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Battery Charger/Maintainer not charging battery

Mister Lamb

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Greetings,

I purchased a 4A Viking battery charger/maintainer (Harbor Freight) and after 4 hours of charging did not see any change according to the charger's LED status.

The charger was set to 12V AGM and was connected to the Neg/Pos posts.. I didn't have enough time to try moving the Neg cable to the IBS side of the Neg post but am wondering if that would've made any difference?

Thanks
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ShadowsPapa

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Greetings,

I purchased a 4A Viking battery charger/maintainer (Harbor Freight) and after 4 hours of charging did not see any change according to the charger's LED status.

The charger was set to 12V AGM and was connected to the Neg/Pos posts.. I didn't have enough time to try moving the Neg cable to the IBS side of the Neg post but am wondering if that would've made any difference?

Thanks
Don't bypass with IBS when charging. That's asking for trouble. Even the STAR documents have that aimed at the shop - Don't do this!!
Always charge by connecting to the stud on top of the IBS, not to the terminal or the clamp of the IBS unless charging each battery then resetting the IBS.

4 amps is nothing. I set mine to 10 and it can take hours - and that's charging them one at a time. Charging two together takes longer.
A Good charger goes through 4 phases when charging AGM batteries
4 amps isn't a charger, really, it's a tender or maintainer and won't be good for charging batteries that are really low.
Check the voltage with a meter. A volt meter should be the first tool before a charger, IMO. That way you know what's really happening no matter what a charger tells you.

....And then there's a chance you have a bad battery - could be either one.
Best to separate the two ground cables and check the voltage of each battery and charge each independently. Otherwise at 4 amps it's going to take time, and you don't know the status of each battery.
 
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Mister Lamb

Mister Lamb

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Don't bypass with IBS when charging. That's asking for trouble. Even the STAR documents have that aimed at the shop - Don't do this!!
Always charge by connecting to the stud on top of the IBS, not to the terminal or the clamp of the IBS unless charging each battery then resetting the IBS.

4 amps is nothing. I set mine to 10 and it can take hours - and that's charging them one at a time. Charging two together takes longer.
A Good charger goes through 4 phases when charging AGM batteries
4 amps isn't a charger, really, it's a tender or maintainer and won't be good for charging batteries that are really low.
Check the voltage with a meter. A volt meter should be the first tool before a charger, IMO. That way you know what's really happening no matter what a charger tells you.

....And then there's a chance you have a bad battery - could be either one.
Best to separate the two ground cables and check the voltage of each battery and charge each independently. Otherwise at 4 amps it's going to take time, and you don't know the status of each battery.
Thanks for info... I'm fairly confident my batteries are OK. I only wanted to give them a charge due to my short commute + always powered dash cam.

The dash cluster has consistently displayed the battery at 14.7V for weeks on end... I'm figuring between the above combination my battery isn't ever making it to a full charge.

Will be buying an actual battery charger soon... Besides time, is there any real benefit to isolating each battery and charging it separately?

P.S. do you have that battery diagram that shows how the two batteries are connected again? I want to finally save it to my phone as a reference
 

xman1564

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Greetings,

I purchased a 4A Viking battery charger/maintainer (Harbor Freight) and after 4 hours of charging did not see any change according to the charger's LED status.

The charger was set to 12V AGM and was connected to the Neg/Pos posts.. I didn't have enough time to try moving the Neg cable to the IBS side of the Neg post but am wondering if that would've made any difference?

Thanks
if you have dual factory batterys and one is bad it wont allow you to charge 1 if they are both still hooked up by the vehicles oem cables disconnect both batterys and individually charge them both and test them
 

xman1564

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Thanks for info... I'm fairly confident my batteries are OK. I only wanted to give them a charge due to my short commute + always powered dash cam.

The dash cluster has consistently displayed the battery at 14.7V for weeks on end... I'm figuring between the above combination my battery isn't ever making it to a full charge.

Will be buying an actual battery charger soon... Besides time, is there any real benefit to isolating each battery and charging it separately?

P.S. do you have that battery diagram that shows how the two batteries are connected again? I want to finally save it to my phone as a reference
pull both cables on main battery and then charge it and put cables back, the aux battery will keep all you memory functions intactπŸ‘
 

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pull both cables on main battery and then charge it and put cables back, the aux battery will keep all you memory functions intactπŸ‘
Don't do this. If you disconnect the main and charge it independently of the IBS, you want to make sure the IBS loses power and resets. Doing this will keep it online and make the IBS think you aren't charging the battery. It's going to be confused and won't react as expected to incoming/outgoing current measurements. You MUST disconnect the IBS, which happens to be on the negative post the aux battery connects to anyway. Because of that, it's easier and safer to disconnect both batteries than trying to half-ass it like this.
 

