Thread: Do I need to get a new battery?

Hi again dearot and as above.

Don’t waste your money on something you may only use once or twice.

Get a battery charger and Jaycar have cheap small ones that will easily do what you want.

As for jumper leads, they are always a good idea but again, you don’t need anything spacial. Even the cheapo Asian ones will start a truck, if used correctly.

My battery was suspect as it failed to turn over the td5 a few times
Checked connections and charging voltage...
Went to Battery World and Repco for testing both said it was OK
Bit the bullet and replaced the battery anyway, months later never a problem again.

Lucky my mate came and gave d2 a jumpstart. So I dont have to buy jumpstarter.

We are home now. Drop the passengers and head to repco. There is ctech mxs 7.0 instead of 5.0. I think its still good investment so I think I will get one. Thanks guys for all your help. Gus

Originally Posted by bacicat

Personally I find the Ctek units to be very good. I use these at work, and at home. With infrequent use of my motorbike and some of my cars, I find having a charger sitting on them keeping them full is a god send. These units aren't the cheapest, but they work great and I've never had a failure. This is a good unit for the price - I have an older version of this that hasn't quite got all the fruit this one does - http://www.ctek-chargers.com.au/ctek-mxs-50.html

Hi Bacicat. Got the ctek mxs 7.0 from repco yesterday. Its $20 more expensive than the website sent but no other option I suppose.

Anyway I charged the battery using normal mode last night. Is that fine or I should have chosen recond mode? Not much info on the manual. It is on float stage now. How long should I left on charger. I charged it last night starting approx 12pm.

And for charging daily over a week as suggested by drivesafe. Should I choose normal mode?

Thanks
Gus

Hi Gus and recond would be better but you will still recondition the battery in float mode.

If the battery has been on charge all night, then for the best results, turn the charger off and let the battery settle for 10 or so hours and the charge it for another 10 to 12 hours.

If you just leave the charger on all the time, after about 8 hours in float mode, there is no real advantage.

By letting the battery settle and then starting the charger again. The charger will start in Bulk mode and then go to float mode. This is the best way to recover and condition a battery.

What he said...

Once you have the battery back up properly and you want to leave the vehicle for sometime, as mentioned, the unit will go into float mode after it has run a charging cycle, so you can leave it connected almost indefinitely like that.

Originally Posted by bacicat

What he said...

Once you have the battery back up properly and you want to leave the vehicle for sometime, as mentioned, the unit will go into float mode after it has run a charging cycle, so you can leave it connected almost indefinitely like that.

Ok I did what Bacicat and Drivesafe sugessted. This afternoon I started the car to go to work ( I used my wife's car this morning to work because etc etc). It started fine. Before I started I check the voltage is 12.80V but it was 13.65V when I just removed the carger this morning. What does this mean? Do I need a new battery or not. I will keep charging it every night for a week as suggested and see what happens.

Now, how do I check whether the alternator is still good or not?

Thanks,
Gus

12.8 volts is good, but it may be showing you some residual voltage from the charger. Once you disconnect the charger, turn the headlights on for 30 seconds to wipe off any surface charge, then turn the lights off and check the battery voltage - you should have 12. something depending on the state of charge (SOC). Then, start the engine, give it a rev, then measure the battery voltage again. I would expect to see between 13.6 to 13.9 volts with the enging running.

Let us know what you find.