Battery Charging

[mike142sl]

Because I don't drive far each week, the cold weather is giving my battery a beating. I've had to recharge twice recently with the sub zero temperatures.

Two questions,
1. The little indicator that tells you if its charged or not: Green is charged, Black needs charging, and yellow is replace. When I started to charge it up it was black, however after charging using an automatic charger it still looked black - unless it was a very dark green. Are these indicators any use?

2. Is it absolutley necessary to disconnect the battery before charging, and what problems can occur if you don't?

[Range Rover Blues]

The indicator relies on the level of water inthe battery, is it maintenance free? if not check the level.  They are almost useless though I've found.

No, you can charge it on the car.  Other than damaging some electricery I really can't see the problem unless you are boost-charging which can create gasses, but then nothing charges like a 100amp alternator at full chat and it's on the car then isn't it :?

What about one of those solar tricle chargers? you could leave it connected all the time then.

[mike142sl]

It's the original maintenance free battery and although only just over three years old I suspect it has been drained a few times whilst on forecourts and auction lots etc which never seems to do them any good.

I had a solar trickle charger on the Range Rover which suffered the same problem over the winter, and that seemed to work so may look into that again.

[hobbit]

I think if you were to disconnect the battery on a modern vehicle, you may get more problems, like having to reset alarms and other electronic goodies

On a basic vehicle its less of a problem

Wrapping the battery in polystyrene protect from the  frost, also a padding like wood or rubber strips under the bty to iliminate the battery to metal contact there

Another old method was to wrap an old blanket over the engine, just have to remember to remove before starting, or is might get a bit smelly

Would be worth getting the battery tested, load testing tells you a lot, but where possible I like to actually check the electrolyte levels in the cells, one low cell, even if its not gone completely is enough to put the battery under a bit more strain

[mike142sl]

Sorry forgot to update.

Well it was the battery which for some reason was failing to hold charge, even the solar charger failed to keep it topped up. A replacement last week has done the job via the dealer in the end which was only £5 more than others advertised - plus they cleaned the car as well.

Suspect that the battery might not have been the one that was originally fitted to the vehicle as it went through auction before the car supermarket I bought it from. So it's posible that someone has swapped a battery with an older vehicle that was having problems - plus the battery was probably drained on forecourts with interior lights being left on.

[Range Rover Blues]

That's all it takes, flatten it a couple of times and it's ruined.