Truck didn’t start this morning - batteries

[Beastrider]

After a couple of weeks of inactivity, my truck didn’t start this morning. The engine turned over slowly, dash lights dimmed etc. , so batteries likely to have discharged. I had to leave for work so haven’t checked voltage with multimeter yet.

It has a standard twin battery set up (KZJ95) and realise that I am unsure how to jump start or how to attach a charger. Should I connect jumper cables to just one battery and disconnect the other? If so, which battery should be jumped? Similarly, should I attach a charger to just one battery or should I charge the batteries separately off the truck?

Lastly, if I get the batteries checked at the local motor factor, I assume they would need to disconnect one of them and check them separately - is that correct? Thank you

 

[Shayne]

Test them disconnected but i just jump the drivers side battery without disconnecting the other .

 

[karl2000]

+1

To disconnect them for testing, just take the negative off the battery you want to disconnect.

On the 120, I use a CTEK charger which is generally safe to use on batteries which are still connected to the vehicle. I leave everything connected, and just put the charger on one battery. Because they are wired in parallel, that will effectively charge them both.

To jump, you should be able to use either battery, but I tend to use the one connected to the starter/alternator (the one with the thicker +ve wire - passenger side on the 120)

If you have to renew the battery, its best to renew both at once with the same type.

 

[Tractionman]

As above.
If one battery is goosed, replace both, as per Karl.

 

[Towpack]

+1 as Karl has said.

 

[Beastrider]

Thanks for your quick replies. I will check when I get home.

 

[Beastrider]

Well, I borrowed a CTEK charger/conditioner from a friend and left it on for ~20 hours. Truck started straight away yesterday evening and I took it for decent drive. I didn’t connect the charger again. It started no problem this morning as well, so I am thinking the batteries are fine - hopefully. I’ll buy my own charger and take better care when the truck isn’t being used much and especially in the cold months. Thanks for your earlier advice.

 

[karl2000]

Great! Check your local Lidl, they had ctek chargers last year cheap - might have a few left or might turn up again!

 

[Tractionman]

If no luck there check out Aldi for their autoXcess cheap and cheerful ones that do many of the functions of ctek and the like. I've had one for years, with no issues on charging.

 

[Juddian]

NOCO Genius5UK is on offer at Amazon at the moment @ £67, might be worth a poke nose.

I've had a CTEK before, which died during one winter and cost me a 12 month old battery on my old Merc sorned at the time, and had several of the Lidl chargers which have all packed up, won't be buying either of those again.

Currently using my probably 35 year old Ansar 4/11amp dumb charger as and when needed, unless the collective can come up with a reason not to i'm going to grab either the Genius5 or Genius10 myself whilst the offer is still on, they're also rated for Lithium batteries as well as all others currently in use so probably as future proof as can be had presently.

 

[karl2000]

I've got a NOCO 1amp charger which has been good - only use it for very small batteries due to it being 1 amp (eg Merc SBC battery as you mention mercs!) , but its fine.

Got quite a few CTEK's and theyve all been spot on, maybe you were unlucky? Bugger that it destroyed a virtually new battery though - what happened, did it stop charging, fo unnoticed and then the battery was flat for months?

The only Lidl charger I've ever bought is a CTEK, so no idea what other ones they've done!

 

[Juddian]

Exactly right Karl, by the time i realised the CTEK had died the battery was toast, the Lidl's jobbies wouldn't revive and of course my old Absar jobbie wasn't designed to kick start or desulfate, bloody big 4 year warranty Varta.

Thank for the NOCO endorsement, been an expensive weekend so far, here goes another £70 or £110 i can't take with me

 

[Beastrider]

Thanks for the NOCO information. I had spotted them in Halfords as well (not as good a deal as Amazon, though) and have been researching them. My two batteries are 70Ah each, so 140 in total. Am I right to think the Genius5 is too small because it’s rating is only 120Ah. Or does that just affect charge time?
I notice they are both compatible with start/stop batteries as well, which is irrelevant for the truck but good for my wife’s Skoda.

 

[karl2000]

It just affects charge time. I usually use a 5amp charger even on the LC to top up both batteries in parallel....

 

[Tractionman]

+ 1 on that. I do exactly the same.

 

[GeekOKent]

I was looking at the noco boost things, and it looks like layers of false advertising going on. The gb150 is sold as 3000Ah ( note the h ). But in reality it's a 88Wh. Which at 12v translate to a whole 7.3Ah - and it's voltage is fixed to 11.2v ie it's not going to recover your battery, just give you barely enough juice to get started with a couple of cranks.

 

[karl2000]

Hmm sommat doesn't sound quite right there - given that a typical big heavy battery is 100Ah (say), is the noco really claiming to have 30 times the capacity of that?!!

Re voltage 11.2 sounds a bit low but I suppose it's not a battery charger - it's just there to get you out of trouble - as long as it starts, the alternator can do its job and charge the battery?

 

[karl2000]

Just had a look on the unit, it says 3000 amps not 3000 amp hours?

 

[karl2000]

Where are you getting the 11.2v from? Just tested a gb70 I've got handy, and got 12.5v out of it...

 

[Juddian]

I bought the NOCO 10 jobbie, does exactly what it say on the tin, tops up batteries quickly and glows and you can tell from the progrssive leds the state of charging and when fully charged.

Tried it on my Jumpstart3000 old school jump pack, before charging and 'repairing' with the NOCO the level meter on the jump pack would only go about 1/3rd of the way into the green 'good' section.
I charged it fully then set the NOCO mode to 'repair'.
After doing so, a mode which takes several hours, and then allowing a couple of days for the jump pack battery to stabilize i checked the inbuilt meter again and its now well into the green section.

I'd resigned myself to having to replace the jump pack battery soon, the NOCO seems to have revitalised the thing somewhat so hopefully get a few more years from it.
I kept the better of the two Mr T batteries i replaced last year on the 120, mainly to power my tyre air pump and for just in case if one of the kids batteries failed, previously it struggled to hold a charge but after repair setting on the charger it holds a much better charge.

I only chucked the dead Varta from the old Merc last year, would have been interesting experiment to see if the NOCO was able to recover it.

A note for anyone who buys one.
According to the instructions, when in repair mode the led icon is supposed to glow a solid light, mine didn't instead the led pulsed.
I contacted NOCO via their website to see if there might be a fault, but they confirmed the instruction pamphlet is wrong and indeed whilst in repair mode the led should pulse.