Battery - Charging

Charging battery

Warning! The battery plugs must always be screwed in correctly when charging and during the voltage measurement and the load measurement. Rooms in which batteries are being charged, should not be entered with a naked flame or when smoking. Gases form through the charging process in the batteries which are highly flammable.

Note!
^ A battery charging device is required.
^ Observe Driver's Manual of charging device.
^ The battery must have a minimum temperature of 10°C.
^ Do not charge batteries too quickly if possible as they can be damaged in this way.
^ If totally discharged batteries are charged quickly, they will not take up a charge current or they will be expelled too early as full by the so-called "surface charge".

1. Switch off battery charging device.

2. Switch ignition off and remove ignition key.

3. First disconnect the ground strap of the battery, then the positive battery terminal.

4. Connect positive line of the battery charging device to the positive terminal of the battery.

5. Connect negative line of the battery charging device to the negative terminal of the battery.

6. Set the charge current on the battery of the charge device according to the battery capacity.

7. Switch on battery charging device.

Method of procedure for loading totally discharged batteries:

^ Batteries which are not in operation for a long period of time, discharge.

^ A battery is totally discharged if the open-circuit voltage has sunk below 11.6V.

^ In totally discharged batteries, the battery acid (sulphuric acid water mixture) consists of virtually only water, as the sulphuric acid proportion is considerably reduced.

^ Totally discharged batteries sulphatise, i.e. the entire plate surface ot the batteries harden.

^ If totally discharged batteries are immediately recharged after an exhaustive discharge, the sulphatization recedes again.

^ If these batteries are not recharged, the plates continue to harden and charge take-up is limited. A reduction in battery performance is the result.

^ Totally discharged batteries must be charged with a low charge current as follows:

- Set a charge current at maximum 5 percent of the battery capacity, ie. with a 80 Ah battery the charge current is a max. 4 A

8. Charge battery.