DesertSpider

I bought a new battery for my '64 last month, long story short, gas gage stuck, ran out of gas, thought I was getting low fuel flow and ended-up cranking the starter for "quite some time" w/ starter fluid being sprayed into the carb to get it going and keep it running intermittently until the light bulb came on and I realized it was out of gas.........

I got a five gallon gas can, filled it up, filled the car up - started it and drove it to the gas station and filled the tank. Car sat after this for about a week.

The following week I was working on the shifter and linkage and had the vehicle up on jacks (with the doors open to take the stress off the body when lifting).

The doors open with the car off and the key out of the ignition STILL allows the 'door ajar' light bulbs to stay on, after I put the car back on the ground and tried to start it the battery was ABSOLUTELY dead. It didn't crank, surge, click, NOTHING, no lights came on, nada. Absolutely nothing happened whatsoever, turned the key and the car just sat there.

I jump started the car after letting it sit on jumper cables to the source vehicle (running) - took a couple attempts since the battery was coming back from zero. Let it run for about 10 minutes at idle, drove it another 15 or so minutes to get some food (drive thru, didn't turn the car off), came home let it run another 10 minutes at idle before I shut it off and left it in the garage. Today went out and tried starting it, it turned once, made some other electrical noises and then just stopped / quit doing anything, dead again [zero].

Bought the battery charger below and hooked it up, after some checking, resetting and a failed attempt to charge the battery [weird display readings, bad battery, battery power level zero, etc.]. I tested the battery power level and the meter read: 10% Switched to charge mode and watched the meter tick up one percent at a time to 64%. Came back in an hour, meter was still at 64% So I detached the charger and tested the level of the battery, the meter started at 55% then 'settled' at 50%. I then switched the charger back to charge mode and watched the meter tick up to 69% and then stay there. The weird thing was that the first charge from 10 to 64 went up practically 1% every 2 to 5 seconds (this was in fast charge mode), the second charge attempt went from 50 to 69 essentially at the same rate, 1% every 2 to 5 seconds and then just stopped there.

So.....

Questions:

Why won't the battery fully charge (go higher than 69%) ?

Did I damage my battery during any of the first 'jumps' or 'drains' ?

Is the battery repairable (can it be fully recharged) ?

Why is the battery not charging back to 100%, does 'fast charge mode' take more time ?

What am I missing here ?

Does the process take longer or should the battery increase straight to 100 without pausing ?

As usual, help please.

DesertSpider

Also, the battery charger manual said something about taking the vents off the battery and adding distilled water, etc......

I'm NOT an electrical guy, but does a battery that I bought ~ a month ago that's gone through the stuff I describe above need the caps pulled off and me monkeying with the chemistry ???????

It's late and I'm in 'not so smart' mode right now.

DS

wombvette

I think you should not worry about all the little bells and whistles on that battery charger. They are totally unnecessary and probably confusing to you. Just set the charger so it will charge at a low rate, 1-2 amps or so, and let it go for 24 hours. The battery will charge to its full capacity, if it is good. It is never good to kill a battery, but it will usually come back if properly recharged.

DesertSpider

Thanks.

Does anyone know if I need to pop the caps on it and mess with the solution (water) inside ? When and why would you do that ?

DS

midyearvette

the caps are vented any way unless it is maintenance free...if not then check the fluid level first..add water if need be..then hook up the charger as wombvette suggests......

DesertSpider

The battery says "Maintenance Free" on it, does that mean that it never requires 'filling' of water in the cells ?

stellar

That battery should not have the caps (probably aren't any) taken off. You should not refill it with water or acid. It is maintence free as you suspect. Never requires filling. Just charge as suggested above for 24 hours and have it tested.

GCD1962

No, if the cap is removable then it doesn't hurt to check the level. If it is low then add distilled water up to the ring mark. If a battery goes completely dead a couple of times it is possible it will never make it back up to a full charge. I would also do a load test on the battery. When adding fluid always use distilled water, never add acid.

DesertSpider

Thanks, I'll be doing some more 'diagnosis' this evening to see what I can figure out.

Does anyone know how to use that pipette tube with the multi-colored ***** in it ? I'd like to understand how to check the cells if I've got a bigger problem that appears, but don't understand the device or the chemistry.

