Cranfield Posted April 1, 2012 Report Share Posted April 1, 2012 I bought a secondhand Optimate 111 charger , when I connect a 12V 7.2Ah battery it will show "weak" and "charge". 24 hours later it just shows "charge", the "good" light is not on. How long should it take to fully charge that battery (the "good" light might not work) ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newsportshooter Posted April 1, 2012 Report Share Posted April 1, 2012 I bought a secondhand Optimate 111 charger , when I connect a 12V 7.2Ah battery it will show "weak" and "charge". 24 hours later it just shows "charge", the "good" light is not on. How long should it take to fully charge that battery (the "good" light might not work) ? My one will do a flat (but good) 12v car batery in a night no problems, simlar but less for a good Bike battery. Never tried it on a rotary batt but it sounds like the battery is duff (or maybe the second hand charger??) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogey Posted April 1, 2012 Report Share Posted April 1, 2012 My one will do a flat (but good) 12v car batery in a night no problems, simlar but less for a good Bike battery. Never tried it on a rotary batt but it sounds like the battery is duff (or maybe the second hand charger??) I always thought that the optimate type of charger was for battery managment and not really designed for charging flat batteries.I think the output from the charger is only milli amps and this may be the trouble.Not 100% sure though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted April 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2012 I always thought that the optimate type of charger was for battery managment and not really designed for charging flat batteries.I think the output from the charger is only milli amps and this may be the trouble.Not 100% sure though I have a feeling that this is the situation. The battery is quite new and the symptoms I described are the same for all 5 batteries I try to keep charged ( I shoot a lot ). I have standard chargers which I also use, but bought the Ultimate 111 on the basis that it would tell me when the battery was fully charged, as opposed to the guesswork I have to use with the other standard chargers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkeye Posted April 2, 2012 Report Share Posted April 2, 2012 Just get your self a battery tester, only takes seconds to check if fully charged and if you don't take them out for a while you can check if they are holding charge or not.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bi9johnny Posted April 2, 2012 Report Share Posted April 2, 2012 i thought the optimate on my bike was designed to take a little out and put a little back in to condition the battery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunkield Posted April 2, 2012 Report Share Posted April 2, 2012 The problem with the Optimate is it conditions the battery each time, not just charge it. That is my understanding anyways... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdubya Posted April 2, 2012 Report Share Posted April 2, 2012 http://www.powerstream.com/SLA.htm all you need to know, if your using a lot of batteries invest in a fast charger! a turnigy accucel for instance ( I have a couple) will set you back £20 and WILL even recover a bad battery. KW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted April 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 Thanks for the info and comments. I have a battery tester on order and a headache from reading kdubya's technical link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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