See those green charge indicators on some car batteries? Do they not work or is mine faulty? Or can you break it by flattening the battery? It came charged and was green. I flattened it by mistake and it went black, correctly. So I charged it fully and it stayed black. Now I'm test discharging it to determine the capacity, and it's gone green when 3/4s discharged!

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If space is a vacuum, who changes the bags?

"James Wilkinson" wrote in message
news
See those green charge indicators on some car batteries? Do they not work
or is mine faulty? Or can you break it by flattening the battery? It
came charged and was green. I flattened it by mistake and it went black,
correctly. So I charged it fully and it stayed black. Now I'm test
discharging it to determine the capacity, and it's gone green when 3/4s
discharged!

How do you know it's 3/4 discharged if you're determining the capacity?
Dick, yet another excuse for a stupid thread of attention seeking.
Go play with your parrots or ask your mentor.

Green is the new black I hear.

Being semi sensible for a moment. I never did find those gadgets worked and
in any case who could tell when the bonnet was closed?
:-)
Brian

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"James Wilkinson" wrote in message
news
See those green charge indicators on some car batteries? Do they not
work or is mine faulty? Or can you break it by flattening the battery?
It came charged and was green. I flattened it by mistake and it went
black, correctly. So I charged it fully and it stayed black. Now I'm
test discharging it to determine the capacity, and it's gone green when
3/4s discharged!

How do you know it's 3/4 discharged if you're determining the capacity?
Dick, yet another excuse for a stupid thread of attention seeking.
Go play with your parrots or ask your mentor.

On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 10:03:34 +0100, Brian Gaff wrote:

Green is the new black I hear.

Being semi sensible for a moment. I never did find those gadgets worked
and in any case who could tell when the bonnet was closed?
:-)
Brian

Not my field, but I would venture to say it's not very informative anyway
if it doesn't tell you the state of the battery under cranking, which I'm
guessing it doesn't.

On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 10:03:34 +0100, Brian Gaff wrote:

Green is the new black I hear.

Being semi sensible for a moment. I never did find those gadgets worked
and in any case who could tell when the bonnet was closed?
:-)
Brian

Can't see the original post.

However in a motor home the charge indicator seems reasonably useful.
More so for the habitation than the engine battery, but still an indicator.

Cheers



Dave R


--
Windows 8.1 on PCSpecialist box

In article ,
David wrote:
On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 10:03:34 +0100, Brian Gaff wrote:

Green is the new black I hear.

Being semi sensible for a moment. I never did find those gadgets worked
and in any case who could tell when the bonnet was closed?
:-)
Brian

Can't see the original post.

However in a motor home the charge indicator seems reasonably useful.
More so for the habitation than the engine battery, but still an
indicator.

I added a digital volt meter to the old Rover. Just a bare LED PCB, but as
accurate as my Fluke, and only a few quid. It's a two wire type, so
couldn't be easier to connect. Although I did find it needed to be
directly connected to the battery for best results, rather than to the
dashboard wiring.

If you know how to read it, shows both the battery condition and that the
charging system is working correctly.

--
*If you lived in your car, you'd be home by now *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

But you open the bonnet to se why the car won't start, and glance at the indicator.

Or you have the battery sat in the garage and can't remember if you charged it recently.


On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 10:03:34 +0100, Brian Gaff wrote:

Green is the new black I hear.

Being semi sensible for a moment. I never did find those gadgets worked and
in any case who could tell when the bonnet was closed?
:-)
Brian



--
Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks, months, maybe years.

On 31/07/2016 01:29, James Wilkinson wrote:
See those green charge indicators on some car batteries? Do they not
work or is mine faulty? Or can you break it by flattening the battery?
It came charged and was green. I flattened it by mistake and it went
black, correctly. So I charged it fully and it stayed black. Now I'm
test discharging it to determine the capacity, and it's gone green when
3/4s discharged!

Maybe it was just temporarily stuck. If it's the sort I am thinking of,
they're just a simple float of the right density to float or sink
depending upon the specific gravity of the electrolyte - just like the
old battery hydrometers from when the batteries weren't sealed for life.

On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 18:41:07 +0100, Steve Walker wrote:

On 31/07/2016 01:29, James Wilkinson wrote:
See those green charge indicators on some car batteries? Do they not
work or is mine faulty? Or can you break it by flattening the battery?
It came charged and was green. I flattened it by mistake and it went
black, correctly. So I charged it fully and it stayed black. Now I'm
test discharging it to determine the capacity, and it's gone green when
3/4s discharged!

Maybe it was just temporarily stuck. If it's the sort I am thinking of,
they're just a simple float of the right density to float or sink
depending upon the specific gravity of the electrolyte - just like the
old battery hydrometers from when the batteries weren't sealed for life.

Sometimes I see green on the leftmost quarter of the window, perhaps it's not floating straight.

I read something once that only calcium based batteries have these floats. And the USA prefers calcium batteries and the UK doesn't. They have different discharge characteristics I believe.

--
There are more men than women in mental hospitals - which just goes to show who's driving who crazy.

On 31/07/2016 1:26 PM, David wrote:
On Sun, 31 Jul 2016 10:03:34 +0100, Brian Gaff wrote:

Green is the new black I hear.

Being semi sensible for a moment. I never did find those gadgets worked
and in any case who could tell when the bonnet was closed?
:-)
Brian

Can't see the original post.

However in a motor home the charge indicator seems reasonably useful.
More so for the habitation than the engine battery, but still an indicator.

Cheers



Dave R




If the battery indicator is tuned to the battery in question, then it
is possible to get a fair representation of battery condition.

Though it will not tell you the immediate capacity, it will show
progressive indications of low full-charge voltages as the battery's
internal resistance grows.

As others have said, taking a battery through charge/discharge cycles
will tell you more.