Vex battery charging

[Iceassin]

When I charge my old FL8-se it never  goes into the "overcharge" mode like it used to...hasn't in a few years...but the light on the charger/transformer lights up after an hour or so. Am I not letting it charge long enough? (6 hrs. for the last charge)...and can you actually overcharge the battery using the wall chargers?
The battery is only a couple of years old.
Thanks

[slipperybob]

Sounds like the battery is just getting old (sulfated).  You will lose charge capacity even if you test the voltage to still be just fine in the 12V range.

[Wiener]

Overcharge mode is meant to correct sulfated batteries right?

Well, what if your battery is not sulfated at all?

The chargers from vex are supposed to step down and "trickle" charge batteries that are left hooked up. ( according to my brochure anyway)

Are you getting a full days use after each charge or are you starting to have issues?
As long as the battery charges completely, and gives you a full days use with each charge, I wouldn't worry about it.


JMO

Good luck and stay on top.


Wiener

[slipperybob]

overcharge mode = trickle mode

Unless I misunderstood it.

[Iceassin]

Ok...maybe I'm just not letting it charge long enough.

It is only 2 yrs. old. And I normally unhook it after it reaches full charge. Last time out it went from full charge to 1/2 charge in about half an hour, then to 1/4 charge in 4 hrs. Is this normal?

My thought is, the less the charge the weaker the signal...is this correct?

[slipperybob]

You can try to just leave the battery on the charger for about 24-48 hours.

Still the best way to see is using a multimeter and checking the voltage of the battery on standby.  A good battery should indicate voltage of mide 12V to low 13V.  An aging battery should indicate low 12V.  Below 12V, the battery is probably to sulfated to be of much use.  That's just a generalized rule and won't be true for all battery conditions.

The other way is checking the voltage of the battery hooked up to something drawing on it power.  A good battery with good charge capacity will not drop it's voltage by much.  It may be something like 12.6 volts on standby and 12.4 volts with the flasher on.  A bad battery will drop a lot.  It may drop to 11.2 volts within a few seconds with the flasher on.