Anybody a dab hand with Tractors?

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
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Tue 2 Sep 2003 20:46
Anybody a dab hand with Tractors? - Ironic_Hero

Hello all,

How do you check whether a 12 volt car battery charger is actually charging... Which is to say whether it's working or not.

There's a fairly new battery in it and I'm wondering if it's the charger rather than the battery.

Any help appreciated.
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Tue 2 Sep 2003 21:51
Anybody a dab hand with Tractors? - David Davies
Why not invest in a digital multimeter(DVOM).Some basic ones are under £10.If you then connect it to battery terminals with charger on you should see the voltage gradually rising from under 12v to over 14v if all is well.If the voltage stays low then your charger is not working.
David Davies (Tune-Up Raglan)
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Wed 3 Sep 2003 08:49
Anybody a dab hand with Tractors? - Claude
Tractors or Batteries ? or Tractor batteries ?

You need a digital multimeter that reads to two decimal places.
Machine Mart have one at £8.21. The same model was available in LIDL a couple of weeks back at £3.99, some of the stores may still have some, I saw one last night.

With said Multimeter you can then read the voltage of the battery with charger NOT connected, then connect battery charger and take a second reading. If its higher the charger is working.

The reason I didnt suggest reading the voltage directly connected to the flying leads of the charger is that some chargers have a circuit that only provides a voltage when the leads are actually connected to a battery, at other times the leads are dead even though the charger is switched on.
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Wed 3 Sep 2003 22:27
Anybody a dab hand with Tractors? - Richard Turpin
Connect a 12 volt light bulb to the charger for a second or 2. If it lights, it's not broken.
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