Posted by Richard on 5/13/2008, 9:49 am, in reply to "battery voltage"
86.156.245.39
Hello Kent
Be careful when charging small batteries they over heat very easily - if the internal plates buckle and short they effectively eliminate one cell - you are then over charging the other cells which then has the same effect and the battery is Sh****d quite quickly.
If you use the charger plugged into one of the little plug in timers - run it on trickle charge for perhaps 15-30 minutes at a time and then rest for at least an hour. Wheel chair companies have found that by "pulse charging" lead acid batteries they can achieve 110% of the manufacturers rated Amp Hours! Most important is that you should be able to keep the voltage down to max 14.2v this way. If it runs much higher shorten the time you leave it on charge for.
Always let the battery "rest" for at least one hour before checking the voltage with multimeter.
A healthy battery will "gas" above 13.8 volts - so if you have a charger that will voltage regulate at 13.6volts you should be able to leave it on trickle charge for longer periods.
Best of luck
Richard (Worcester UK)
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