Battery chargin'

I just purchased a new 12 volt battery for my atv. I had to borrow a buddie's 2 amp charger because the last thing I wanted to do was put a 10 amp on the hog. The battery i am charging recommends a 500mA charger but says I can use a 2 amp charger but does not list charge times for the 2 amp. Anybody have a time i should taker off the charger, im thinking about 6hrs maybe tops. The 500mA chart lists this battery for 14 hrs of charge time.

anthony7812 wrote:I just purchased a new 12 volt battery for my atv. I had to borrow a buddie's 2 amp charger because the last thing I wanted to do was put a 10 amp on the hog. The battery i am charging recommends a 500mA charger but says I can use a 2 amp charger but does not list charge times for the 2 amp. Anybody have a time i should taker off the charger, im thinking about 6hrs maybe tops. The 500mA chart lists this battery for 14 hrs of charge time.

try it for 2 hrs and see if it fires up the atv, ive left mine on 2amps for hours at a time..

i gave it three hours and she fired right up

Should be using a "smart" charger for those, but they'll handle 8A for short periods. Depends on how dead it was.

500mA is nothing. You could leave that on for a month and probably not hurt anything. 2A can go for several hours as well.

Want a charger that'll pay for itself? I've brought so many batteries back with this thing I lost count. My Polaris and J/D lawn tractor batteries were dead after the first year. Charged them with this & 8 years later, both are still working today, although I replaced the Polaris one.

Right here - best charger EVER: http://www.batterymart.com/p-batterymin ... arger.html

It was a "freshy" Just outta the box. Had to put the acid in myself prior to charging.

I'd have left the 2A on for 6-8 hours. Depends on what the voltage is at. 12.8 (will be lower in these temperatures) after sitting means it's good to go. 12.6 and up is good being this cold.

SMITTY wrote:I'd have left the 2A on for 6-8 hours. Depends on what the voltage is at. 12.8 (will be lower in these temperatures) after sitting means it's good to go. 12.6 and up is good being this cold.

while it was charging, i was running like 13.3 volts. Once i pulled charger off I had 12.8, i let it stand for about 45 minutes and still had 12.8 so said *censored* it and through it on the arctic cat and she fired right up. hasnt ran in 1.5 maybe 2 years. Drained tank yesterday after work and sprayed the carb with some cleaner and put a half tank in with some lucas and treated gas. Running like a top.

Should be good to go. As long as you let the acid sit for at least a half hour before charging. Won't matter at the moment if you didn't - it just shortens the life of the battery. Used to see that in dealerships all the time. Dump the acid in, then immediately blast it with 20A for 10 minutes and throw it in the bike. People would always come in for batteries for their new bikes after 2 years.

Surprised you got away with just blasting the carb. Usually when they sit that long, all the jets have to come out. More than likely you guys have way better fuel than we do.

I keep an 500mA charger on all the vehicles for like a week at a time during the winter and rotate it. I still have my original battery in my 2003 mustang and 2004 truck...

I remove unused batteries and store in my warm basement every winter. Motorcycles, lawn tractors, etc.
Helps extend the life. Trickle charge in basement if necessary.

New batteries out of box dry after filled should only need 15mins or so of charge. At least that's what we did at the welding machine & small engine repair shop I worked after high school.

SMITTY wrote:Should be good to go. As long as you let the acid sit for at least a half hour before charging.

Surprised you got away with just blasting the carb. Usually when they sit that long, all the jets have to come out. More than likely you guys have way better fuel than we do.

Yeah i swished 'er and let it sit for roughly 30-45 minutes. I did pull the carb off and hit the jets,bowl,float you get the jist. Shitty gas is a national problem. I've always good results with that lucas fuel system/top end lube additive. Tommorrow I hope to stretch 'er legs out, then the oil change needs to happen.

Just ordered your favorite battery charger Smitty, Amazon wins again.

I know this is one a lot of people use, fully automatic.

http://batterytender.com/

Problem with some of the "smart" chargers is if battery is too low they won't even attempt a charge...so what good is it being so smart? really useless in this application. get a good 2-10-20 amp charger. If using any charger on a gel cell, glass gel be sure to have a small load on them to charge, current needs to be passing thru them to charge. no load they will not charge properly.

Batteries are somthing of a wild card for me.

I have a 06 Chev and yesterday at 42 below I hit the auto start, I watched and listened from inside the house, it turned over slowly and just started, I began thinking about getting a new battery. When I went outside I realized that I forgot to plug the truck in, damm good battery from 06. At work I plugged it in for the ten hour shift, so the battery blanket could warm the battery and I drove home the long way to give it a good 30 minute charge.

Other batteries removed from equipment kept "warm" all winter can go bad in three years.

For years now I have always used the ten amp chargers, they are great, and will start a dead car in about ten minutes, if the battery is good.

We have an asphalt trailer at work, trickle charger all winter, new battery somtime every summer.