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MG MGB Technical - Trickle chargers

Any thoughts on how long a standard trickle charger may take to charge a battery which is fairly flat? Put my 12v battery from my MGB on charge Saturday morning just gone and the charging light is still lit on the charger indicating that it is still charging. Over 48 hours now!

Seems quite a long time to me!
R J Walker

Hi RJ,

It all depends on the capability of the charger. I used an old, little - 4amp - charger and encountered just the same symptoms as you describe. I bought a newer, more powerful charger - 8 amps, I think - and it charged my battery up well.

Peter
P L Hills

RJ,

Is your battery in the car? If so, check there isn't anything drawing power. Dirty batteries, for example, can allow for phantom discharges to happen.
Philip

Hello Philip,

Battery is a brand new one and out of the car on the bench charging.
R J Walker

If it is a new battery and has already failed -and not readily taking a charge - you may have a faulty battery. I'd try the retailer. They can give it a quick charge and test in no time.
C Holm

My "intelligent" charger does not work well with flat batteries. I have a home brewed one with a really hefty transformer (thank you MoD) and that sorts them in no time. However having the trickle one available and on all the time means I never have to use it.
Stan Best

R J Walker

Having just gone through this............
Is the charger actually charging?

After a couple of days of charging I checked mine to find out the charger had failed.


Bruce
Bruce Mills

Check the fuse in the charger - my 5 amp charger has just charged a completely flat battery in my Magnette overnight.
Several times I've waited patiently only to find that the inline fuse has blown!
David
David Overington

This thread was discussed between 10/09/2007 and 12/09/2007

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