STAN DARD PROCEDU RE
STANDARD PROCEDURE - BA TTERY CHARG-
ING
Batt ery char gin g is the means by which the ba t-
tery can be restor ed to its full voltage potent ial. A
batt ery is fully-ch arged when:
• Micro 420 elect rical syst em test er in dicates bat-
tery is OK.
• Th ree hydromet er tests, ta ken at one-hour inter-
vals, indicate n o in crease in th e temper ature-cor-
rected specific gra vity of th e battery elect rolyte.
• Passes Load t est.
• Open-cir cuit v olta ge of the ba tter y is 12.65 volts
or above.
WARNING: IF THE BATTERY SHOWS SIGNS OF
FREEZING, LEAKING OR LOOSE POSTS, DO NOT
TEST, ASSIST-BOOST, OR CHARGE. THE BATTERY
MAY ARC INTERNALLY AND EXPLODE. PERSONAL
INJURY AND/OR VEHICLE DAMAGE MAY RESULT.
WARNING: EXPLOSIVE HYDROGEN GAS FORMS IN
AND AROUND THE BATTERY. DO NOT SMOKE,
USE FLAME, OR CREATE SPARKS NEAR THE BAT-
TERY. PERSONAL INJURY AND/OR VEHICLE DAM-
AGE MAY RESULT.
WARNING: THE BATTERY CONTAINS SULFURIC
ACID, WHICH IS POISONOUS AND CAUSTIC. AVOID
CONTACT WITH THE SKIN, EYES, OR CLOTHING.
IN THE EVENT OF CONTACT, FLUSH WITH WATER
AND CALL A PHYSICIAN IMMEDIATELY. KEEP OUT
OF THE REACH OF CHILDREN.
WARNING: IF THE BATTERY IS EQUIPPED WITH
REMOVABLE CELL CAPS, BE CERTAIN THAT EACH
OF THE CELL CAPS IS IN PLACE AND TIGHT
BEFORE THE BATTERY IS RETURNED TO SER-
VICE. PERSONAL INJURY AND/OR VEHICLE DAM-
AGE MAY RESULT FROM LOOSE OR MISSING
CELL CAPS.
CAUTION: Always disconnect and isolate the bat-
tery negative cable before charging a battery. Do
not exceed sixteen volts while charging a battery.
Damage to the vehicle electrical system compo-
nents may result.
CAUTION: Battery electrolyte will bubble inside the
battery case during normal battery charging. Elec-
trolyte boiling or being discharged from the battery
vents indicates a battery overcharging condition.
Immediately reduce the charging rate or turn off the
charger to evaluate the battery condition. Damage
to the battery may result from overcharging.
CAUTION: The battery should not be hot to the
touch. If the battery feels hot to the touch, turn off
the charger and let the battery cool before continu-
ing the charging operation. Damage to the battery
may result.
Som e ba tter y chargers a re equipped wit h polarity-
sensing circuitr y. This circuitry protect s the battery
charger and the ba tter y from bein g dama ged if they
are improper ly connected. If the battery sta te-of-
charge is too low for the pola rity-sensin g circuitr y to
detect, the bat tery charger will not opera te. This
makes it appear that the battery will not accept
charging cur rent . See t he in st ructions provided by
the ma nufact urer of the battery charger for deta ils
on how to bypass th e polar ity-sensin g cir cuitry.
After t he battery ha s been charged t o 12.4 volts or
grea ter, r etest th e batt ery using the Micro 420 tester
or perform a load test to det ermine th e ba tter y
crankin g capacity. If the battery will en du re a loa d
test, ret urn the bat tery to service. If the bat tery will
not endu re a loa d test, it is fault y and m ust be
repla ced.
Clean and inspect the battery hold downs, tra y,
term inals, posts, and top before completing bat tery
service. Refer to Ba tter y System Cleaning for th e
pr oper ba ttery system clean ing pr ocedu res, and Bat-
tery System In spect ion for th e pr oper battery system
inspection pr ocedures.
CHARGING A COMPLETELY DISCHARGED BAT-
TERY
The following pr ocedu re sh ould be used to rech arge
a com pletely discharged ba tter y. Unless this proce-
du re is pr oper ly followed, a good bat tery may be
needlessly r eplaced.
(1) Measur e th e voltage at th e battery posts with a
volt meter, accur ate to 1/10 (0.10) volt (Fig. 4). If the
reading is below ten volts, the bat tery chargin g cur-
rent will be low. It cou ld t ake some time before th e
batt ery accepts a current greater t han a few m illiam-
peres. Such low cur rent may not be detect able on the
ammet ers built in to ma ny batt ery ch argers.
8F - 8 BAT T ER Y S Y S T EM VA
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