Dead battery? Help.

11101 Views 11 Replies 5 Participants Last post by joefromga, Jul 7, 2016

nc rick

Discussion Starter · Jul 3, 2016

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

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EddieZ

· #3 · Jul 3, 2016

Budsky said:
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.

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EddieZ

· #7 · Jul 6, 2016

nc rick said:
Vans working again. Way too embarrassing to talk about...

But, now, you must! Maybe tomorrow.

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