Elite_Deforce

I haven't been able to find concrete info on this and I was wondering what you guys do.

I just bought an automatic battery charger for my '86 and the location I have the car in my garage does not allow the cables to reach the battery from the wall outlet, and I would rather not use an extension.

I wanted to know if it is safe to charge the battery with it pulled out of the car but without using an extra gauge wire for the negative post (the battery charger manual recommends a 6-gauge wire).

manbeast

weird I thought you were supposed to put the clamps on both posts? or am i reading you wrong? most people charge their batteries out of the car or at least ive never seen it done while in the car still.

Elite_Deforce

I'm talking about straight-up charger to battery, no clamps. Was wondering if this is safe.

manbeast

how do you plan to connect the battery to the charger? just bare wire? should be fine clamps are there for ease. I dont think im fully understanding you still. all you have to do is pull the battery out and set it on the ground next to the charger and charge it. do you have wires missing on your charger? it still should be ok to do. hell id try anything once. haha

gear_grinder

iTrader: (4)

depends on the amount of amperage your trying to charge at.

the amperage will deligate what size the cable needs to be attached to the battery posts.

you should always charge a battery at the lowest amperage possible, this will do minimal damage to the lead plates inside and extend the life of your battery (you shouldnt cycle a normal car battery ether a "non-deep cycle" battery, its very hard on the plates and they will degrade much faster [cycle is a full charge, full discharge, and fully recharged once again])

many batteries are killed needlessly because of this ignorance...

manbeast

ahh i see what hes talkin bout now. haha i learnt something!

Elite_Deforce

manbeast - I just bought an automatic charger that has its own clamps (like booster cables), but instructions tell me to add a 6 gauge wire to the negative post if it is out of the car. I can post pictures if its confusing.

gear grinder - thanks for this info. I am planning on leaving it on a 2 A setting and it has an automatic shut-off. Should I bother with the extensions or just use the clamps from the charger itself?

Edit: the charger wires are 6 gauge or more I believe. I'm talking about length of wire.

gear_grinder

iTrader: (4)

when charging on a low amperage, an extension cord is not an issue

misterstyx69

iTrader: (142)

Just hook up the battery to the charger...Positive from charger to positive on battery,,negative on charger to negative on battery,...DONE.
It's an "automatic " charger..so it won't keep charging the battery once the battery achieves it's fully charged capacity.It will Trickle charge and maintain the battery's full charge,assuming that the battery is left on the charger longer than it needs to be.
You can have the battery IN or OUT of the car.
OH,since the Charger isn't going to Suck 15 amps( that is what it would take to Pop a breaker in your Home outlet) you can run a 100 foot extension if you want.
Just make sure that the Extension cord isn't frayed or cut up..like a Dog chew toy!

Hypertek

iTrader: (3)

i just charged the battery to my blazer the other day.. Just dont have them on the ground, i recall something about car batteries shouldnt be placed on the ground.. Put it on a old outdoor chair or something and you should be good to go. The charger I used had a 10amp and a 30amp fast charge/start. Just used the 10amp for like 4/5 hours and it was good to go after that.

manbeast

i put mine on a wood block everytime i charge it. i dont know why ive always been told to not charge on just the ground. i did charge on cement floor once. didnt hurt anything. but i always try to keep it lifted i think it has something to do with it being grounded kinda like the reason a squirrel doesnt get shocked when walking on power lines er something sciencey like that. i wasnt aware of what type of battery charger you had. thought it was the basic kind. always learning something new and interesting on here.

GregW

Batteries stored on the ground wives tail was busted, some university did a study with hundreds of batteries and found no more dicharge directly on a croncrete floor vs on something else. Look it up, its somwhere on the internets.

To the op, yank the terminal connectors, push them aside so they wont jump back and touch something, hook up charger, plug it in, turn it on.

I like to use my multi meter to check before durning and after battery voltage. Lets you know how good the battery is.

If your BOOSTING aka starting with a dead battery then yeah, you need a 20amp out let and such.

gear_grinder

iTrader: (4)

baka....

a charger is a form of transformer, it will step up the amperage and down the voltage (basic electrical ****) and you could boost 100amps easy from a normal outlet. this would probably destroy the battery however....

you can charge a battery on the ground, however you want to charge it in a well ventilated area (under the hood or in the trunk is not a good idea) because the faster (higher amperage) you charge a battery the more likely it is to "out gas" witch means to produce hydrogen gas due to the electrosis taking place inside of the batterys cells. if it is in an enclosed area and you have an arc of some kind BOOM! battery blows up. Same thing can happen if you are jumping a battery that has been drained very rapidly, it will out gas. that is why you attach the pos jump lead to the cable FIRST, and then the ground to a grounded part of the chassis no less the 8-10" away from the battery.


im astounded more ppl arent seriously hurt buy poor battery practices....


when charging a dead battery, you should remove the battery from the car and connect the charger it directly on the battery posts. it is not a good idea to charge a battery while in the vehicle due to the possible "AC" pulse from the charger that could damage sensitive electronic components... while again charging at the lowest possible setting

gear_grinder

iTrader: (4)

being on wood has nothing to do with it.

a pwr line of the mains can reach up to 400k volts easily, though it probably wont kill you because its only carrying such a small amount of amperage.

when the line steps down to say 1k, 500v, or 240v, that's what will get you because the amperage level becomes lethal and has more then enough voltage to get to your heart and stop it.

ppl survive alot of 110v instances because the reisistance (ohms) of their body is high (depending on electrolite and hydration levels) that the amperage will not be able to reach vital areas. still hurts tho

marclong

iTrader: (1)

High voltage lines will indeed turn you into a toothpick. Squirrels do not get electrocuted because they are not grounded. If a squrrell were able to touch the line and a ground source simultaneously then you have jerky.

gear_grinder

iTrader: (4)

not true

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&fe...&v=0XBurkUkdFE

completing the circut is all that matters

gear_grinder

iTrader: (4)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4ph-h7l_aM

marclong

iTrader: (1)

Right. That's what I said. The sqirrell touch lines with different potentials. Jerky

Elite_Deforce

Well this thread went a little sideways, but I just want to say that I hooked up the charger and all seems to be well. We'll see when I hook it back up.

Just to be clear, I was NOT talking about extension cords or anything. I was talking about an extra 4 or 6 gauge wire attached to the negative clamp of the charger and the negative post of the battery. But at such a low amperage, I guess it isn't a problem.

Cheers.

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

fix'd


my 110v 130a mig works perfectly fine with a 20 foot extension, think a battery charger will phase the circuit? no. if the hypothesis is that the cord being on the ground is an issue, that is why they are insulated.. we're not laying bare wires to the ground.

batteries only produce excessive hydrogen gas if they are trying to overwork the cells, ie trying to compensate for a dead cell in the pack. the battery will begin to swell, get hot and cycle excessively producing alot of gas which you can generally hear bubbling in the battery indicating an issue.

Zell

iTrader: (2)

Sorry guys im just curious to why you cant charge the battery while its in the car?
And woudnt it be ok if you just activated your kill switch while it was on charge in the car?

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

you can charge it in the car, whoever said you need to remove it is a chucklehead.

some car makes/models recommend recommend you remove it prior to charging to protect all the sensitive electronic components in more sophisticated cars that have multiple computer controllers and bus lines so they all talk to each other. same is true if you plan on welding on the car as the sharp pulses can hurt the electronics(but not these low tech cars).