Bought one of these from argos (not ideal but thought it was worth the money)
any why is it so hard to disconnect the battery then ?
Well hardly ideal.. What im saying is will it cause damage if i dont? (im not really into car maintenance hense asking for advise)
Battery under back seat etc. Not difficult, but time consuming, and not worth the hassle IMO. Mike.
I've never known it cause damage, and I've never disconnected a battery for an overnight charge etc. Mike.
It *IS* a slight possiblity that it could depending on how good the output is of the charger and how crap the ECU/Car stereo etc is designed.
Ignore it. They're just covering themselves.
The message from Conor contains these words:
I'd certainly connnect the charger to the battery before switching the mains to the charger - that's just good practice anyway as it stops the sparks round the battery area. It should also reduce any spikes on the supply.
You'll probably find the instruction to disconnect the battery if you look in the owners handbook as well..
Risk of damage to alternator, and/or lots of electronic bits if you connect the charger the wrong way around.
Just disconnect the earth lead, that should do it, if you want to leave the battery in the car while it's charging.
Why would you disconnect the battery when charging, but not when jump starting from another car? After all, there's a *lot* more current available from another car battery than any domestic charger.
Far more likely to damage the charger if it's not got any protection. But most decent ones have got wrong connection protection.
Spend the extra quid and get one of these, its slightly faster and has float charge
Adam
Wonder where the 'RMS' output comes from when it's basically a DC source? Just a way of making the figures look better? The 11 amps quoted is likely to be more like 6 or so maximum if it's anything like my Halfords one that also claims 11 amps 'RMS'.
It possibly is only half-wave rectified - not pure DC - so RMS will have meaning.
Disconnecting a battery can have implications for clocks, alarms and radio security so I can understand the reluctance of the OP to disconnect.
John
The only real 'meaning' is the maximum charge rate to the battery.
I've never disconnected a battery when charging it and I've never had a problem. The manufacturers say that to cover themselves, so it's at your own risk.
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