Topic: Charging the battery
in Forum: C3 Electrical

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-Adam Wartell
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Depending on what kind of charger you actually have, it may be operating normally. If it's one the "floats" the charge, it will come on/off as needed to keep the battery a a full charge. Also, in my experience(and that of others), 2 amps on a steady charge will overcharge the battery. Most chargers that are designed for "storage" charging are less than 1 amp, usually .75 amp or so.
Have the battery tested and see how it comes thru, then go from there. If you don't have one, get a battery disconnect switch for the car. You'll be glad you did.

Joel Adams
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Larry

1978 L82 4speed
1994 LT1 6speed
Also, you might check the water level in the battery, if it is possible.... if it has removable caps... if it does not, then, disregard... :) Reason saying this is that if you can check the level of the water(electrolyte) you can do a few things, one being to see if each cell has water, if it is low, then its been overcharged or if one cell is low, then it could be a good indicator of a bad cell... also, being able to access the water, you can use a hydrometer(any parts store should have them) to test the gravity of the 'water'... a fully charged battery usually reads around 1.1275-1.1300 sg(specific gravity) and it should read the same for all 6 cells, if there is one cell that reads .0050 or more less than its probably a bad cell... do take a little caution when using a hydrometer, dont let it drip on anything around, but dont be afraid of it either, its 65% water, 35% sulphuric acid, sooo it won't instantly dissolve I-beams or anything, but.. painted surfaces beware ;) and any cotton clothing...leather... nylon(makes it gooey)... etc..etc.. just keep some paper towels handy, and a box of Arm&Hammer ;)
Also, the voltage on a fully charged battery on a voltmeter is 12.6 to 12.8 volts(after allowing the surface charge to disapate, so if you just took your battery off charge it may read higher, like 13-14 volts, but this is not the nominal voltage... your alternator should however be charging around the 14 volt mark... ).. and when putting a load on it, like starting a vehicle, the voltage should not really drop much below 10.5 volts... obviosly the higher the cold cranking rating the less that voltage drop will be(USUALLY)...
Just a quick question, how old is the battery? and what make/model is it?(reason asking is if its a JCI battery, there is a hot stamp code that can tell me(and you) the age of the battery/date of manufacture)... located on the top in one of the 4 corners, a 4 digit alpha-numeric code, i.e. C9RO...the first two letter/number represents the month and year C=April, 9=2009 (as long as you know its within 10 years, cause, they repeat the same alpha/numeric each decade, so, the 9 could be 1999... but you get the idea.. ) wow, i've rambled enough for a while..

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1978 L82 4speed
1994 LT1 6speed




Jimmy B.
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