Proper car battery charging with charger

Any motorist sooner or later faces the problem of charging the battery. From this not leave and you need to learn to charge the battery, if you still do not know how. Otherwise, the situation will come when you have a car with a dead battery, and you will not even know from what a side to come to him. On the Internet you can find many questions regarding the charging process. Does the battery remove from the car or not? What do you need to charge? How to charge? Here we will try to answer our today's material.

To charge the car battery you will need a charger (memory). This device is also called the rectifier, since the memory is transformed into a permanent. If you still do not have a memory, then read about. And here we will only briefly tell about choosing a charger for your battery.

• modes for different types of battery. The most common wet batteries with a liquid electrolyte. There is still AGM, GEL. In the case of the last two you need a special memory or universal with the mode for these batteries. All devices are suitable for WET;
• output voltage. This parameter must be selected depending on the rated voltage of your battery. Some device models allow you to charge batteries with different voltages (6/12 / 24V). For distributed car batteries, 12V, the output voltage should be at least 16 volts. This will be enough to complete the battery;
• charging current. This value is selected depending on the rated capacity of the battery. It must be at least 0.1 from the rated capacity. It is better if there is a small stock so that the charger does not work at the limit of its capabilities.

As a rule, the charger is the diagram itself in the housing, the plug for connecting to the network 220V and the wires with crocodiles to connect to the battery.

Suppose you have purchased. Now about how to charge the car battery by the charger. But first a few words on safety.

Security measures when charging the battery

Charging procedure should not be carried out in the apartment, especially if you have little children. The battery needs to be charged in a ventilated room. If there is no such possibility, do it on the balcony. The main danger lies in the release of hydrogen when charging the battery. Together with oxygen, it forms an explosive mixture. Therefore, there should be good ventilation in the room so that hydrogen is not accumulated.

Remember that near the battery standing on the charge, you can not wait for something, smoke, cut the metal with the formation of sparks, etc.

In addition, it is important to remember that the electrolyte is an aqueous solution of sulfuric acid. This caustic substance is dangerous to human health. When working with electrolyte, gloves and safety glasses should be applied so that it does not hit the skin or in the eye. Ideally, you need to hold a 10% food soda solution to neutralize the acid.

How to charge the battery

To start the answer to the question, is it necessary to remove the battery from the car when charging? In principle, it is optional. You can turn off the terminals and charge it right by car. But to properly charge the car battery better to remove it. All work will be significantly more convenient and do not have to pull the wires to the car to include the charger in the network.

Attention! Should not be charged in a room with high humidity. The battery and the charger must be dry.

In the simplest case, charging the battery will look like this. Twisting cork on battery banks, cover the holes so that the electrolyte does not occur. Connect the crocodiles to the outputs of the battery with the observance of polarity (red on plus, black for minus). Include a charger on the machine and leave so night. For standard batteries, the capacity of 55─60 A-H charging will continue 8─10 hours. In the "Automatic" mode, the device itself will deactivate the charging when the battery reaches the required parameters.

At the end of charging, tighten the plugs and wipe the surface of the battery with a solution of food soda in water to neutralize acid and dirt residues. This will reduce the battery self-discharge.
Now, when how to properly charge the car battery in general, let's talk about various charging modes.

There are two charging modes of the battery:

• constant current;
• with constant voltage.

Charging battery constant

How to charge the car battery with a charger using a constant current? The idea here is that charging is divided into several stages. Each of them supports a certain value of the current. The value of the current force must be constantly monitored and adjusted if necessary. Here you will need a multimeter to control the voltage at the battery outputs.

The process of charging the DC is divided into several stages:

• first stage. First we set the current equal to 0.1 from the rated capacity of the battery. For a battery 55 A-h, this will be 5.5 amps. In this mode, we charge to the voltage at the conclusions of the battery 14.4 volts;
• second phase. At a voltage of 14.4 volts in the battery, the water electrolysis process sharply activates and hydrogen isolation begins. Therefore, we reduce the charge current twice (up to 2.5 amps) to reduce the boiling intensity and continue charging;
• third stage. When the voltage is reached at 15 volts, the charge current is reduced twice (up to 1.2 amps) and continue to charge. Take the voltage and current every two hours. If their values \u200b\u200bdo not change, the battery is fully charged.

The advantages of this method include the fact that the battery receives a full charge and restores its capacity for almost 100 percent. The disadvantage is that the process must be constantly monitored.

Accelerated charging AKB

Accelerated battery charging is performed in cases where the battery needs to return a part of the tank very quickly. For example, you need to go to work, and the battery sat down. Then the accelerated charging is useful.

Now many chargers have boost charging mode. In this mode, an enlarged current is immediately given and in 20 minutes the battery is gaining a container sufficient to start the engine. In principle, it is not necessary to have a Boost regime in the memory. The main thing is to have the ability to adjust the current. Then you can manually set the desired value.
Remember that it is impossible to put more than 30 percent of the standard charging current. If in normal mode you charge the battery for 6 amps, then in the accelerated mode, do not put more than 8 amps. This causes rapid wear of the plates and reducing the battery life of the AKB.

Use the accelerated charging mode only in emergency cases when it is really necessary. If there is no such need, then charge the battery in normal mode. If you constantly charge the battery in Boost mode, it very soon exhausted its resource.

Effective Battery Charge and Electrolyte Density

Basically, the end of the charging of the battery, we determine the testimony of the memory or voltage at the conclusions of the AKB. But on them it will not be possible to determine the exact degree of charging the battery. To find out how the battery is charged, you need to measure the electrolyte density. To do this, there is such a device as a carometer. It is inexpensive and for sale in any car store. We advise you to have it in the farm.

Measure the density of the electrolyte should be in all banks. Read more about the measurement of density and in general about the electrolyte, read in the article "". In a fully charged battery, the electrolyte has a density of 1.28─1.3 gr. / Cm 3. In a fully discharged battery, the density value is about 1.1 gr. / Cm 3.

Below you can see the Table of Electrolyte density dependence on the degree of charging AKB:

For these values, after measuring the density, you can find out to know how much the battery is charged.

In general, everything I wanted to say how to properly charge the car battery. It remains only to recall the safety of safety. Before you independently charge the battery, it makes sense to ask for advice from more experienced motorists. Charger and the area meter should have their own. It is not so expensive and they will always be useful during the operation of the car.