3 - 46
CHK
ADJ
6. Charge:
• battery
(refer to the appropriate charging method
illustration)
WARNING
_
Do not quick charge a battery.
CAUTION:
_
• Never remove the MF battery sealing
caps.
• Do not use a high-rate battery charger
since it forces a high-amperage current
into the battery quickly and can cause
battery overheating and battery plate
damage.
• If it is impossible to regulate the charging
current on the battery charger, be careful
not to overcharge the battery.
• When charging a battery, be sure to
remove it from the vehicle. (If charging
has to be done with the battery mounted
on the vehicle, disconnect the negative
battery lead from the battery terminal.)
• To reduce the chance of sparks, do not
plug in the battery charger until the bat-
tery charger leads are connected to the
battery.
• Before removing the battery charger lead
clips from the battery terminals, be sure
to turn off the battery charger.
• Make sure the battery charger lead clips
are in full contact with the battery termi-
nal and that they are not shorted. A cor-
roded battery charger lead clip may
generate heat in the contact area and a
weak clip spring may cause sparks.
• If the battery becomes hot to the touch at
any time during the charging process,
disconnect the battery charger and let the
battery cool before reconnecting it. Hot
batteries can explode!
• As shown in the following illustration, the
open-circuit voltage of an MF battery sta-
bilizes about 30 minutes after charging
has been completed. Therefore, wait 30
minutes after charging is completed
before measuring the open-circuit volt-
age.
Ambient temperature
20 °C (68 °F)
Check the open-circuit
voltage.
Time (minutes)
Charging
O
pen-
cir
c
u
it volt
age (V
)
Open
-circuit
vol
tag
e (
V
)
Ambient
temperature
20 °C (68 °F)
Charging condition of the battery (%)
CHECKING AND CHARGING THE BATTERY
www.midwestmanuals.com
