Thread: Alternator Charge Voltage Not Enough for Calcium Battery

Originally Posted by drivesafe

Hi again LazBaz and you do not need to change the battery.

Your battery does not need to be charged at 14.7v every time you use it.

All Calcium/Calcium ( Ca/Ca ) batteries are the same and only need a charge of 14.7v ( or higher ) once every few months.

I recall a good friend of mine had calcium batteries in his 3.0L patrol as his dual battery system, his fridge only ever lasted a few hours when camping, had us stuffed as to why, the system was all brand new.
Turned out his patrol couldn't get the charge voltage up high enough to rejuvenate the batteries once drained. Swapped them out for agm's and never had the issue again.

Originally Posted by 101RRS

The original battery in the LR was a Varta calcium battery - lasted 9 years.

So your car alternator charge voltage ( I believe 14.2V or reminder me the figure) was enough and the battery lasted 9 years.
Please confirm your alternator charge voltage.
Thank you.

Originally Posted by lazbaz

So your car alternator charge voltage ( I believe 14.2V or reminder me the figure) was enough and the battery lasted 9 years.
Please confirm your alternator charge voltage.
Thank you.

Yes as I outlined above - was on the alternator as fitted by Landrover and the battery as fitted by Land Rover when the car was built. As were all D3s/RRS of the period - maybe LR know something about what alternators they use and what battery type to fit.

Originally Posted by 101RRS

The standard battery for a D3/RRS is a calcium battery and I have never seen a charging rate as high as 14.7 or 14.8 in my RRS. On start it may show 14.2-14.4v until the start charge is recouped and it then drops to 13.2-13.5v and I have not had any issues with my calcium batteries over the years.

I think you are looking for an issue that is not there.

Our D4,being the model with no BCM,almost never went above 13.9V.

The original calcium was replaced by LR under warranty with an AGM,and they generally lasted about 4 years.As did the auxillary,which was AGM as well.

The D4 3.0L had the variable voltage set up and was supplied with an AGM start battery from factory.
They generally charged a higher voltage most of the time.

Originally Posted by lazbaz

Thank you for your assurance. However this is what I read "The typical lead acid charging voltage is between 2.15 volts per cell (12.9 volts for a 6 cell battery) and 2.35 volts per cell (14.1 volts for a 6 cell battery). The ideal charging voltage for a calcium battery is 14.8V for the recombination process to properly occur"

So I am still unsure the battery will damage quite rapidly. I was thinking of getting the alternator voltage modified to 14.7 or 14.8 V. But I have not found anyone who can do it for me.

I did a google search for that particular quoted sentence, and found an exact copy of it from this website:

LARGE website

If this is where you found this info, did you continue on to read the article past the calcium section battery info section and into the Calcium vs AGM section?
If this isn't where you got your info, and possibly the info you found was a direct copy of the info in the Large website, do take the time to read the info in the AGM vs Calcium section.

Of particular note is where they state the charge requirements for both AGM and Calcium type batteries.

AGM needing 14.7v and Calcium needing 14.4v!!!
Initial thinking would be that maybe it's a typo, but continue reading and they continue to say that if you charge a Calcium battery using an AGM mode charger(ie. at 14.7v) the calcium battery will boil it's electrolyte as that level of charge will increase the Ca battery temperature.

So if the Calcium battery charging at 14.7v may overheat and possibly boil it's electrolyte, then how on earth can they justify suggesting a charge voltage of 14.8v!!!

So then the question comes into mind .. is the original suggestion of 14.8v a typo instead?

Either way .. considering the conflicting info .. me thinks, maybe best to avoid any technical info or suggestions from them.

On a personal note: I had a Delkor Calcium battery in my old 79 RRC for many years .. maybe 10+ or more. Was a good battery as I remember. I did also install an Aux battery a few years later into the spare battery slot and built a kit battery switching device to charge it.
IIRC the puny old Lucas alternator it originally had wasn't capable of more than about 14v, and once settled the charge out of it was in the mid to high 13's .. and yet still that Delkor lasted 10+ years.
Old Lucas alternators fail every year, just a day or two after the warranty period expires!(well mine did). I had it rebuilt so many times .. got sick of it at about the third rebuild, and found a nicer 80A Bosch unit that fit in the same space.
Again, made no difference to the operation of the Delkor. It did finally die tho, and this was due to the RRC sitting for a good couple of years unloved in any way.

I think batteries die, no matter how well you look after them. Just plain old dumb luck in having received a dud off the production line.
In my D1, I got a largest capacity Century that I could fit in there, off a retail shelf as it was needed there and then.
It died(dropped cell) in about 10 months. Eventually replaced by the retailer, and the replacement also started to feel like it was losing cranking capacity(for the Tdi).
But it's still working, need to keep it topped up a bit as the car isn't driven as much now.
Both batteries performed exactly the same way. First 6 months they would easily hold full charge overnight without problem ambient didn't matter either. That is, 12.7 volts.
D1's alternator charges them initially at about 14.3-14.4v then slowly decreases voltage as the battery gets topped up.
This is with no drain(ie. electrical draw) on them. Add electrical draw(wipers, AC/Fan, lights/highbeam/driving lights .. etc) charge voltage will be lower.
Once the battery has received back it's 'full charge'(I assume) eg. with no electrical draw, I then see between 13.8 and 14.0 volts.
I have two volt meters connected pretty much all the time. With a load, or many loads, on in the car(as before say wipers, brake lights, headlights... etc, the normal 'settled' charging level can be as low as 13.5v.

Hi again folks, Ca/Ca cranking batteries only need to supply enough battery capacity to start your motor and this they will do for many years, with out too much additional maintenance.

Problem is that they can easily start a motor when they are down as much as 50% of their original capacity.

Great for starting a motor, not much chop for running a fridge.

With Ca/Ca batteries ( and to a lesser extent, the same applies to ordinary wet/flooded batteries ), you need to periodically give them a high voltage charge to be able to maintain high capacity.

The D3s actually did this automatically, but as most D4s were supplied with AGMs, D4 voltages should NOT go over 14.7v while D3 voltages will go as high as 15.5v, particularly in cold climate countries.

So as I posted earlier in this thread, all Ca/Ca batteries should be given a high voltage recharge every few months.

Originally Posted by drivesafe

So as I posted earlier in this thread, all Ca/Ca batteries should be given a high voltage recharge every few months.

What about in warm climates?
Roughly how long would you suggest to do this?

I have a couple of large truck batteries in my shed. I haven't had a chance to use them much but do regularly charge them with the NOCO.
I found that setting the charger to AGM every so often(only in very cold temps) helps them hold their normal charge longer too.
I've had them for about 3 years now, and they hold their charge well and still have over 90% of their capacity according to the battery tester.

Strange thing is, that they were removed out of brother truck 3+ years back when they had zero ability to start the truck(ie. couldn't crank it).

I don't know about other chargers, but on the NOCO, 15.5v equates to the AGM+ mode on the unit. How long would you advise to leave it set to this mode for?
Also, would the repair mode at 16.5v be too much for them?

I don't have any Ca batteries at the moment, but would be good to have some detailed info for future reference.

Hi Arthur and which model charger do you have?