Flat starter battery on the van

Pudsey Bear

Pudsey Bear

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I bought the battery about a year ago from Alpha.

019 Jenox Gold Premium Car Battery on 7 February 2024

Flat as a fart even though it's been hooked up to a NEW Ctek charger.
 
I'd contact alpha see what they say should be covered under warranty. When we had a dodgy b2b solar controller they sent me out a new one
 
Steveandjulie said:
I'd contact alpha see what they say should be covered under warranty. When we had a dodgy b2b solar controller they sent me out a new one
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I rang them & they need to test it, can't get at it to remove it as it lives against a fence, they said to leave it on charge and take it to Halfords who apparently will test and give a report which they are happy with, but it's on SORN, So I'll leave it til the endo of the month when I need to tax it anyway :rolleyes:
 
Pudsey Bear said:
I bought the battery about a year ago from Alpha.

019 Jenox Gold Premium Car Battery on 7 February 2024

Flat as a fart even though it's been hooked up to a NEW Ctek charger.
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Put a votmeter on it while charging should be about 14volts, disconnect charger and test again should be over 12 volts at least. Batteries do just fail.
 
A smart charger should be left on 24/7, it should hit 14.4v and drop back to a float of around 13.4 ish then go into a cycle mode, seems to me there is something wrong or a item sucking juice, try removing the earth and charge the battery unconnected.
 
I just went down to the van to see how the VB is doing, 0volts still, I looked at the Ctek charger and I may have had it on the wrong setting, but considering it's supposed to be a "smart" charger it's a bit dumb, anyway I've selected as below so hopefully it'll recover, if not I have the booster jobby so when I set off on the 8th I'll drive straight to Alpha and let them check it and go from there.

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Pudsey Bear said:
I just went down to the van to see how the VB is doing, 0volts still, I looked at the Ctek charger and I may have had it on the wrong setting, but considering it's supposed to be a "smart" charger it's a bit dumb, anyway I've selected as below so hopefully it'll recover, if not I have the booster jobby so when I set off on the 8th I'll drive straight to Alpha and let them check it and go from there.

View attachment 75116
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bear in mind that most chargers (and I think the CTEKs are in this category) need a minimum battery voltage to actually start up. You said in the first post that the battery was totally flat? could it have been too flat for the charger to actually do anything?

A way to get round this is put another battery in parallel to the charger sees a voltage and kicks off the charging.

As an FYI, the Victron mains chargers have no minimum voltage level to work - they will work regardless (this is because they can also work as a power supply and without a battery at all).
 
wildebus said:
bear in mind that most chargers (and I think the CTEKs are in this category) need a minimum battery voltage to actually start up. You said in the first post that the battery was totally flat? could it have been too flat for the charger to actually do anything?
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I would agree David but after 2? days it lit the dash and tried to turn it over.


wildebus said:
A way to get round this is put another battery in parallel to the charger sees a voltage and kicks off the charging.
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I don't have one to try that I'm afraid


wildebus said:
As an FYI, the Victron mains chargers have no minimum voltage level to work - they will work regardless (this is because they can also work as a power supply and without a battery at all).
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Can you suggest one for me to look at David



I have been meaning to ask, would Lipo make a good or bad starter battery?
 
Pudsey Bear said:
I would agree David but after 2? days it lit the dash and tried to turn it over.
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Sounds like charger gave it a go but battery not interested?

Pudsey Bear said:
I don't have one to try that I'm afraid
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Just a possible option :) If you come across an old 12V alarm battery for example, could keep hold of it for this purpose. (I have 4 17Ah Sealed Lead Batteries I took out of a camper and keep them handy as so easy to carry one around as a little portable power source)

Pudsey Bear said:
Can you suggest one for me to look at David
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For Victron Kit, the IP67 is a good rival to the CTEK MX range. Very similar devices in style and price point. two differences .... warranty of 5 years vs 3 (or 2?) years for CTEK; and Victron will start recharge from 0V, which can be a handy thing sometimes.
This is the Victron rival to your existing CTEK - https://amzn.to/42jGs0g . Somewhere like Alpha Batteries might have it cheaper with your discount code?
As noted in the listing above - "This charger will revive even deeply-discharged batteries from 0V with its force-feeding feature. Once the battery has enough voltage, normal charging will resume"

Pudsey Bear said:
I have been meaning to ask, would Lipo make a good or bad starter battery?
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no. defo not. the current draw is too high. (you can get Lithium starter batteries, but that is a different thing and for a motorhome van, wouldn't bother)
 
24v on the scooter, I did have that crappy one which had two 12v ones but I got rid of it.
 
My cheapo Aldi battery charger has a 'pulse' setting for flat batteries and it did revive a flat 12 volt battery on one occasion.
 
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