Charging a dead battery

[lothos]

If you've read my other thread on "taking a car out of storage" you know the status of my car lol. I'm cleaning it out right now and getting it ready for the road.

 

I have a battery that's been sitting for roughly a year. It was brand new before I put the cutlass in storage. I'm planning on pulling it out of the car to charge it and have a few questions.

 

I've heard that charging a battery on concrete isn't good, should I stick it on top of this wood board I have?

 

Second question, I have a battery charger that I got used without manuals. It's pretty new, a Schauer dual rate battery charger. There's 6 amp charging or 2 amp charging, I'm guessing it needs 6 amp? Is that correct? And how long should I charge the battery for?

 

Thanks!

 

I tried searching, didn't find much. I'm also in the garage with the old laptop, so please forgive me if this has been posted before.

[ToroToro]

No, I would go with the 2 amp mode. It'll take longer, but it wont shorten the life of the battery as much as the 6 amp. Just leave it on there overnight.

[digitaloutsider]

I generally make it a habit to charge the battery while it's in the car. It's just safer that way because you don't have to have the cables hooked directly to the battery, where you can have sparks and such. If you're not in a hurry to have the car running, leave the battery in the car and trickle charge it for a couple of days. It should be good as new. I always charge batteries by attaching the positive to the auxillary terminal and the negative to a dogbone bolt.

[ToroToro]

And BTW, it isn't charging a battery on concrete that's bad, it's storing it there.

[lothos]

Well, that certainly makes my job a little easier.

 

I was just going to ask about pulling the washer fluid resevoir off the battery, since part of it goes over the battery terminals. I'll just leave the battery in the car and charge it with the 2amp setting. I cleaned off my positive aux post before it went into storage, so I'll just charge it off that with the negative to the dog bone.

 

thanks for the help guys.

[slick]

And BTW, it isn't charging a battery on concrete that's bad, it's storing it there.

 

If we are talking about older batteries, correct. But, I have read and have heard from several others that newer batteries do not have the draining problem if sat on concrete like older batteries.

 

In otherwords, you are fine if you leave it sitting on concrete. I've let some of my spare batteries sit on metal storage shelves and concrete, and all I had to do was put them in my car, and they fired right up. And, this is after sitting for 6 months.

[lothos]

OK, I've got a follow up question. I've been charging the battery with the 2amp setting on the battery charger. I unplugged it last night because I was wary of leaving it plugged in all night unsupervised. It only charged for maybe 3 hours. This morning the lights came on but were really dim. I realize I need to leave the charger on for a longer amount of time, and am going to leave it on all night tonight. I was wondering, how long should I leave it charging? Will anything bad happen if I over-charge it?

 

Thanks for the help guys

[ToroToro]

Like I said, overnight. A couple hours at 2 amps wont do much of anything. Most battery chargers have an auto shut off but even if it doesn't, 2 amps overnight will be just fine.

[rcktmn455]

And BTW, it isn't charging a battery on concrete that's bad, it's storing it there.

 

If we are talking about older batteries, correct. But, I have read and have heard from several others that newer batteries do not have the draining problem if sat on concrete like older batteries.

 

In otherwords, you are fine if you leave it sitting on concrete. I've let some of my spare batteries sit on metal storage shelves and concrete, and all I had to do was put them in my car, and they fired right up. And, this is after sitting for 6 months.

 

And actualy the biggest problem with older batteries is that the tops are dirty. Most of the battery manufactures and reps will tell you that it is the build up of dirt and moisture on the top of the battery that creates a connection between the post, so to speak ,that alows the battery to discharge.