FWIW, I bought a couple of these some time back and both have exhibited a
symptom of not being able to recharge. Having FINALLY read the LARGE print
on the front, I noticed that you must not let the battery voltage drop below
11.2V. Mine was 10.5V! The problem appears to be that the unit utilises a
sealed battery and for safety reasons, the charging current is limited to a
low value. If the battery volts are low (11.2V), the charger thinks it is
looking at a faulty battery and ceases to charge. The solution to this
problem is to switch the unit on and to recharge via the high current leads
at a low (500mA) rate from another source until the battery volts get above
11.2V and then the provided charger will operate in the manner designed. Son
in law has the other unit, which was last seen being dissected in anger!!

Regards
Capitol

"Capitol" wrote in message
...
FWIW, I bought a couple of these some time back and both have exhibited a
symptom of not being able to recharge. Having FINALLY read the LARGE print
on the front, I noticed that you must not let the battery voltage drop
below
11.2V. Mine was 10.5V! The problem appears to be that the unit utilises a
sealed battery and for safety reasons, the charging current is limited to
a
low value. If the battery volts are low (11.2V), the charger thinks it
is
looking at a faulty battery and ceases to charge. The solution to this
problem is to switch the unit on and to recharge via the high current
leads
at a low (500mA) rate from another source until the battery volts get
above
11.2V and then the provided charger will operate in the manner designed.
Son
in law has the other unit, which was last seen being dissected in anger!!

Regards
Capitol

My clarke starter unit (without compressor) battery died after about two
years. Since I find the concept of a starter battery unit very useful, I
wanted to fix it. A new correct size battery is at a minimum as dear as a
complete unit and throwing the rest away seems wasteful. So I bought a
bosch sealed fiesta size battery (25 quid), and butchered the clarke case so
the battery would fit (sticking out the sides) This works brilliantly, far
better than the little original battery, almost as portable and far cheaper,
still got the torch, built in jump leads, socket, charge meter etc.

mrcheerful

In article ,
Capitol wrote:
Having FINALLY read the LARGE print on the front, I noticed that you
must not let the battery voltage drop below 11.2V. Mine was 10.5V! The
problem appears to be that the unit utilises a sealed battery and for
safety reasons, the charging current is limited to a low value. If the
battery volts are low (11.2V), the charger thinks it is looking at a
faulty battery and ceases to charge.

I'd say the main reason is that deep discharge - ie below 11.2 volts
permanently damages the battery. Lead acid types don't like this.

--
*Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial

Dave Plowman London SW 12
RIP Acorn

Dave Plowman wrote in message ...
In article ,
Capitol wrote:
Having FINALLY read the LARGE print on the front, I noticed that you
must not let the battery voltage drop below 11.2V. Mine was 10.5V! The
problem appears to be that the unit utilises a sealed battery and for
safety reasons, the charging current is limited to a low value. If the
battery volts are low (11.2V), the charger thinks it is looking at a
faulty battery and ceases to charge.

I'd say the main reason is that deep discharge - ie below 11.2 volts
permanently damages the battery. Lead acid types don't like this.


Agreed, but deep discharge is actually below 10.8V IIRC when sulphation
starts to occur. The problem here is that the charger will not recharge a
low voltage battery as it thinks it is looking at a fault. ie, the control
circuit is too clever. Experience on car batteries shows me that unsealed
units will recover adequately at the user level, if recharged within a few
weeks, even if the volts have dropped to say 6V, provided that the
temperatures are low when the discharge occurs. I recognise that the AH
capacity may well be reduced, but this seems to be a slow process IME.

Regards
Capitol