I am really board. So, I thought I would make some good use of time and publish this for the FTE - Brotherhood.

BATTERY MAINTENANCE:

Batteries are perhaps the most overlooked maintenance item when it comes to vehicle maintenance in general That’s somewhat surprising for us Diesel Owners as quality, well-maintained batteries are necessary to get one moving down the road.

There is no black and white in the battery field, only many shades of gray. The battery behaves much like us folks — it’s a black box with a mind and mood of its own; it’s mystical and unexplainable. For some users, the battery causes no problems at all; for others it’s nothing but a problem.1
Performing maintenance on batteries can literally double or triple your batteries life expectancy.

Some Tools: You will need a few tools to get it done right:

Digital Volt Ohm Meter (DVOM),

Carbon Pile Tester or Similar Device to measure Cold Cranking Amps and Battery Health.

a Hydrometer to test individual cells and their health and,

a “Quality” Battery Charger.

I hear you already. What's he mean... Quality? Bet he thinks he's got the best because it's Snap-On or Mac. No!

Q: What is a Quality Battery Charger?

A: In my opinion, the Genius Model 2700 is an affordable unit that is packed with both options and safety features built in: It will charge a battery, recover a battery, desufate a battery, and maintain a battery.

Charging system problems often appear to us as a "no-start". The battery will have discharged and the starter won't crank the engine.

The first step is to test the battery and charge it if necessary.

A “No-Load Test” performed with a DVOM can tell you something about the general health of the batteries Voltage Percent Charge

12.60V- 12.72V 100%

12.45V- 12.71V 75%

12.30V- 12.44 V 50%

12.15V- 12.29V 25%

** Readings obtained at 80°F

Maintenance Do’s and Don’ts:

WATER: Keep water at the proper level. This should be checked monthly and more often in HOT summer months. Add only Denatured Water to a Flooded Lead Acid Battery.

**Tap Water, and Well Water has minerals and other chemicals such as chlorine which accelerate the batteries demise.
Monthly: Place your batteries on charge. More often if practical.

I have a 1.5 Amp Schumacher On-Board Charger that is plugged in 80% of the time my truck is in the drive 24/7/365. My other vehicle have similar units - Battery Tender Brand.

Charging should be low amperage, only 1–5 Amps is all that is necessary and will lengthen the life of your battery.

Charge both individually. This can be done by removing either of the (+) Cable Ends.

Every Three Months:

Clean the Battery Cables, apply a “Battery Terminal Protectant to keep moisture and air from accelerating the corrosion process. Remove any dirt, grime, and grease from the tops.

Top the cells off with denatured water. About ½” from the top of the cell opening.

** A Battery Filler can be purchased for about $10 and will allow you to store denatured water in it for use when needed.
Attach charger and allow to charge to 100% at a low amperage.

** One of the things I like about the Genius Series Chargers is that it does this in seven steps. There are MANY out there so do your research prior to purchase.

Desulfating should be done every three months. It takes on about 90 minutes to desulfate a battery depending on how sulfated the plates are.

Desulfation requires the battery be cycled in milliseconds with at least 16 VDC at 1.5 Amp. You'll need a charger that can do that.

Remove the Caps, cover with a wet towel to prevent pressure and evaporation. Then, enter the Desufate Mode and return in 30 – 60 minutes.

That's it.

**It’s important to maintain the schedule. Allowing more time between desulfation will allow the sulfate to become hard and therefore much harder to remove from the lead plates. Often, impossible once hardened.

SG: Batteries should have the Specific Gravity of each cell tested and recorded at least quarterly.

Only test the SG once the Battery has cooled down to ambient temperatures. Somewhere between 60oF– 80oF.


**It’s important to record the SG so comparisons can be made which can identify a failing cell. If you have two, or more batteries in a vehicle this will allow you to replace one battery in lieu of both. $ Savings $

CCA or Cold Cranking Amps which are a measured minimum rating at 32oF and 80oFrespectively. An 850/1,000 CCA Battery should have at least 80% of its rated capacity when fully charged and maintained as a minimum, for this example, 680 CCA / 800CCA respectively. Anything less and it’s time to begin rotating them out.