DS

btw - I LOVE this forum, so much knowledge, so much help, THANK YOU guys (and gals).

Mike Ward

BTW- letting a car run at idle will usually not charge the battery, the alternator is barely putting out any juice at that speed.

DesertSpider

Really ? I always thought that pegging the RPM's up a ways when you jump a vehicle helps put more juice into the equation. Is that correct (that revving the engine during a jump 'helps' ?

So, mental note on my part, next time I need to run it down the highway at 100 mph+ (sorry officer, I was just trying to charge up the battery.... )

I also just visualized the Ferris Bueller's Day Off scene w/ the car up on blocks with a brick on the gas pedal just as it leans, falls and drives right out the window, 2+ story fall to it's demise.......

DS

Pilot Dan

Since you have a Sears maintenance free battery that is only one month old, you can take it over to any Sears Auto center and have them do a load test on it. It won't cost you anything, and if the battery has a problem, they will just give you a new one. Pilot Dan

Bowtyeguy

I am thinking you have a lousy ground where you have it. The battery doesnt need to be checked . You are doing something wrong . Cables dirty, loose, unlikely a 1 month battery bad.

DesertSpider

UPDATE !!!!!!!!

Was at home this afternoon for lunch and decided to peek my head in the garage just for laughs and WAH-LAH, the meter now reads 100% charged !!!!

NO idea how or why the charge cycle plateaued at 69% for so long, but evidently sometime between last night and today it climbed the remaining 31%.... I guess the lesson learned is that charge time is not linear. It really threw me that the first 50 - 60% of the charge went up at 1% increments almost on exact 3 second delays then virtually stopped. Weird, another fact I can stuff into my non-existent electrical hat.

So, I haven't tried starting the car (disconnecting and cranking off the battery only). I AM curious though if I have a short / drain somewhere that is sucking juice out while it's powered down (off).

I was reading about some new device that bolts on near the battery that disconnects the battery from the car using some type of a switch if it detects any load. And on that same page of the Eckler's C2 magazine was another connector that appears to be the same type of lug on my negative terminal (you can barely see it in the picture above [plastic green ****]).

Is that a way to 'quick disconnect' the battery if it sits too long ? Or is it just somewhere to attach cables / wires to the battery without having to loosen the lug nut ? :confused

darguy

If you want to measure for a current drain, you need to either hook up an amp meter in series with one of your battery cables (do the ground side, as that is the one that should be disconnected first), or hook up a good quality current clamp around the ground cable. If you have a multi-meter, set it for current (start at the high current setting and work your way down to get the best reading) and put the negative probe on the negative clamp and the positive probe on the negative terminal. If you have a current draw, you should be able to see it on the meter.

DesertSpider

This:

http://www.ecklers.com/product.asp?p...6&dept_id=1206

Has anyone bought this and do you like it ? Pros / cons ?

DesertSpider

Is this correct or did you mean, positive probe on the positive terminal ?

darguy

It was correct. You're putting the amp meter in series with the clamp at the end of the negative cable and the negative terminal. This is after you've disconnected the negative clamp. The positive cable stays put. Strictly speaking it doesn't matter which probe you use on the clamp/terminal the only difference will be the sign on the meter reading (+ or -).

DesertSpider

So, disconnect the negative cable at the clamp end (essentially taking it out of the equation), then you're saying use the volt meter (in amp mode) to be the wire that connects between the negative terminal of the battery and the location where the negative clamp was before disconnecting (i.e. engine block / housing bolt) ?

DS

I know this is simple for some, but got a picture ?

darguy

Here's the steps:

0. Ensure ignition is in 'lock' and all accessories and lights are off.
1. Disconnect neg cable from battery.
2. Set Multi-meter up to read current (probes and dial).
3. Put one probe on negative clamp, the other probe on negative terminal.
4. If the Multi-meter is not self-adjusting, adjust current setting down from highest range until the reading is in the middle of the range that you're set at, or you're at the lowest range and the reading is still zero (you may have to change the pos probe to a different port on the meter when you move from the highest current setting, depending on the meter).

Ideally, you shouldn't have any current reading. I had a 2A draw on my '64 internally in the alternator when I got it a couple of years ago.