Battery Charger Not Charging?!

[Peter]

Hi Everyone,

I have had my Skyline (R33) at the back of my girlfriend's house for the past six months. Driving it occassionally, and keeping the battery charged through the use of an automatic battery charger (Projecta 4300 I think), which charges then maintains. Wanted to move the Skyline today, went out and battery was flat (this is a 12 month old battery BTW). So I went to stick the charger on it for a while, and the charger showed power, but no connection for charging (battery is in the boot, and I connect the charger positive to the battery terminal +, and charger earth to where the ground wire meets the chasis). So then I try and connect the charger directly to the battery terminals - still no connection, but power is going through the charger (power light on). I then try and connect the charger to the jump start terminals in the engine bay - still no good! So I assume the charger is buggered. Take the charger out and plug it into my old MQ Patrol - all lights up and starts charging the Patrol??

What am I missing? Is there a fuse that is responsible? Is the battery that buggered it won't charge even when connected directly?? Any help would be muchly appreciated....

Thanks!

Peter

[rgr34]

does it kick over mayb the starter motor has broken down..... tried using another battery?

[blind_elk]

Try removing the terminals and connect the charger directly to the battery posts.

[Peter]

No rgr34, battery's completely dead, nothing works!

Ok blind elk, I'll give this a shot and post up what happens...

Thanks,

Peter

[rgr34]

ahh ok as said try and charge it overnight on battery posts,if still no good mayb try jump starting it....if that dont work the battery must be buggered if ya really need it to turn it on u tried push starting it if its manual of course! u should take it to any mechanic to test the battery...

Edited August 8, 2008 by rgr34

[blind_elk]

ahh ok as said try and charge it overnight on battery posts,if still no good mayb try jump starting it....if that dont work the battery must be buggered if ya really need it to turn it on u tried push starting it if its manual of course! u should take it to any mechanic to test the battery...

if the battery is D E A D, it won't ever start on a push-start, because the ECU needs power to set everything up and control the engine.

[Kujotk]

y dont you connect another cars battery to it to see if the car turns over at all, that will tell you if the car still works and that the problem probably isnt in the car.

then check to see that there is enough liquid in the battery (dont forget a car sitting around with the windows closed all the time and having the battery in the boot can get as hot as the rest of the car especially if the rear speakers on the partition shelf have been taken out to put child restraints in for compliance) because it is likely that it may have just evaporated out. Since the battery is in the boot it means the battery is also clean and if the battery is one of those transparent ones to see where the water level is you may bee thinking that the battery is full of water when infact it is completely dry so take the battery out to check the water level

then check that the charger is pushing atleast 13volts of current. even if it is pushing 12volts get a new charger. Most 12volt chargers are pushing about 14volts out to charge a battery

other than that i dont know what it could be, mabey pulled out some wires or something....

[cuppas]

yeah take it to a mate who has a battery tester

if the level of liquid is fine, it either means the plates inside the battery have started to wear, or the acid solution inside the battery is too weak

if youre ghetto, you can just drain the battery, refill with the acid solution and see how you go from there

or you could buy a new battery with higher CCA thats the same size

= less stress on the battery

[Peter]

Thanks for the replies!

Took the battery out and checked the water levels - all good. Stuck the charger on, still nothing....the battery has one of those little circles you look through with a legend next to it - green = OK; red = water low; black = ! (return to shop)....mine is black so I think it's stuffed. Well at least it's only 12 months old, and has a warranty of 3 years.....I'll take it back tommorrow....

Cheers,

Peter

[Kujotk]

hahah yeah or do that

[Peter]

Thanks for the help!

Took it back and they connected it to a big ass battery tester and charger, which then printed me out a little receipt saying "Warranty invalid, extremely discharged, user abuse." I saw the voltage of the battery on the screen - 2.1V - which is pretty low!

BUT, they are following it up for me with the company that makes the batteries, as they said they will sometimes come to the warranty party...so I'll see what happens...

I must have a continuos small discharge somewhere in my car, as from what I understand, large discharges such as amps will flatten batteries, but small continuos discharges will really kill them over the long run....wonder what it could be?

Pete