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false battery reading fix

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  • false battery reading fix

    Do not conect the negative wire of a battery charger to the negative post of the battery, like I was doing. Connect it instead to a metal. part of the car. I finally used one of the bolts on top of the strut tower. Here's why....

    I connected the battery charger last Novemenber to make sure the battery was fully charged for cold winter starting. The charger said it was 60% charged which was unusual because it had never been that low before. So I charged it up. I didnt' drive the car for three weeks around the Christmans holiday during when there was a prolonged cold spell so yesterday I checked the battery again and it said it was 65% charged which was not good. I charged it up and checked it again this morning. It said 60%. I disconnected the -ive cable from the battery and inserted an ohm meter which didn't register any current so the battery wasn't leaking charge. I plugged the charger in again and it said 80%, Being desperate by this time I got out the instructions for the charger which said DO NOT CONNECT THE NEGATIVE WIRE TO THE NEGATIVE POST ON THE BATTERY. It is supposed to be connected to some metal part on the car. So I clipped it to the strut tower bolt as I now remember I used to do and it showed 100% charge and 13v which is great.

    I don't know why it works that way. I'm just following instructions.
    Last edited by WmWatt; 01-09-2018, 11:28 AM.
    Original owner of silver grey carburetted 1989 Festiva. 105k km as of June 2006. 140k km as of June 2021.
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