[quebec_civic]

I was wondering which precautions need to be taken not to mess up the electronics in the car when using a 12V battery charger.

I don't drive my car much. I mostly like to walk and ride my bike wherever I can. Three weeks ago I bought a new 2017 Honda Civic LX, however, I haven't yet used it since driving it home from the dealership (there is still only 7 km on the milage counter).

I often had battery issues with my old car because I used the car so little and it gets very cold where I live.

Since the car is brand new, and the battery is probably on the dead side since the car has not been used, I purchased a 12V battery charger (trickle charger/maintainer). It has 2 charging modes 0,75 amps and 2 amp.

In the owner's manual, it says that the battery should be unhooked to charge it to avoid damaging the electronic equipment. I was wondering if this is actually necessary since jumping the car does not require this (I would assume that jumping the car puts much more stress on the electronics than using a dedicated charger).

What do you guys think?

 

[Cabeldude]

I have used a trickle charger on my sideXside for the last 6 years and it works great. 3 years ago I bought a 2011 Honda ridgeline it had the original battery and they were known to last only 3-5 years. On my first -20 morning the truck started right up but the needles on all the gauges shuttered back and forth for about 5 seconds then all was normal. I researched the cause of this on the ridgeline sister sight and they said the battery was on its way out. I hooked the sideXside charger up to it that night(-20 again) and there was no issue the next morning.I bought a second charger the next day and ran two winters with no issues. The chargers I bought had thee hook-up options 1-battery post connectors 2-alligator clips 3-cigarette lighter. I chose the battery post connectors and ran the quick connect through the grill, mounted the charger on the wall in front of the truck where I park. A nice feature of the trickle charger is that if you have to pull your battery you can plug it into the cigarette lighter and you wont lose your radio codes or any other stored info. http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/m...elligent-battery-charger-2a-0111506p.html#srp

 

[Engineer Paul]

I purchased a 12V battery charger (trickle charger/maintainer). It has 2 charging modes 0,75 amps and 2 amp.

In the owner's manual, it says that the battery should be unhooked to charge it to avoid damaging the electronic equipment. I was wondering if this is actually necessary since jumping the car does not require this (I would assume that jumping the car puts much more stress on the electronics than using a dedicated charger).

What do you guys think?

For the past 5 years or more, I have been using a Duracell D2A charger, which is specified for small lead-acid 12V batteries. I hook it up to my car battery when I know a car will not be used for weeks, or if I forgot to turn the key to the off position and may have run the battery down to some extent. I do not disconnect the battery leads from the car.


The charge is microprocessor controlled, which also has an initial 2A constant current charge for a fast charge to around 80%, then a lower current to a full charge, then a third stage lower voltage "floating" charge to maintain the 100% charge condition. In the final stage, the unit occasionally switches on and off charge based on voltage state, instead of trickling.


The charger has a green state and a red charging indicator LED. When I first hook it up the red light comes on and the unit gets warm. The next day the unit is much cooler and the red light only comes on occasionally.


The charger has not had any detrimental effect on the battery that I can tell. I continue to get over 5 year life on the batteries I buy for my Hondas. I would recommend this unit to anyone based on my experience.


2A is not a very high charging rate. You may need hours to get a discharged battery back up to sufficient starting CCA, or a day or more to bring a moderately discharged battery up to full charge.