Leaving battery on charge

[Bedazzled]

 

I only use my car at weekends so I have bought a battery charger to keep it charged up during the week. Should I loosen the black screws on top of the battery while it is hooked up to the charger?

 

Also, the owners handbook says to attach the negative jump lead to the engine rather than to the negative battery terminal - why is this?

 

 

[shn7]

If it's a battery charger DON'T leave on for prolonged periods. Even the Draper Battery Master (conditioner) is not good for long periods.

 

What you really need is a true conditionaer like the Optimate.

 

Steve.

 

Edited by - Steve Newman on 11 May 2005 15:39:57

[MartinWoodham]

I've got an optimate with a pair of leads connected to a plug permanently wired onto the battery terminals. The lead comes with the charger. Just plug in to charge, and it's on all the time when in the garage.

No probs so far after over a year.

 

The optimate goes into a suspend mode once the battery's fully charged, then it wakes up every now and then and switches back on if the battery needs it.

 

Martin

Roadsports B

If everything's under control you're going too slow (Emmerson Fittipaldi)

[Bedazzled]

 

Yes, I can't remember what make mine is but it works the same, it switches into standby mode when the battery is fully charged and only flips occasionally to charge mode. It's designed for long term storage (e.g. classic cars) so it should be ok, but I read somewhere that you should loosen the large black circular screws on the top of the battery when it is charging - my question is should you do this when the battery is just being "maintained"....?

 

 

[shn7]

OK then the answer I think is no. The charge level in maintenance mode should be such that no great amounts of gas (hydrogen) are generated and assuming you have the std banner battery these should exit ok out of the breather.

 

Steve.