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