New/Old Battery

[Swiss Tony]

About 6 or so years ago when I purchased my Stag I bought a new battery.  The battery was used all of 3 or 4 times before circumstances left the car unattended for 5 or so years.   Even now, it hasn't been used again.

My usual naivety with all things Triumph isn't quite so bad that I would ask if the battery is likely to be flat, but....

Whats the chances of charging it and it still working?  Is there anything I should do to ensure that I don't have to go and buy another new one, or do I have no choice.

Its all getting exciting that within the next week or two I will have half a day free to actually prepare the car for starting the engine.  Who said restoration doesn't take much time!

Swiss

[sparky_spit]

The chances of it coming back to life after all that time are slim, but worth a try. First check the electrolyte level. If it is very low, ie about half empty and half the plates are exposed, then chances are almost zero. If it just needs a reasonable top up then do so with distilled water.

Give it a good charging on a decent charger. If it has a high/low setting, use low for a long period instead of high for a short period. Watch to see if it gasses (fizzy bubbles rising). This is okay as long as it is not actually "boiling" and the battery casing is getting hot. Slightly warm is okay. Once your charger indicates it's full charged (if a clever one) or it's been on for 24 hours, take it off charge. Measure its voltage and it should be about 13.8 to 14.2 and will then start slowly dropping. After 24 hours it really needs to measure 12.7v constantly (at 60deg F ideally). Anything under 12v is not good. Less than 11.7v and it's dead.

Then give it a try and see. You may find it's okay for a bit but loses its charge quite quickly. What it would really need is a few "conditoning cycles" to help remove sulphate on the plates. To do this discharge it until it reads less than 12v and then charge until 12.7v (after a 24hr wait) and then repeat twice more.  If you have access to a load tester (big fat low resistance on a pair of spikes, with a meter across them) it would be easier to check the charged state and performance on load. Some garages will do this check for you.

Or basically, if you can't be bothered with all that, just top it up, charge for 24 hours, stick it on the car and cross your fingers! You might be lucky.

[sparky_spit]

Sorry, forgot to mention....  While it's charging and you are peering in looking at gas bubbles rising, don't light a fag.

[Velocita Rosso]

Is it a `sealed for life` or the type where you have to give it a drink?
If its been disconnected then it should be OK
Put a drop meter across it first, see if there is no drop when loaded
If slight then trickle charge overnight ,then drop meter it again and see what happens under load
If no drop then jobs a good un

[GT6 M]

Dont trust the readings on thoses ..smart chargers.. way out
24 hour charge is not enough, more like 2-3 weeks to get it back to where it should be,
A Dum Smart charger will not doo this. :-/ :-/

the only way to see if its fully charged is with a Hydrometer tester.
going by the bubbles,and the chargers are not very good.

out of  intrest, the ole girls car owa the road, the Batt was dead, as she hardly ever uses it,
put it on charge on a slow charge, and it took 3 weeks for the readings to get to 1.25

it got to 1.28 soon enough, but the last bit took another week.

Putting a volt meter on,is a bit if if as well, as a reading of  12-13 v can mean nothng.
a reading of 17 volts can be got , when its charging, but should drop doon to at least 13.2 on a cold fully charged batt., each cell 2.2 volts, so a 12 volt batt, is actually 13.2 volts.
if its less, then its not fully charged.

So bung it on,and leave it,  BUT, not with a smart charger,  the older ones are better.

you need to get the current thru the build up of crud on the plates, as its this that stopps the charge getting into the plates.

M

[Steve Cureton]

I bought a battery back to life after it had been standing for four years. I didn't do anything special, just put it on a normal charge for a few hours and away it went. I used the car for another two years on the same battery before selling the car.

[bodders1]

sparky_spit wrote:

Sorry, forgot to mention....  While it's charging and you are peering in looking at gas bubbles rising, don't light a fag.

(clap)

[sparky_spit]

There you go, several different answers.

A lot depends upon how much electrolyte has evaporated (or rather, how much water has evaporated from the electrolyte) and how much of the plates have been exposed to air and for how long. As Marcus says, using a hydrometer is the best way to check state of charge, but I'm guessing you don't have one of these to hand.

Whatever you choose to do, one thing I can say is that if you use a beefy charger for a long period at above-float charging levels to remove plate sulphation, keep a careful eye on it. Make sure the caps are off, and don't disconnect it without switching off the charger first. Or keep your fingers in your ears.

My job, 30 years or so ago, included maintaining very large and very expensive batteries and I've seen some interesting results of incorrect use and charging methods.

[Nick Jones]

The level usually looks low on a flat battery and if the plates are covered or nearly covered I'd hold off adding distilled water until you've had a go at charging it.  If not, just add until the plates are just covered otherwise it may end up over full.

I'll be amazed if it's not sulphated beyond recovery but you never know your luck.  You can quite often pick up perfectly serviceable batteries from a scrappy.  My local even has a proper battery tester so you can try before you buy.  Helps if your car takes an 063 size as they seem be 4x more common than anything else.

Nick

Edit:  If the battery was off the car or at least disconnected and in a dryish place your odds are much improved - they hold charge much longer like that.

[bxbodger]

Personally I'd just bung a set of jump leads on and crank it over and run it for a bit. It's only 5 years old and virtually unused, so if it's a modern sealed battery chances are it'll be fine.