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Q. What is Surface Charge?
A. Batteries unused or left discharged for some time build up a resistance to being
recharged. When the charger is first connected, these batteries will take a
surface charge, and the ‘FULLY CHARGED’ LED will illuminate within a short
period of time. The battery however is not fully charged. The charger is voltage
sensitive and cannot differentiate between a surface charge and a fully charged
battery. After a few hours the battery may start to accept some charge but most
batteries with this condition may not recover.
Q. What is a Faulty Cell?
A. 12 Volt batteries contain 6 cells and one faulty cell is enough to ruin your
battery. If after twelve hours of charging your battery is still accepting charge,
you should test the cells using a hydrometer. If one reading is lower than the
rest it indicates a faulty cell. It is pointless to continue charging; the battery
needs replacing.
Q. Why is there no output at the charger’s terminals?
A. The charger incorporates short circuit protection that makes it much safer to
use. For this reason the charger will only output power when properly connected
to a battery. To check if the charger is functioning, follow the instructions to
connect and operate the charger as normal on a flat battery. While the battery
is charging measure the battery voltage with a volt or multi-meter. Charging can
be confirmed if the voltage is increasing (within the voltage parameters set out
in the specifications).
