"Harry Collingwood" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 15 May 2005 08:39:31 GMT, (Harry
Collingwood) wrote:

Basi question.Got a leisure battery,it's charged to full 12 volts but
how can I tell how many amps it holds? thanks.
Sorry to mess you all about but although nothing is marked on the
battery I had another look at the instructions.It says its a "lead
acid storage battery ,normal capacity 17AH 12V,charging time 250
times.
I have a feeling it is not fully amped up[if thats right!] but my
Halfords charger switches to green when the volts is up to above 12
volts. How can I tell that they have 17 AH stored in there.
PS. They are golf trolley batteries and the charger that came with
them has no measurement to say what's going on.I could leave them
charged for a week for all I know with no indication when they are
charged.Got me beat.Thanks again.

You can put the battery under a known load and measure what the voltage
drops to over a period of time and calculate it from that. If the charger
switches off (assuming the charger is working which sounds like the case)
then it's as fully charged as the battery will get, if the capacity is under
17 AH then it's due to wear on the battery and not anything with the
charger. The voltage of the battery rises as it charges, the charger should
shut off when it hits about 13.8V for a 12V battery.