pszikla

I know.....I should have put on a battery tender last November but I didn't.
I put on a battery charger yesterday at 4pm on 2 amp trickle charge and now at 8am it is still only reading 50%.
Anyone with experience......should I be patient or should I up the amps on the charger?
Pete

perryinva

Get a new battery...no "good" one should take that long.

BruceP

+1. That one will eventually strand you. There is no question.

wross996tt

You can not trickle charge a dead battery back to life. their purpose is to maintain a good battery at full charge.

pszikla

thanks guys.
I think I'll give a try at a higher amperage charging rate for the next 6 to 8 hours and if still the same, then I'll get the new battery!
Pete

BruceP

Just bear in mind that after a complete discharge like this, a car battery permanently loses capacity. You may be able to get it to where it looks fully charged, but it will never be the same.

perryinva

Usually that's prety true, tho it does depend on how old, how many times, and for how long it it was dead. The older, more times, and long it is dead , the longer there was time for the sulfination to take place which is what kills capacity, CCA, and life. As dirt cheap as new batteries are, I wouldn't even fool with it, as a weak battery stresses the other parts of the charging system, and any of them are many times more expensive than a $60 battery from Autozone. Heck, Costco has the right size & amps, etc for less than $40!! After you "fully" charge it, check the SG with a floating ball tester. If still low, get rid of it.

mdillian3690

Well I need a new battery. Made the same mistake moved during the winter and got lazy to connect by battery tender. thought I could just connect the tender for a few days and it will be fine. First crank, tough start, but did start. Drove the car around for about 15miles. Turned her off and tried to crank her up again, but no juice. urgh!!! Connected the battery tender and red light came on then finally after 1/2 hr blinking green light for about 3 hrs before I gave up. I was a bit confused though, because before first crank, the tender gave me a solid green?

pszikla

As mentionned above, I put the charger to 6 amps and after almost 2 days it indicated full charge.
Took a specific gravity reading and it reads "good".
Cranking speed is fast but in any case she starts up very quickly anyway so there isn't much cranking effort needed.
So..so far so good.
If it deteriorates, I'll let you guys know!!
Pete