If you had your digital meter on your battery as you are charging it, you would see the voltage climb. When a battery is low it will charge to 80% fairly quickly (depending on the charger) but the last 20% always takes more time.
There is a little fudge here, but your voltage should never go over 14.4 volts (gell cells are a little higher). When the voltage goes over 14.4 volts you will start boiling the acid and making excissive heat. This is very bad for it. An automatic battery charger will shut off before it goes above 14.4 volts. This is acomplished in different ways depending on the charger. It is an industry standard that an automatic charger will say the word " automatic" on its label. All other chargers when left on too long will destroy your battery. Even a trickle charger will eventually bake a perfectly good battery.
I am not a battery expert, I have just been messing around with them for the last 10 years and have picked up these things along the way. If I have missed something or miss stated something, please chime in.
A lead acid battery either wet cell or gel cell is still a lead acid battery. There are some minor differences but basicly the same chemistry.
To measure the voltage there are some things you need to know. The voltage will stabalize after a couple hours. So if its been on the charger or just started your car it isnt stabalized. Wait a while before thinking you have the acurate voltage. You should use a digital volt meter even if its a $20 unit from Raido Shack.
On stabilized voltage, 12 volts is dead and 12.8 or above is full charge. There is only .8 of a volt (less than 1 volt !) difference between a dead battery and one that has a full charge.
Lead acid batteries loose 2% of thier charge just sitting in a month.
Lead acid batteries like to be charged and hate to be left uncharged.
When left discharged, often the chemestry inside the battery will not recover fully and you will have taken significant life from it.
Charging -
To charge a battery to 12.8 volts, you have to put a higher voltage to it. (The amperage of your charger is like the rate of charge). If you had your digital meter on your battery as you are charging it, you would see the voltage climb. When a battery is low it will charge to 80% fairly quickly (depending on the charger) but the last 20% always takes more time.
There is a little fudge here, but your voltage should never go over 14.4 volts (gell cells are a little higher). When the voltage goes over 14.4 volts you will start boiling the acid and making excissive heat. This is very bad for it. An automatic battery charger will shut off before it goes above 14.4 volts. This is acomplished in different ways depending on the charger. It is an industry standard that an automatic charger will say the word " automatic" on its label. All other chargers when left on too long will destroy your battery. Even a trickle charger will eventually bake a perfectly good battery.
I am not a battery expert, I have just been messing around with them for the last 10 years and have picked up these things along the way. If I have missed something or miss stated something, please chime in.
