Help with my 12v field battery

[fury]

OK, not a normally posted battery question but a battery question nonetheless.

I have a 12v maintenance free car battery that I use for my ground equipment but I can not get it to hold a charge.

I charged it overnight and the charger should completed, so connected my Li-Po charger and began to charge a Li-Po, but the volts just drop off instantly, within seconds.

It is only a couple of years old and I have hardly used it, do you think that I have left it unused for so long that it has discharged beyond the point of no return?

If so, is there anyway I can bring it back to life? Am I right in thinking water should not be added to a maintenance free and I will have to bite the bullet and buy a new one?

Thank you

[DbyMA]

You could take it to a local auto repair/service centre (you know the Quick Browns or Charlie Fit type places). They'll be able to put a drop/load tester across its terminals and/or give a brief boost charge to see what life is left in it (they may be able to make some any other suggestions).

Ideally, you should look for a leisure battery, the type that can be deep cycled. They're a bit more expensive than normal car batteries, which can't stand up to being heavily discharged too well.

I use a £20.00 12V 2.2Ah alarm system gel cell for starting nitros, its small and light, and attached to my starter; and a mains driven LiPo/NiMH/NiCd/Pb charge balancer (£90.00 Bantam BC6 that can also connect to 12V DC and datalogs to a PC) in the workshop.

Mac

[fury]

Good idea, thank Mac :thumbup:

I too use an alarm battery for my flightbox but tend to use the car battery for charging and for the jets ground equipment.