A small charger will work if the battery is still good.
Before I assumed that, I'd charge the battery with a good charger, then
do a load test to see if it actually stores power.
I've had "sealed" batteries that were damaged in shipping. Looked fine,
but outgassed and dried out. Took a couple of years.
Usually, the periodic "run" is to bring the oil to temperature and
distribute it around the engine, not primarily for battery charging.
-- Lynn
On 4/8/2013 9:51 AM, Jim Wiley wrote:
Sounds like your setup is not providing enough run time to fully
recharge the battery. Rather than fiddling with the existing engine
settings, I would suggest getting a small 1-ampere or so "trickle
charger" from a place like Wal-Mart or Sears. You will not need
anything larger, and the low-rate should be safe for the battery
long-term. Running the engine once a week seems excessive if all you
want to do is test it tomake sure it starts. Once a month is all I used
when I had a 15-KW diesel set, and it never failed to start in 20+
years. The trickle charger of course runs from the standard commercial
power outlet. You do not need to disconnect the existing charging
system, just hook up the new charger in parallel.
- Jim, KL7CC
On 4/8/2013 8:15 AM, Vic K2VCO wrote:
I know there are those on this list who can help me.
I have a 5 kW generator at my house. It runs automatically once a week
for a half hour to charge the (sealed) battery. The first battery
lasted for about 10 years! The present battery is about 2 years old.
Some months ago, I noticed that it wasn't running. I found the battery
dead. I took the battery back to Batteries Plus where I got it; they
charged it overnight and tested it under load. They said the battery
was OK. When I started the generator and checked the charging voltage,
it was 13.8V which I thought was marginal, so I replaced it.
Yesterday the generator would not start. The battery voltage with no
load was 11.5V. I left it on the charger all day. Then this morning I
checked the voltage and it was 13.5V. The generator started up and the
charging voltage was 14.5V.
Do I have a bad battery?
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