AC DC Adaptor fail

[DiyNutJob]

The cca gain exceeded expectations. I thought I would get 20 in two days. Perhaps I will get 40? The reading today is a few hours early.

Battery state
13.48v stand alone
13.83v connected to charger
Some gassing
8.03 m-Ohm internal resistance
74% wear life (based on 340EN 374CCA)
323 CCA
Spec: Lion 063 40Ah EN 340CCA, very old

Charger state
98mA effective charge current
1.36w effective charge power
2.7w - 3w mains draw
32.46v open circuit
96mA open circuit

 

[DiyNutJob]

Battery state
13.69v stand alone
14.2v connected to charger
Gassing borderline too much
7.87 m-Ohm internal resistance
77% wear life (based on 340EN 374CCA)
329 CCA
Spec: Lion 063 40Ah EN 340CCA, very old

Charger state
97mA effective charge current
1.38w effective charge power
2.7w - 3w mains draw
32.46v open circuit
96mA open circuit

The gassing may have knocked a few CCAs off, but it will recover. As the connected voltage is at 14.2V, further charging will not be useful. Therefore, the charging is discontinued. Charging will resume after resting the battery and the stand alone voltage is lower.

 

[DiyNutJob]

The dissipating surface charge converted to more CCAs, producing the latest upper limit. The stand alone voltage is a bit perky. So, I am giving it one more day of rest to settle down.

Battery state
13.01v stand alone
7.75 m-Ohm internal resistance
80% wear life (based on 340EN 374CCA)
334 CCA
Spec: Lion 063 40Ah EN 340CCA, very old

 

[DiyNutJob]

Both the voltage and CCA stayed perky, suggesting there's limited room for improvement. A final CCA reading of 340 looks feasible and within my expectations. Anything more will be a bonus. After this reading, the charging has been resumed at 50mA. The goal is to reach 14.2v connected neither too quickly, nor too slowly - probably 2 days.

Battery state
12.98v stand alone
7.81 m-Ohm internal resistance
79% wear life (based on 340EN 374CCA)
332 CCA
Spec: Lion 063 40Ah EN 340CCA, very old

 

[DiyNutJob]

50mA is taking too long to reach 14.2v connected voltage, and the charging has been abandoned after 4 days. Will retry with 75mA after resting. The CCA is at the highest level to-date. Resting will probably return a couple of CCA's more. Gassing was light and therefore not much surface charge in the battery to return more than a couple of CCA's.

Battery state
13.66v stand alone
13.92v connected to charger
light gassing
7.74 m-Ohm internal resistance
80% wear life (based on 340EN 374CCA)
335 CCA
Spec: Lion 063 40Ah EN 340CCA, very old

Charger state
49mA effective charge current
0.68w effective charge power
1.8w - 2.1w mains draw
32.44v open circuit
56mA open circuit

 

[DiyNutJob]

The dissipating surface charge returned more CCAs than expected. Will rest the battery another day to complete the dissipation before resuming charging. It looks complete now based on the CCAs returned. But, I will wait for a drop in the CCA as confirmation.

Battery state
12.96v stand alone
7.59 m-Ohm internal resistance
83% wear life (based on 340EN 374CCA)
341 CCA
Spec: Lion 063 40Ah EN 340CCA, very old

 

[DiyNutJob]

Charging has been resumed at 75mA effective, after the CCA has fallen back. 335 CCA should be now a solid base to build from. I expect the CCA reading will be higher than that during charging.

Battery state
12.93v stand alone
7.73 m-Ohm internal resistance
80% wear life (based on 340EN 374CCA)
335 CCA
Spec: Lion 063 40Ah EN 340CCA, very old

 

[DiyNutJob]

Charging at 75mA quickly brought the connected voltage beyond 14.2V, resulting in gassing that hammered the CCA down to 319. The charging was terminated.

The process was reset by resting the battery and resuming charging at 50mA. This is to confirm 50mA isn't capable taking the connected voltage beyond 14.2V.

75mA causing breach of 14.2V is a sign of the battery being full. Stagnating CCA gain while being charged at 50mA is also a sign of the battery being full. The previously saw 341 CCA is likely the final upper limit of the battery. This will be confirmed at the end of this charging session.

 

[DiyNutJob]

Charging at 50mA did bring the connected voltage beyond 14.2v. This ends the charging session since the battery is already noted to be full. 50mA is good for the terminal phase of charging because it doesn't over-shoot strongly 14.2v connected, resulting in too much gassing. 50mA is still unacceptable if left unattended.

Battery state
13.71v stand alone
14.22v connected to charger
Gassing, but not extreme
7.92 m-Ohm internal resistance
76% wear life (based on 340EN 374CCA)
327 CCA
Spec: Lion 063 40Ah EN 340CCA, very old

Charger state
46mA effective charge current
0.65w effective charge power
1.8w - 2.1w mains draw
32.47v open circuit
54mA open circuit


After resting for a day, some CCA's were recovered. It's not great and not extremely bad either. I think 340cca would be like-new. I don't trust the stated spec to really mean 340EN CCA. I suspect it means 340SAE CCA. Although this can only be proven with a new battery. Where there is room for misinterpretation, I fully expect the merchant/manufacturer to rig things in their favour. My readings are in SAE CCA which is roughly 10% lower than EN CCA.

Battery state
12.92v stand alone
7.77 m-Ohm internal resistance
79% wear life (based on 340EN 374CCA)
333 CCA
Spec: Lion 063 40Ah EN 340CCA, very old

Next, I will observe the self-discharge characteristics for a few weeks. After, I will look at float charging for unattended maintenance.

 

[DiyNutJob]

Battery state
12.87v stand alone
7.8 m-Ohm internal resistance
79% wear life (based on 340EN 374CCA)
332 CCA
Spec: Lion 063 40Ah EN 340CCA, very old

 

[DiyNutJob]

Intermediate readings indicate a steady linear decline of the stored charge.

Battery state
12.85v stand alone
8 m-Ohm internal resistance
75% wear life (based on 340EN 374CCA)
324 CCA
Spec: Lion 063 40Ah EN 340CCA, very old

 

[DiyNutJob]

The stored charge is probably affected by temperature and other factors. For the readings to go up and down in a small range is perfectly normal.

Battery state
12.85v stand alone
7.99 m-Ohm internal resistance
75% wear life (based on 340EN 374CCA)
325 CCA
Spec: Lion 063 40Ah EN 340CCA, very old

 

[DiyNutJob]

Battery state
12.84v stand alone
8.2 m-Ohm internal resistance
71% wear life (based on 340EN 374CCA)
316 CCA
Spec: Lion 063 40Ah EN 340CCA, very old

 

[DiyNutJob]

Battery state
12.83v stand alone
8.39 m-Ohm internal resistance
68% wear life (based on 340EN 374CCA)
309 CCA
Spec: Lion 063 40Ah EN 340CCA, very old

 

[DiyNutJob]

Battery state
12.82v stand alone
8.38 m-Ohm internal resistance
68% wear life (based on 340EN 374CCA)
309 CCA
Spec: Lion 063 40Ah EN 340CCA, very old