ShadowsPapa

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Another dead/resolved thread back to life!

Don't do this. If you disconnect the main and charge it independently of the IBS, you want to make sure the IBS loses power and resets. Otherwise it's going to be confused. It's easier and safer to disconnect both batteries than trying to half-ass it like this.
EXACTLY.
Someone's coming in confusing issues on threads that are long dead and likely resolved.

Follow my battery replacement/charging instructions posted in various places. No worries that way.
 

xman1564

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Don't do this. If you disconnect the main and charge it independently of the IBS, you want to make sure the IBS loses power and resets. Doing this will keep it online and make the IBS think you aren't charging the battery. It's going to be confused and won't react as expected to incoming/outgoing current measurements. You MUST disconnect the IBS, which happens to be on the negative post the aux battery connects to anyway. Because of that, it's easier and safer to disconnect both batteries than trying to half-ass it like this.
🀷 i removed my main battery and re charged, then i removed aux bat and re charged🀷🀷 thats how you charge not leaving them installed and connectedπŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚
 

xman1564

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🀷 i removed my main battery and re charged, then i removed aux bat and re charged🀷🀷 thats how you charge not leaving them installed and connectedπŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚
so your saying just disconecting one battery at time to recharge is a problumπŸ€·πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚ i dont think soπŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚ 35 yrs experiance tells me bsπŸ˜‚
 

sharpsicle

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🀷 i removed my main battery and re charged, then i removed aux bat and re charged🀷🀷 thats how you charge not leaving them installed and connectedπŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚
🀷🀷 🀷🀷 🀷🀷 🀷🀷 🀷🀷 Okay 🀷🀷 🀷🀷 🀷🀷 🀷🀷 🀷🀷 🀷🀷

🀷🀷 Plenty of places you can read up on the IBS 🀷🀷 🀷🀷 But do what you like πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚ 🀷 🀷🀷 🀷🀷 We're just trying to educate 🀷 🀷🀷 🀷🀷 🀷 🀷🀷 🀷🀷

🀷 i removed my main battery and re charged, then i removed aux bat and re charged🀷🀷 thats how you charge not leaving them installed and connectedπŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚
so your saying just disconecting one battery at time to recharge is a problumπŸ€·πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚ i dont think soπŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚ 35 yrs experiance tells me bsπŸ˜‚
🀷 🀷🀷 🀷🀷Not sure why you're quoting yourself 🀷🀷You could just ask yourself to answer yourselfπŸ€·πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚
 

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ShadowsPapa

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🀷 i removed my main battery and re charged, then i removed aux bat and re charged🀷🀷 thats how you charge not leaving them installed and connectedπŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚
Why remove them to charge them?
Did you reset the IBS before reconnecting?

so your saying just disconecting one battery at time to recharge is a problumπŸ€·πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚ i dont think soπŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚ 35 yrs experiance tells me bsπŸ˜‚
Wow, there we go........
I had a college professor - engines and engine systems - who loved to respond to things like that with "yeah, and they don't realize the last 35 have been wrong, too".

Loved that guy.

It's like I've said here before - there's a lot of techs working in a lot of shops who do a lot of things and get by - it works, but it's not going to get maximum life and performance. Sure, you can do certain things "your way" but you'd never have customers as happy as they could be.
And all of the emojis and smilies and what ever don't add credence to any of it.
I've repaired a whole lot of systems that were worked on by others who "had a lot of experience" or were "trusted xxxxxxx shops". I could post pictures of some of the electric things that come my way from "reputable shops".

So far, all of this reminds me of another person who came in saying that if you jump start a vehicle the alternator will fully charge the battery by the time you get home.
He also had "a lot of experience in shops".
Feel sorry for the people who had batteries that died after a shortened life.
 

xman1564

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🀷🀷 🀷🀷 🀷🀷 🀷🀷 🀷🀷 Okay 🀷🀷 🀷🀷 🀷🀷 🀷🀷 🀷🀷 🀷🀷

🀷🀷 Plenty of places you can read up on the IBS 🀷🀷 🀷🀷 But do what you like πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚ 🀷 🀷🀷 🀷🀷 We're just trying to educate 🀷 🀷🀷 🀷🀷 🀷 🀷🀷 🀷🀷



🀷 🀷🀷 🀷🀷Not sure why you're quoting yourself 🀷🀷You could just ask yourself to answer yourselfπŸ€·πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚
just done it last week no problums at all , son inlaw is a current 10 yr tec at local jeep dealer and eaven he says you got too much going on inside your headπŸ˜†πŸ˜†πŸ˜†
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