[nc rick]

I have tried to do a search. Surely someone before me has done this? Our van has been sitting for a couple weeks and it seems my battery is dead. I opened the hood, connected a volt meter to the jumper point and get 5 volts. Got out my trusty battery charger and, it's weird, the voltage is switching or something. I'm trying about a half amp charge. Don't want to try to jump it, in case something else is going on. Any pointers? I went up to the van and opened the doors via the key buttons. It wouldn't re lock. Also, no cargo light. I am not totally sure what's going on. Input appreciated. Thanks in advance, Rick

 

[Budsky]

Hi Rick!
Are you using a "smart charger"?
I ask because some of them don't work well bringing a truly dead battery up. I've even seen some incorrectly "assume" it is a 6V battery and won't charge past that point.
The old fashioned ones that are just a transformer and rectifier seem to do better in the truly dead case. Then when you get it near 12V use the smart charger to finish or not if you aren't using that type.

 

[EddieZ]

Hi Rick!
Are you using a "smart charger"?
I ask because some of them don't work well bringing a truly dead battery up. I've even seen some incorrectly "assume" it is a 6V battery and won't charge past that point.
The old fashioned ones that are just a transformer and rectifier seem to do better in the truly dead case. Then when you get it near 12V use the smart charger to finish or not if you aren't using that type.

OR, if you are using a smart charger, it may have a mode called "recondition," or some such. You could try that. It would probably take several hours to go through that procedure, as opposed to a quick jump start.

 

[nc rick]

BudSky, I used a decidedly "dumb" charger which consists of a transformer, bridge rectifier, volt meter, ammeter and a rheostat to control output. Is acting very bizarre. I didn't want to go over 13.5 v just in case there is sum thing I don't know. There is a heck of a lot I don't know...

 

[Budsky]

I'd keep the current low- say no more than a few amps and see if it comes up overnight. If not the battery may be shot.
Seems to be a fair number of people on here that have had bad batteries.

The rejuvenator or desulfator Eddie mentioned may work but they are typically slow- many desulfators I've played with take weeks or more to revive a battery if they work at all.

 

[nc rick]

Vans working again. Way too embarrassing to talk about...

 

[EddieZ]

Vans working again. Way too embarrassing to talk about...

But, now, you must! Maybe tomorrow.

 

[TomB985]

Glad to hear you got it running!

But Eddie's right, we gotta know! Think about it...if it happened to you it could happen to someone else. Your embarrassing story may help someone else.

 

[nc rick]

I really don't know for sure, I can only guess. The back drop was a pretty challenging week, everything turning to crap. Two heat pumps died on the house in the same afternoon (impossible, right?), fixed those, motor on one, run Capacitor on the other. Working on motorcycles all that morning, getting ready for a ride. Air filter came apart while cleaning. Went out to open the van to put some tie-downs away when the doors wouldn't re-lock. Got my multimeter, read 5v. Get the automatic battery charger and a cord, open the garage door and the limit switch failed, couldn't shut it without a repair. Hooked the charger, it choked, even the fan stalled. Went for a thicker extension cord, same thing, charger choked on the battery, even on the "small" battery setting. "****"! Got out my 50 year old trusty Eico manual charger. Won't take a charge smoothly, needles bouncing. Set to about 8 v and 2 amps it is hovering, needle quivering on both meters, not right. Read owners manual, only specifies jump starting... Drive the Ranger pick up down there, hook up jumper, big spark ( ok, battery is really dead, right?) nothing. Come back to the hood and the small ground stud is glowing! Quick disconnect, cables back on the ground. Well "shoot" what's up? Post on forum, scratch head. Called dealer. They say to tow it there. Ford roadside assistance... Clean out van, disconnect my fan from CCP (#16 wire with 7.5a fuse 3 inches from the connection). Big flatbed shows up, nice driver, big young kid, lots of holes in his not so clean t shirt. Brings jumper pack, hooks it to the same points on the van. Lights come on, van starts, leave it run, drink a beer. Both chargers work on it fine now. Could I have reversed the jumper cables? I don't think so but that is the only thing that seems logical to me. Feeling stupid but happy.

 

[TomB985]

Very interesting, I don't understand how you would only get 5 volts with reversed polarity. Shouldn't it show -12 volts?

Sounds like you had a rough day, hope stuff stops breaking on you. I'd get that battery load tested to be sure it survived okay. Most auto parts stores will do that without charge.

 

[nc rick]

I'm sure the battery chargers were hooked correctly, my old school one is still an analog meter and the needle would try to wrap its self around the stop with a negative voltage. I was thinking that perhaps, maybe I reversed the jumpers on my ranger. I honestly don't think I did, I just can't be sure and I have no othe explanation. When really unusual stuff happens, operator error is my first suspect ;-)

 

[joefromga]

Loose connections can pull massive amounts of current which is probably what happened.