How to Properly Charge a Battery

[WillBilly53]

How do you properly charge a 12v Battery?

i've been doing a lot of tests for my radio and other instruments lately. i did a hydrometer test today and none of the balls are floating. i want to make sure i have a good charge on it before i do any other tests.

Thanks!

[Guest brh]

Always top off with distilled water and never run the charge all the way down. This is very hard on the old lead plate batteries. Charge at a slow rate, trickle charge will due nicely. But again the trick in maintaining these batteries is keeping the charge up. Only the deep cycle batteries are made for continuous discharging and recharging. Just my 2 cents.

[NTX5467]

The distilled water orientation has been mentioned as being optimum for decades, but few people every really use distilled water. Of course, it'd depend on how much "hardness" is in your tap water. I'd try to do the distilled water deal if at all possible--most grocery stores carry it now anyway.

A long slow charge is much preferred over a large, quick charge. The slower charge will get "deeper" into the plates than the quicker charge that will put a "surface charge" in them. Kind of like it builds "memory" into the plates.

Of course, too much charging can cause the electrolyte to "gas" too much and decrease the electrolyte's level in the battery's cells. Make sure the voltage regulator on the vehicle does not charge too much, but still charges enough to keep the battery up to where it needs to be for good operation and long life. This can be a somewhat delicate balancing act, sometimes, but if everything's set to factory specs, it should work ok.

Be sure to use a charger that will decrease the charge rate as the battery's charge level increases. In the end, the needle should be bouncing off of the "zero charge" mark as it tries to put more juice into the battery and it does not need it and finally rests on the "zero charge" mark.

Keeping the battery fully charged will also extend its life AND keep that Buick ready for any impromptu cruises that you might want to make happen.

Just some thoughts,

NTX5467

[WillBilly53]

excellent. thank you.

how long does it take, usually?

[Guest brh]

If you use the charger NTX is talking about, depending how dead the battery is, maybe 12 hours to 8 hours. He is right this is the best charger to use. Mine has auto shutoff to prevent overcharging.