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Charging a race battery
JacksAvon - 16/3/14 at 11:29 AM

Chaps,

does the collective have any thoughts on the best charger for a race battery.
I currently have a standard battery charger but I,m not sure if it is ideal for race gel batteries.

Thanks
jack

serieslandy - 16/3/14 at 01:18 PM

quote:
Originally posted by JacksAvon
Chaps,

does the collective have any thoughts on the best charger for a race battery.
I currently have a standard battery charger but I,m not sure if it is ideal for race gel batteries.

Thanks
jack

I've got a cheapie lidl charger on my odyssey battery. I've done 2 charges as I'm only in my build stage and the battery seems fine

matt5964 - 16/3/14 at 05:29 PM

had a standard optimate 3 on an oddesey 25 battery and it was not happy.. had to get a new battery now use a optimate 6 as its a pulse charger and has built in conditioning

sssline - 16/3/14 at 07:18 PM

Hi,
I ended up buying a ctek mxs 5.0 , after lots of reading it seemed well suited.

Cheers
Tony.R

supersport31 - 16/3/14 at 11:50 PM

latest Optimate 6 is pretty trick, does everything but li-poly batteries

v8kid - 17/3/14 at 07:17 AM

Gell batteries need a slightly higher charging voltage to get 100% charge. You can use a normal battery charger but will only charge to around 80% capacity.

Quite a lot of marketing hype about battery chargers. Most battery chargers now are pulsed - it comes by default with the chip. My optimate battery is 5 years old, in good order, and I've always used a cheaop lidl battery charger. All I do is use the winter setting which is a slightly higher voltage. Proof of the pudding and all that stuff.

European safety directives ( or interpretations thereof!) mean battery chargers complying with regs won't work if there is no terminal voltage i.e. a dead battery!! On the other hand if you fully discharge your battery the life is considerably shortened so perhaps it is a good thing?

Cheers!

JacksAvon - 17/3/14 at 09:47 AM

many thanks chaps, time to go shopping

ashg - 17/3/14 at 11:58 AM

why would you need a special charger, do you think an alternator cares what battery is hanging off of it?

supersport31 - 18/3/14 at 08:38 PM

This is what i don't get about fancy lithium batteries. In the specs it always says you need a unique charger for them(that is not compatible with lead acid or gel batteries)
How come your standard automotive alternator can charge the lot with no issues ?

v8kid - 19/3/14 at 07:49 AM

quote:
Originally posted by ashg
why would you need a special charger, do you think an alternator cares what battery is hanging off of it?


Not a jot and that's the problem - well a bit of a problem it depends how nerdy you are . Most alternators are constant voltage whereas chargers are 3 stage.
The upshot is that an alternator will take hours, lots of hours, to get 100% charge whilst a variable voltage charger will do it quickly - as the actress said to the bishop.
In reality who cares or even notices if the battery only gets to 85% charge?

Most not but a few do and by the wonder of marketing hype that is extended to condition us all to buy.

Bit irrelevant since the chips are universal now and cheap apart from the problem of dead flat batteries .

Cheers!