ultrarunner2015
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2014
- Messages
- 57
Hello;
I've got two 12V 8Ah SLA batteries that I purchased a couple years ago for an APC Back-UPS. I didn't use the batteries to power anything - they just sat there in the unit receiving whatever automatic charge was programmed. Then I replaced the entire UPS, and now have the two batteries sitting on a shelf. I have kept them more or less charged using a B&D automobile charger which has a setting for 'GEL', which I assume is same as SLA.
The other day, after these batteries have been sitting at least 6mos on the shelf, I wanted to check their state, and found that one of them has an unloaded voltage slightly lower than 12V, which would indicate to me that the battery needs to be recharged. So I connected the B&D charger, set it to GEL, and to the lowest (2A) charge rate.
The charger immediately stopped with the display 'FUL'. But the battery is not full.
Next thing I did was to connect a variable voltage power supply directly to the battery, and set the voltage to 14V. Unfortunately, this power supply has a capacity of only 500mA, which is not enough for these 8Ah batteries.
So now, I'm trying to find a suitable charger - or perhaps it's not worth the money? Should these 2yr old batteries be recycled instead?
Thanks for your advice
Ultrarunner
I've got two 12V 8Ah SLA batteries that I purchased a couple years ago for an APC Back-UPS. I didn't use the batteries to power anything - they just sat there in the unit receiving whatever automatic charge was programmed. Then I replaced the entire UPS, and now have the two batteries sitting on a shelf. I have kept them more or less charged using a B&D automobile charger which has a setting for 'GEL', which I assume is same as SLA.
The other day, after these batteries have been sitting at least 6mos on the shelf, I wanted to check their state, and found that one of them has an unloaded voltage slightly lower than 12V, which would indicate to me that the battery needs to be recharged. So I connected the B&D charger, set it to GEL, and to the lowest (2A) charge rate.
The charger immediately stopped with the display 'FUL'. But the battery is not full.
Next thing I did was to connect a variable voltage power supply directly to the battery, and set the voltage to 14V. Unfortunately, this power supply has a capacity of only 500mA, which is not enough for these 8Ah batteries.
So now, I'm trying to find a suitable charger - or perhaps it's not worth the money? Should these 2yr old batteries be recycled instead?
Thanks for your advice
Ultrarunner