hi,
where are you buying you low cost 'maintainer' battery charges.

built-in on board is neat.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jon Kanas" <kanas@QADAS.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2011 9:02 AM
Subject: Battery Sages

> Greetings Don & Listers,
>
> Both of your assumptions are correct.  Lead / Acid batteries sulfate
> when stored for any length of time with a low charge.  A slow recharge
> (like the 2A you describe) minimizes the sulfation which has taken
> place, but the life of the battery is compromised when it sits in a
> discharged state for any length of time.  The symptoms you describe
> (appears to take a charge, but there is no reserve) are typical of this
> condition.
>
> When I am not using my vehicles for any length of time, I disconnect the
> battery (but leave it installed), and attach a "maintenance" charger.
> These automatic, very low amperage chargers, are readily available for
> around $20.  On my Westfalia, where the battery is very difficult to
> reach, I have built the maintenance charger into the cabinet under the
> sink and plugged it into the 120V used by the refrigerator.  When I
> attach an extension cord to the socket on the outside of the Westfalia,
> the battery charges.   Typically, I plug it in for four or five days,
> once a month, when I'm not using the Vanagon.
>
> The battery you describe probably also qualifies as a "POS", since it
> should not have exhibited this level of problem if only a few months
> old.  It may have been stored for a long time, discharged, long before
> your purchased it.
>
> *Best Regards,
> Jon Kanas
> Email: kanas<at>qadas.com <mailto:kanas@qadas.com>
> Website: http://www.qadas.com/~kanas <http://www.qadas.com/%7Ekanas>
> *
>
>
> Automatic digest processor wrote:
>> Date:    Tue, 30 Aug 2011 11:18:48 -0700
>> From:    Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject: Battery Sages..Not 100% Vanagon specific, but applicable..
>>
>>   I have an almost new battery that was installed then sat unused for a
>> few
>> months with a low charge.  Upon trying to start the machine (this was a
>> KTM
>> motorcycle, but it could have been my vanagon..so there is the
>> connection)
>> the battery simply clicked weakly.  I cleaned all the contacts and put it
>> on
>> a 2amp smart charger overnight.  Next day I put my digi-meter on the batt
>> and got 12.96v reading..Poke the starter and it cranks very weakly for a
>> very short time.  Back to the multi meter and I see 12.4 volts.  I put
>> the
>> charger back on, check the multimeter..it is getting 14.4, appx.  Let it
>> go
>> a couple of hours, remove the charger and again read: 12.8v....Push the
>> starter again and RRR rrr r...click.   Weak... Charge the batt again and
>> leave it overnight..it holds the charge of 12.9 just fine, but when I
>> load
>> it with the starter...it dies quickly without a start.  The machine will
>> start right up with a kick...and it spins over well after running...for a
>> couple of revolutions, only...
>>
>>   So I am assuming the battery was a POS from the vendor, or that two
>> months
>> of sitting with a low charge ruined it and I need another new
>> battery...am I
>> assuming correctly?  Batteries are strange...
>>
>>   Don Hanson
>>
>>
>>