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Forum Index : Electronics : Car battery question
| Author | Message | ||||
| domwild Guru  Joined: 16/12/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 873 |
Hi friends, Marshall "no can add water" battery, N70ZZLMF, 90 Ah, 750CCA, hopefully still within extended 18 month warranty. After charging, a non-Marshall place load tested this thing and found it to be OK. The problem was that it read zero Volts after a four-week absence. The expert reckons it will take a few years for that normally. So we checked the draw with the master obviously OFF and noticed a zero AMP draw and by testing at the three fuses we saw infinity resistance or an open circuit, so no draw on that Series III Landrover diesel. Charged it and checked the drop: 12.52V 13:16 PM 12.19V 13:55 12.12V 15:00 12:08V 16:00 12.01V 17:00 11.98V 19:15 11.92V 10:00 AM next day 11.87V 10:00 AM next day Does this tabulation show battery experts that it will discharge down to zero fairly quickly and that this battery is therefore ......ed? Any idea how I can convince Mr Marshall to give me my $130 back while pigs fly outside? Taxation as a means of achieving prosperity is like a man standing inside a bucket trying to lift himself up. Winston Churchill |
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
Its stuffed. I have some very sad 5 year old batteries that are still sitting at 12.4 volts 3 weeks after taking them out of service. They will self discharge over time, but months, not hours. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498 |
Leaving a vehicle for 4 weeks and expecting it to start is not unreasonable. Is the battery getting a full charge? There could be a bad connection or faulty alternator what voltage do you get at the battery after driving and checking the voltage before turning off the engine. There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't. |
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| domwild Guru Joined: 16/12/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 873 |
Thanks for help. From memory it did not even click, so when I checked the battery it was zero Volts after four weeks or so. Will charge it and take it to a Marshall place and may have to sit there not leaving the batt. out of sight, but checking the voltage over time until they get sick of me. Great to be a pensioner with lots of time, no mortgage, no money but a will to succeed! Taxation as a means of achieving prosperity is like a man standing inside a bucket trying to lift himself up. Winston Churchill |
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rustyrod Senior Member  Joined: 08/11/2014 Location: AustraliaPosts: 121 |
I use a Battery Tester and hold the switch . If the battery is good the voltage will hold and the load coils inside soon become red hot and glowing, if the battery is older the voltage falls away quickly. Failing the availability of a tester simply connect a headlight bulb and monitor the voltage with a multi meter or volt meter. This will soon tell the story. Perhaps take a couple of sealed beams to the shop and position them to shine at the staff until it reduces to a dull glow. If the staff are needing more proof help your self to an identical battery off the shelf for comparison test then accept it as your replacement. Worked for me. The staff even carried the new battery to get me out of there real quick. I have a Discovery that flattens a battery in 5 or 6 days unless I remove the terminal, it has been this way for years. Always Thinking |
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yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
12 volts is half flat. To get there in less than four hours is impressive. rule of thumb if it is under 11 volts, it is empty ie dead flat. sounds like it has an internal short. I wouldn't be charging it near anything you value. Long extension cord and do it on the back lawn, its likely to melt, bulge and split from gas pressure or start a fire. or better yet take it back like it is. I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
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| domwild Guru Joined: 16/12/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 873 |
Thanks for the many useful suggestions, especially what to do to convince staff in the shop to give me a new battery! Great, rustyrod and yahoo2! I was going to stay in the shop and suggest calling the police to remove me for disturbing the peace, but the headlamps trick will "spotlight the problem"! Taxation as a means of achieving prosperity is like a man standing inside a bucket trying to lift himself up. Winston Churchill |
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| Pete Locke Senior Member Joined: 26/06/2013 Location: New ZealandPosts: 181 |
Yep, it's knackered. Cut it open and melt the lead down for sinkers  |
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Tinker Guru Joined: 07/11/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1904 |
Please please don't do that. I was silly enough to cut a battery open and tried to melt the lead out, back in the days when incinerators were still common in back yards. The fumes nearly killed me and the recovered lead was miniscule compared to the effort in getting it out. Klaus |
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| domwild Guru Joined: 16/12/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 873 |
In Perth and many years back I saw a labourer completely covered in plastic smashing batteries to recover the lead. He was standing on a heap of sand with a sledge hammer and I hope there was some calcium in that sand to convert the acid to gypsum, but I doubt it. These days Telstra sends pallets of batteries via our scrap yards to China. There is no more retail and my inquiries have revealed Telstra has mandated a no-sale policy of those batteries, which are probably still good for us "renewables" as they get changed after so many years regardless, sad. It had nothing to do with the environment as I found out, it is a Telstra policy. Re sinkers: Reminds me of a scrap place in my area, where I bought some drainage pipe and I noticed sinkers with the embossing of " ... Diving Academy" on them! They done it! Taxation as a means of achieving prosperity is like a man standing inside a bucket trying to lift himself up. Winston Churchill |
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| Pete Locke Senior Member Joined: 26/06/2013 Location: New ZealandPosts: 181 |
You are of course right Tinker. It was a tongue in cheek reply. But having cut a few old batteries to bits in my long forgotten past, you soon learn to stand up wind  Far better to drop them off to the re cycling place and get enough for a brown bubbly one.Cheers Pete'. |
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| Phil23 Guru Joined: 27/03/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1664 |
I just love Super Cheaps warranty on batteries. My 1998 XR6 has a high current draw when parked & as an occasional drive it needs to live on a float charger, or batteries are toast. They've replace 2 for me near the end of their 2 year warranty. Same procedure each time, check they date, attach their tester & it's a new battery. I'm sure the tester is similar to one of mine in principle, measuring internal resistance, which usually heads high in these case due to long term sulphating. |
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