In article ,
"D. Dalton" writes:
Bill Wright wrote in
:


Voltage across battery with engine off, sidelights on: 12.5V approx.
Voltage across battery with engine on and at a fast tick over,
sidelights on: 14.6V approx.

Bill


Thanks to all for the helpful replies. I am cuurently charging the battery,
using my cheap battery charger. It only has one setting, and reduces its
charge as the battery charges up. Can anyone tell me how long I can leave
it thus charging? Is 15 hours too much?

What's the charger's output in amps, and what's the capacity of the
battery in Amp Hours?

Once the batter is charged, I will do some of the tests suggested
(tomorrow).

Have you by chance fitted an old style lead acid battery into a car
which is intended to take a silver calcium battery? I would imagine
that would over charge it and lose the electrolyte, although probably
much faster than you are experiencing.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]