I recently had my car turn over rather weak the other day then it was fine for bout a week. Then yesterday before work it really strained, though after work it cranked but not quite enough to fire the car. I had it jumped drove like 5 miles home and did a 2amp charge on automatic charger. To my surprise it was both done rather quick and didn't give a error code for low voltage. The battery is a 1000ca 800cca optima 2 yrs old, which I have now learned often will only charge to 80% on a automatic charger not made for optima. Or you have to use a manual charger. The auto charger does a check for problems before charging the battery and shows no problems. I now have my manual charger on i did it at 2amp over night and now am doing a 10 amp. Reason is when i bumped the switch to 10 it went from charged when 2 amp. To showing 2 amp left to go or 80% with the 10 amp mode.
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bad battery or electrical problem
- Thread starter purelux
- Start date
Fleetwood86
LVC Member
Have you checked battery cables?
What condition are your battery cables?
When is the last time you cleaned them with a wire brush?
What condition are your battery cables?
When is the last time you cleaned them with a wire brush?
Has the battery ever been seriously drained of power? If so, how often and for how long?
Since the auto-charger didn't detect a mechanical problem or a voltage problem, it really sounds like the battery is just sulfated (or sulphated) and it's maximum charge has been reduced.
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There's lead metal and sulfuric acid in the battery. As the battery discharges, it produces thin, soft fluffy lead-sulfate crystals on the lead plates. (The sulfuric acid gets more watery by losing some sulfur.)
This is normal behavior. The "soft" lead-sulfate crystals easily dissolve when the battery is recharged, and the acid gains full strength and gets heavier. A hydrometer, which measure that weight, reads full charge.
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However, if a battery is allowed to discharge further than it should, much of the lead sulfate crystals have an opportunity to take on a different crystalline form. They look like little round rocks with flat faces all around.. like a soccer ball.. I've seen them under a microscope.
These will not dissolve by recharging.
They clog up the porous lead plates, and reduce the amount of lead exposed to the acid, because the acid cannot penetrate the plates.
Battery capacity is reduced accordingly.
Since the auto-charger didn't detect a mechanical problem or a voltage problem, it really sounds like the battery is just sulfated (or sulphated) and it's maximum charge has been reduced.
------
There's lead metal and sulfuric acid in the battery. As the battery discharges, it produces thin, soft fluffy lead-sulfate crystals on the lead plates. (The sulfuric acid gets more watery by losing some sulfur.)
This is normal behavior. The "soft" lead-sulfate crystals easily dissolve when the battery is recharged, and the acid gains full strength and gets heavier. A hydrometer, which measure that weight, reads full charge.
-----
However, if a battery is allowed to discharge further than it should, much of the lead sulfate crystals have an opportunity to take on a different crystalline form. They look like little round rocks with flat faces all around.. like a soccer ball.. I've seen them under a microscope.
These will not dissolve by recharging.
They clog up the porous lead plates, and reduce the amount of lead exposed to the acid, because the acid cannot penetrate the plates.
Battery capacity is reduced accordingly.
JDS353
Dedicated LVC Member
do a post search for optima batters on the site there was a post by optima Jim i belive that was his name and the chargeing process for the optima is different. he gave a good post on it here.