battery floating voltages

[riddla 10+ year member]

just checked my system battery as it has been on charge for 5hrs so far and is reading 13.3V from 12.6 earlier. Does this seem to be ok and what voltage should I be expecting when charge is complete

 

[loopkiller 10+ year member]

just checked my system battery as it has been on charge for 5hrs so far and is reading 13.3V from 12.6 earlier. Does this seem to be ok and what voltage should I be expecting when charge is complete

If it is still charging, that is the charger voltage, not the battery. After finishing the full charge, you are likely to see 13.2v (open circuit) on a warm battery. That will drop to 12.8v to 13.0v after cooling down. The cooling period is likely to take 4 hours or so, depending on the ambient temperature where they are resting.

 

[riddla 10+ year member]

I was going to leave it on charge overnight but am only using a standard battery charger as thats all I have at present. I don't want to damage anything tho. My charger is for cars upto 1800cc and has a fast charge switch on it but I have this turned off as its the 1st time Im charging the system battery so thought a nice long slow charge would be best

 

[loopkiller 10+ year member]

If your charger is running at 13.3v and maintains that voltage, you can leave it on as long as you like. You do need to be careful that it does not increase in voltage as the battery gets full.

 

[riddla 10+ year member]

Thanx for the advise. I will monitor it for the next few hrs //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[riddla 10+ year member]

After charging the system battery yesterday for about 8hrs, the resting voltage this morning was 12.8V, The new battery is resting at 12.5/6V. I am going to put the system battery on charge again today until this evening and be done with that. I may give the new battery a 6hr boost and be done with that to. Do my voltages seem to be ok.

 

[loopkiller 10+ year member]

If the battery is at 12.8v after cooling, that is plenty good. That is a full charge most likely. The other that is at 12.5v, if that is an AGM, it is low and needs charged. You should see at least 12.8v with a full charge. If it is a flooded battery, then 12.6v is fully charged.

 

[riddla 10+ year member]

Yes, The starter battery is a flooded type and was resting as said before. I will give this battery a short boost and thats that. I think now my battery's should be good to go and I have learned alot from this thread on batteries and from some more research on different types of batteries and voltages etc. So big thanks out to Loopkiller for advising me and others for there input.

Eventually, I think I will switch the starter bat to a deep cycle type like an Optima or similar and as my car is left for long periods unused, I will be removing both rear negative terminals from the batteries and will also charge them more frequent once I buy a charger suitable for the job.

 

[riddla 10+ year member]

Few pics of the new battery and the ice one getting a boost up.

 

[riddla 10+ year member]

After Fully charging, the starter bat is resting at exactly 12.8V compared to 12.6V when it arrived. The big boy is now resting at 12.83V.

 

[loopkiller 10+ year member]

Now install those things already and pound away //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

For real, let us know how they hold up.

 

[riddla 10+ year member]

Since installing the batteries, I have not pumped the system with any bass and have not driven the car at all. I have only set my gains on my mid and tweeter amp and had the car running for a little while. After checking my voltages today, the combined resting voltages were 12.4/5V and when I disconnected the batteries from each other, the new one was resting at 12.3/4V and the agm at 12.5V. Is this because I have not driven the car since putting both batteries in. The car has been sitting for about a week. Would this cause them to run low ? Once again, they are on charge ?

 

[riddla 10+ year member]

any advise on this one please

 

[patotay 10+ year member]

your alternator will charge them when engine is running and i havent use one of the hawkers so i cant tell.do you have voltage drop from batt to amp bud?

 

[riddla 10+ year member]

your alternator will charge them when engine is running and i havent use one of the hawkers so i cant tell.do you have voltage drop from batt to amp bud?

Hey //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif No, no voltage drop, I think its because I have not driven the car since installing the batteries and have had them connected up without using the car, thats all I can think of atm.