Using a trickle charger - any rules on this?

y_p_w · 2009-06-24T17:47:38+00:00

So here's the deal. The car is a Honda Civic with a group 51 battery (Kirkland Signature from Costco if that helps). Every once in a while the battery is heavily drained because a light (map light or headlamp) was left on. I do find it annoying that there is no headlight-on warning chime or auto-off. Sometimes it starts and sometimes it needs a jump; a portable jump starter always does the trick. The car itself is driven maybe a few times a month for short distances along with the occasional long trip. So I got a simple Schumacher Electric 1 amp, 12 V trickle charger - the kind with thin wires and light-duty clamps coming out of a wall- wart. It's labeled as a "manual charger" and the box/directions state that it's suitable for charging motorcycle and other small batteries, or for keeping auto batteries warm. I wasn't sure if I could justify getting anything more expensive like a higher output charger or maybe even a float charger/maintainer with a charge sensing mechanism. So I'm wondering how safe this is with a group 51 battery, which is on the small side for auto batteries? I realize that it's not likely to fully charge up a depleted battery unless it's on for days at a time. How safe is a 1 amp charge if uncontrolled like a float charger? I've heard some concerns that it could potentially overcharge - that maybe . 25 amp is about the limit for safe trickle charging. I've heard other comments that it's effectively a trickle charge that could safely be left on a fully charged car battery for days if not indefinitely.

Jun 24, 2009 22 Replies

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y_p_w 17 years ago

I heard that there might be a small parasitic load from an unpowered charger. Probably doesn't matter if it's recharged each day.

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ben91932 17 years ago

Hard recharges do damage batteries, and long slow charge works reasonably well on dead ones. However, heavy discharges do damage batteries. They may survive several deep discharges with no apparent harm, but each time a car battery is forced below 10 volts, plate damage occurs in the form of sulfur dendrites(?) Some are knocked off or dissolve during normal cycling, but not all, and this takes up active area on the plates. HTH Ben

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