I'm curious Clive. Report once in awhile and try to compare with your previous experience pls.
I found an old Varta in the garage half an hour ago (got curious what I have) that says its made in Germany....I keep old batteries because of the acid. I don't buy the s**ty electolyte from the stores, I maintain my batteries with the real thing, Oh, yeah! Most of the batteries that sais "MAINTENANCE FREE" is good to maintain once in awhile
You can find hidden under the stickers or under some fancy cups the plastic screws. Unscrew them carefuly and see if your battery needs some liquid. I usally do that before and after summer. I don't recomend bougth fluids. Just find an old battery and get what you need from there. Thats for the wet acid batteries.
Our TLC80 are not ment for AGM Batteries. Well not without tuning. Our mate Olaz has explained very well in a thead here what and why he's done to tune his charging system in order to charge properly and accident free an AGM batteries. I'll try to find it and post the link here. Very helpful explanation.
Be careful what you wish for George, I'm reporting sooner than I'd hoped. So here's my little tale of woe... take a breath...
I bought the new Varta's on 21 January. Why did I buy them? The story is thus.
Last April 2016, my trusted Service informed me that my alternator output was down and recommended replacement. I said OK and a Rough Trax (Spelling?) unit was fitted. Then, in the summer I fitted a volt meter to the truck, because
@Chas was kind enough to give me one as a pressie.
How nice, instead of a needle on a dash gauge saying my charge rate is somewhere between zero and the price of fish, I now had a gauge saying 14.6 Volts engine running and everyone advised me that was healthy.
All good thus far. Then Winter came along, as it does, but this one with a bit of a vengeance, and temps dropped like "Lucy Lastic's" drawers to -10C on a constant day/night basis with lows as low as -15C and even less. This was the test for any car battery(s) and mine were no exception.
OK, the charge rate was showing a healthy 14.6 V but as the cold-spell continued the inevitable happened and after switch on (and wait for the heater plugs), the morning 12.6 V dropped to 11.8 V and click-click no 24V switch-over, i.e. it wouldn't start.
Bugger.
What to do? I checked the dockets and the Varta's I had were 4 years old. OK, not bad, not good, the charge rate is good and so it should be (new alternator), so they're just not holding it. Bite the bullet and buy some new ones. So I did, on 21 January 2017 (I'm back to where I started if you're paying attention).
After, I noticed that the charge rate was showing 13.3 V (not the healthy 14.6 V previously). Mmmm, what does this mean? I'm sure I don't know, and those that pretend to know suggested something may be up.
Bugger again.
OK, with 13.3 V, at least they are charging, no worries, keep on driving.
Then last Sunday evening, returning to the city, I noticed the charge rate had dropped to 12.0 V, which even by my dismal math means zero charge. It was dark and an hour and a half journey, and it's cold. So with lights on and heater fan, I drove home. The one and a half hours became 5 hours because of protests in the city and traffic jams and nowhere to bloody park (etc., etc.) and by the time I did park up, it was down to a worrying 11.8 V engine running.
With new batteries and an (ageing) new alternator, I simply had to suspect the alternator. You know how it is, just coming up to 12 month warranty/guarantee expiry, let's get it checked. So first thing this morning, jumped in, and the Volt meter tells me 11.9 V. With that sort of grimace on my face (you know the one) I turned the key, sure it dropped because of the heaters down to 11.6 V, turned again and she started. Yippee, drove the truck straight to service and they tested the alternator.
14.6 V
You either have a break in the wiring Sir, or one or both of your batteries are dead. Each battery tested 12 V individually, but when on the truck did not accept or draw anything from the alternator. (forgive my descriptions here because I really don't know zip about 'lectrickery) but that's how it was described to me.
They tested the wiring, and that is OK Sir.
The ultimate test, they put 2 new batteries from stock onto the truck, and the Volt meter sprang back to a healthy 14.6 V. The new Varta's were slung in the back and off I went to Mr. Battery Guy's shop to tell him to replace or refund.
He says, give me 2 days to test them, and I'll call you. OK said me, but I have to insist now on only one day, because the law says that after 48 hours, I can't insist on a refund (Don't ask, laws here are a little suspect if you've been watching the news lately - hence the demonstrations).
That's the short version...
I wait for my phone-call from Mr. Battery Guy.
) which has come back good and strong with a Ctek on it. I had it tested and it came up good so went for the Ctek and all has been well since.
