Pete - W.Sussex Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 Just come back from a trackday at Brands. Fitted a new battery last week - Powervamp Club 22 - which seemed excellent then half way through the morning the car just cut out. Towed to the pits and after some fiddling about found that the positive cable from the battery had chaffed against the case holding the battery and shorted. My fault. Battery dead (but a race team kindly lent me another battery for the rest of the day) and it read 9.7v on the multi meter. Borrowed a charger (called a dry cell charger, never seen one like it) and got it up to 12.7v before we left but now I have it home my Halfords automatic charger will not show charging or charged So the question is - is the battery a lost cause. I thought it would be until we got some charge into it at Brands as above but now I am doubtful unless I need a different charger? Any advice gratefully received. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jonathan Kay Posted August 4, 2014 Member Share Posted August 4, 2014 Probably dead. Is there an ability to top up the electrolyte in those? What model is your Halfords charger? You need a trickle charger until it shows signs of life. If it's a conditioning charger it may not be able to get the process started. Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete - W.Sussex Posted August 4, 2014 Author Share Posted August 4, 2014 Thanks JK. No you can't top these up they are sealed - AGM batteries. I think you may have a point about the charger - I think I will try it on my CTEK tomorrow, the Halfords one is a charger that reverts to trickle when the battery is charged. Anything is worth a try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 The deeper you discharge them, the shorter they'll live - down to something like 40 cycles for total discharge if memories serve. Unless you've fried the battery by continuous high-current discharge (possible), I'd persevere. Also worth calling Ed Roller (pronounced short-'o' - not like the thing you apply paint with) at Powervamp for a technical chat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Deslandes Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 don't give up on it just yet. I recently tried very hard to kill my Powervamp 25 by leaving the ignition on for 2 weeks. Only discovered it last Thursday. Put it on charge with a 'proper' battery charger which delivered about 4 Amps. dropping back to 2Amps after a couple of hours or so. Left it on charge for 24 hours and the voltage came up, albeit it looked as though one cell was goosed as the voltage stuck at about 12V. After a further few hours it got up to about 13 Volts so I put it on my Optimate conditioner for 24 hours. Bingo, job's a good 'un. You need a good old fashioned constant current charger, not a fancy conditioner to get it going. No guarantees, but worth a go. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete - W.Sussex Posted August 5, 2014 Author Share Posted August 5, 2014 Thanks all. Interestingly having left the charger on overnight when I checked this morning it had sprung into life and the charging light was on. It must have taken it a while to figure out what was going on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jonathan Kay Posted August 5, 2014 Member Share Posted August 5, 2014 That's progress, but it might still be damaged. I'd leave it on the conditioning charger for 12h, then disconnect it and measure the voltage at rest. Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete - W.Sussex Posted August 5, 2014 Author Share Posted August 5, 2014 Yes I will. Even better, Powervamp seem to be offering to replace it FOC if it doesn't recover - that seems to be very generous of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 I've had excellent service out of Powervamp over the years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 Well, I never! Just rewiring the rear lights on my Westie (garaged, no parasitic loads, 1season-old Powervamp 25) and I decided to check the voltage at one point. My battery was quite well down, so I plugged the charger in (supplied by Powervamp some years back). It didn't make the stated voltage -which was odd - so I plugged the charger into an older Powervamp 25 that I had retired a while back. I plugged the Westie battery into another charger I had and carried on working. The 'retired' battery achieved a charged state and the PV charger went into maintain mode - and the voltage it was putting out was within a tenth or two of the stated range. Meanwhile, the Westie battery is still showing as charging - and the voltage wasn't as high as I'd have hoped for. As a precaution (even though I shouldn't have any parasitic loads), I disconnected the positive battery lead - still no change in voltage when charging. Finally, as it was time to pack up, I put the PV charger back on as I know it is matched to the battery requirements and I can safely leave it on. The charger detected that the battery was needing the full charge voltage - but it still couldn't bring it up to the 14.6v level and bumbled around at the low 13s... Very odd - I hope it recovers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jonathan Kay Posted August 10, 2014 Member Share Posted August 10, 2014 Perhaps there's a limit on the number of their batteries working at any moment, and Pete's has recovered... Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 Could be! In which case I was a fool to charge my 'retired' battery Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 Just checked again. Voltage has climbed to 14.4V (three tenths off the expected output -close enough not to worry about) and the indicator light has downgraded from red to amber - still some way to go before it settles into the maintenance phase, but at least it is showing more promise than earlier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jonathan Kay Posted August 10, 2014 Member Share Posted August 10, 2014 Good news. But I'd test on load as well as static voltage before going far from home. Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete - W.Sussex Posted August 10, 2014 Author Share Posted August 10, 2014 Well mine didn't recover. Tried everything and whilst I got it up to 12.4 volts it would not even turn the ignition on. Am now taking the kind man at Powervamp up on his offer to replace the battery even though it has all been my fault. Interestingly I put a borrowed Powervamp 25 on the car which also clocked 12.4 on my meter and it started it perfectly! There are still lots of things I don't understand about electrics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jonathan Kay Posted August 10, 2014 Member Share Posted August 10, 2014 That off load test works roughly as follows: If the battery won't hold enough charge to show the required voltage at rest it's knackered. If it does you then need to test: * Whether it can show enough voltage under load eg starting the engine * Whether it can hold charge over time. Jonathan PS: But I am surprised that yours wouldn't turn the ignition on. Edited by - Jonathan Kay on 10 Aug 2014 18:32:29 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jonathan Kay Posted August 11, 2014 Member Share Posted August 11, 2014 Quoting Pete - W.Sussex: Well mine didn't recover. Tried everything and whilst I got it up to 12.4 volts it would not even turn the ignition on. Am now taking the kind man at Powervamp up on his offer to replace the battery even though it has all been my fault.Yours should therefore be OK, now, Myles... until Pete's new one arrives. Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 That's such a relief! Must remember to unplug it tonight... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete - W.Sussex Posted August 31, 2014 Author Share Posted August 31, 2014 Just an update on this - Powervamp did send me a new battery FOC. Given that it was entirely my fault that the battery was killed I think this is brilliant service Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jonathan Kay Posted August 31, 2014 Member Share Posted August 31, 2014 Agreed. Jonathan PS: Still OK, Myles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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