Trickle Charger
 

I'm confused; i bought a trickle charger a couple weeks ago and the light just stays yellow. Green means it is fully charged and yellow means it is charging...i think.

ok, so here's the deal; i bought a new battery today b/c my old one was a POS and 3 out of 6 of the water cells said it need to be replaced, so i thought that maybe that was why the light was always yellow. Well i put in my new battery and it lit up yellow again. So i thought that maybe the battey wasn't fully charged (even though when i started my car it read like 14v). I just went outside again like 15 mins ago and it is still yellow. The only thing i can think of is that i do have my alarm on so maybe that constant little draw is causing it to keep charging???

If that is the case, then fine. I bought this thing so i could park my car outside for the winter, under a cover with my alarm on and not have the battery die on me. I'm just wondering if anyone else has seen this before. if you trickle charge the battery still in the car, will it always be yellow and "charging"? i just want to make sure there isnt anything wrong with the charger.

Well, since there is a constant draw on the battery if it's left hooked up, I would imagine that the charger will always be charging. Also, the 14v that your gauge reads is the output of the alternator, not the battery.

- Justin

with my old battery the voltage NEVER read that high on the gauge; and with this new battery, my car started right up with no "struggle". it went to the line right before the 18v red line...im assuming that is 14.5v. 13v is the middle line and it went to the one right after 13.

this is what i bought; http://batterytender.com/product_inf...bd226013a98a7d

should i keep the battery in the car, or take it out to use the battery tender? i just don't want to eff anything up.

after further reading; it might be b/c of the alarm

My battery tender will stay red for a day or so if i took it off the battery and started the car and let it run for a while then put it back on and come back a day or so later maybe a few days depending on how much it went down before it goes to green.

o, is that so??? hmmm, ok then. My biggest concern is hurting the unit or new battery.

I mean if i didn't have a draw on the battery, my car wouldn't die and i wouldn't need the tender. For example; if i set my alarm on a sat and didn't drive the car all week (like i have been doin since i bought my blazer) and then try to start it up the following sat to use it, that battery would be dead.

i don't care if it is always "charging", i just don't want any adverse effects on the battery or unit. I might just call their support line to just ask one of the techs just to be safe.

is it better to take out the battery n leave it to trickle charge for the winter or is it better to take it out? my car will be left outside under a cover so should i take it out?

It all depends how long the NEW BATTERY was sitting on the shelf. A battery will lose about 1 amp a day(just sitting in a car), so if it sits for awhile, it will still start up a car, but it will not be FULLY charged. A trickle charger(by its name alone), will only put in a small amount of charge. It may take several days for it to FULLY charge up your battery. Also hope you bought one like the brand name of BATTERY TENDER, that will shut off when the battery is FULLY charged, and only put back a charge when it detects a small discharge. It cannot overcharge a battery!

hmm. from what i read it says that is the amp's drop on any cell below .1 it will kick on.

Ditto, no probs with the battery tender here...Also keep in mind it is a trickle charger so it only charges a little at a time. :wink:

im just afraid that if it is always yellow and "charging" that it will eventually burn something up (the battery or the unit itself). Unless it is designed for just this use, to have a car sit with a current draw (i.e. alarm) and keep the battery charged for an indefinite time.

That's the idea of a trickle charger though. It keeps the battery charged so you can keep the constant drain (radio clock, all electronic stuff, alarm, etc. That way it doesn't hurt the battery. It is sudden surges in power that reduce a battery's life span from what I understand, like a jump start.

if the car is sitting for the winter....disconnect the battery and leave the battery tender on it

edit: i missed the part about wanting to leave your alarm on....idk then

:banghead: ah...errr...umm...

...any chance that it could be my 1.5 farad cap that is keeping the tender from going to "float" mode???

lol

i kno as soon as you take the battery terminal off the cap drains, so being that the battery feeds the cap, and the tender feeds the battery, it is prob the cap that is a lil too hungry.


ugh...it has been such a long couple weeks. i swear, i do my best thinkin when im droppin a deuce...:nod:

Note to self: When you're wondering why your battery tender can't keep the voltage high, remeber to disconnect the piece of electronic that is meant to DRAIN it.

I took out the fuse for the CAP and the light went green within 3 minutes...w/ the alarm on...lol.

nice!

woot! its always great when its something that easy

The battery tender has a bout .25 amp charge rate, an alarm or the rest of the car at rest should be just under that. Any way you already figured out your problem so you should be good.8-)

Effin-A; but i should have known better. I was like "wtf?!", then when i was on the "throne" (where i do my best thinking), i was like "it is probably the cap pulling current from the battery to keep itself charged." I mean i have a nasty alarm; glass break sensor, motion sensor (with LED indicators on the module), and LED status light; but i knew an alarm doesn't draw much current sitting. As soon as i pulled the main fuse out for my cap/system, the voltage started to rise and my light went "green" in about 3 minutes. All i have to do when im ready to use the car again is recharge the cap before i put the fuse back in...ask me how i found that out...lol I was almost like "great, a zillion of these types of things are sold, and im the tool with the issue!"

in any event; this calls for :dancing:

whenever i store my car for the winter i disconnect the negative battery cable and connect the battery to a battery tender..and every spring it starts up.. if your car is outside i would suggest pulling the battery inside, i have heard rumors about batteries going bad because of the cold..but not sure if this is true...the negative terminal should be disconnected to insure that there is nothing drawing power--even if the car is off..