car question : charging calcium battery?

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Monza

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#108601 2-Sep-2012 18:41

Had to get AA out to jump-start my car after leaving the lights on overnight, he said that because I have a calcium battery that I need to take it into a garage and get them to charge the battery overnight. This is going to cost around $40, do I really need to do this? I took the car on a hour long drive this afternoon and it now starts up fine... So far googling around hasn't provided a straight answer!

jeffnz

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#680532 2-Sep-2012 20:11

He is kind off correct but depends on the age of your car as cars prior to 2000 had alternators that charged max about 114.3 volts and calcium needs 14.8.
What that means is that if your battery gets heavily discharged as in lights left on, your car alternator won't be able to charge it and the old home battery charges won't either.

Although it may seem charged it may only be part charged so would pay to get it checked but $40 is expensive.

Email me with your location and I'll give you a place that you can take it and charge for free, well as long as you are in main centre.

Galaxy S10

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garbonzai

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#680552 2-Sep-2012 21:13

Calcium batteries need to be charged on a calcium rated charger (usually for 24-48 hours), unlike the old lead acid where you just went for a 20min drive and the alternator charged it backup.
All new car batteries have a bit of calcium in them now, lead acid are histroy, my local garage will charge mine (48hrs) for $10.00, or the AA battery will loan you a charger for 24hrs to charge it your shelf (they drop it off and pick it back up) for $20.
So, in a nut shell, yes you need to get it charged or it will let you down or shorten the life of the battery.

Good luck

richms

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#680555 2-Sep-2012 21:17

Otherwise find a really old non inteligent battery charger and stick that on it, will take a while but will get there in the end.

Richard rich.ms

jeffnz

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#680579 2-Sep-2012 21:54

garbonzai: Calcium batteries need to be charged on a calcium rated charger (usually for 24-48 hours), unlike the old lead acid where you just went for a 20min drive and the alternator charged it backup.
All new car batteries have a bit of calcium in them now, lead acid are histroy, my local garage will charge mine (48hrs) for $10.00, or the AA battery will loan you a charger for 24hrs to charge it your shelf (they drop it off and pick it back up) for $20.
So, in a nut shell, yes you need to get it charged or it will let you down or shorten the life of the battery.

Good luck

not totally correct there are still a few lead antimony batteries being imported but most are now calcium. Not sure where you get the 24-48 hours from but depends on amount of discharge and the size of the battery however it is recommended to charge at a slow rate so all cells come up together.

Some of the new chargers around do this all automatically all you need do is select Calcium.

As I said mail me and I'll put you in touch with one of the Auto electricians we supply there are 200 odd around NZ.

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Monza

299 posts

Ultimate Geek

#680637 3-Sep-2012 08:24

jeffnz: He is kind off correct but depends on the age of your car as cars prior to 2000 had alternators that charged max about 114.3 volts and calcium needs 14.8.
What that means is that if your battery gets heavily discharged as in lights left on, your car alternator won't be able to charge it and the old home battery charges won't either.

Although it may seem charged it may only be part charged so would pay to get it checked but $40 is expensive.

Email me with your location and I'll give you a place that you can take it and charge for free, well as long as you are in main centre.

Thanks, I did ask about getting a normal battery put in but he said something about voltage needed, plugged in a voltmeter and it did read 14 point something.

I'll flick you an email now, much appreciated.

qwerty7

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#680975 3-Sep-2012 17:29

you can buy chargers suited for calcium batteries from repco / supercheap etc.
But yes overall what he was saying is correct.