Tip: I will place my batteries from my Truck into my Wife’s Mini Van which accepts a Group 65 Unit when it gets down to 80%. In her Van, they’re at 110% of what is required (500CCA). I do the same in my Focus (600 CCA).

Only new batteries go in my Powerstroke. I buy them about every five years. In using them this way, I get about 8-10 years from a Battery.

Only one time did I have to buy a Battery because I didn’t recognize a failing cell which was my fault totally; I lost the SG Records and kept the wrong Battery! $100 mistake!

Some other tests which will help with extending the life to their maximum is ensuring the alternator is doing its job:
Everything is charging at 14.0 VDC so everything is okay!

WRONG!

There are two things that should be checked every three months as well. The Alternator is a stationary “Wound Stator” and a “Magnetic Rotor” or visa-versa (I use this example because we can relate to it as you will see later).

We all did these things in High School if you remember. Alternate Current is (VAC) is created between the two as they pass by one another in the Air Gap, it gets sent through a “rectifier” or regulator and is converted to Direct Current (VDC). Unchecked, this can go as high as 16 or more VDC which would be terrible for all our electrical components. So, there is a regulator which will not allow more than 14.x VDC to pass through it. Similar to when we piled carbon plates to reduce the voltage in our experiments and tests in school. Remember how VAC waveforms messed with the VDC waveforms and vice versa?

How do we know when one of these internal and unseen components is beginning to fail and causing harm to our charging circuit?
Two easy tests conducted with a DVOM:

RIPPLE VOLTAGE:

Ripple Voltage ( or AC voltage) can be measured by switching your DMM to AC and connecting the black lead to a good ground and the red lead to the "BAT" terminal on the back of the alternator, (not at the battery).

A good alternator should measure less than .5 VAC with the engine running. A higher reading indicates damaged alternator diodes.

ALTERNATOR LEAKAGE TEST: (Alternator Leakage or “diode leakage test”).

Disconnect the (+) Battery Cables

Connect the Multimeter in series with the alternator output terminal when the Truck is not running. Switch to the mA Setting.

Leaking current should be a couple of mA at most; more often, it will be on the order of 0.5 mA.

**Use care when disconnecting the alternator output wire. You can also apply some Battery Terminal Corrosion Preventer to the Alternator B+ as well.

Hope this helps somehow,

Tom

1 Battery University

 

Good write up but I have two points.
1. Leaving a LA starting battery on a trickle charge for extended periods without periodically applying a starting load can lead to "mossing" or dendrite growth which can short cells.
2. I don't believe 90 minutes will accomplish much in the way of desulfating.

 

I'm one who falls into the category of not having battery problems at all and in general throughout my life (and I am getting pretty old) I can't figure out why I have been the chosen one in this department, the rest of my luck runs sour. If I get less than 5 years out of a battery it was a bad battery and I routinely get closer to 10 years of reliable use. I rarely check water level and I just use my stuff and on occasion I leave the lights on and run 'er dead as a doornail. I have some kind of cheap battery out on my loader that I can't remember when I got it but it is more than 5 years for sure. Now there is no NO load on that battery when it sits and on occasion I'll have to jump it to plow my snow in the winter, but not often. I have what's left of a 1990 E-250 out in my driveway and it's holding its second battery, at this point it's unused and condition is questionable. My Cessna sat from last August to this May without being touched and much to the surprise of my mechanic it not only started like it had been run yesterday, the battery was fully charged (once again no load on the battery when sitting). So...what am I doing that makes me and my batteries so special?

 

Agree. My Battery Maintainers have Processors that monitor and "Exercise" the Batteries as well.

If you begin with new batteries, 90 minutes is about all thats required. I have read where if your trying to do this to a battery that has already begun to loose charge it can take "weeks".

 

I feel the same way. Lucky I guess.