{"id":3856,"date":"2019-01-01T21:21:41","date_gmt":"2019-01-01T21:21:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/notsealed.com\/?p=3856"},"modified":"2023-07-24T03:55:32","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T03:55:32","slug":"charging-a-car-battery-while-still-connected-vehicle-safe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/notsealed.com\/charging-a-car-battery-while-still-connected-vehicle-safe.html","title":{"rendered":"Charging a Car Battery While Still Connected to your Vehicle – Safe?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Car batteries typically only last 3-5 years, so there will come a time in most of our lives when we will come across a dead flat 12v battery that won’t start our car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When this happens we basically have 3 options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once 12v car batteries go dead flat say under 11.5 volts the damage is already done. This means the battery won’t hold or output the full cranking amps it was designed to. We can try to resurrect the battery and this process is called reconditioning or repair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fully charged 12-volt batteries are around 12.8<\/strong>–13<\/strong> volts. <\/b>There are 6 individual cells in a car battery which can each produces up to 2.2v per cell. So it is very important to keep each cell topped up with water and fully charged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only a few manufacturers that make quality chargers support this feature and I must say it works quite well. I have brought a few deep cycle batteries back to life with this process using a Ctek smart charger. The process will repair heavily sulfated and old 12V batteries that won’t hold a charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the old days, it was always recommended to remove the battery completely from your car and charge it in a well-ventilated area. Now we have smart car battery chargers that monitor and limit the number of amps delivered into the battery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Companies like NoCo<\/a> and Ctek<\/a> make permanent\u00a0battery charging leads that you can bolt onto the terminals of your car or boat battery. This makes charging a simple plug-and-play experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I leave my battery connected to the vehicle’s electrical circuit while charging and there has never been any problem. I even leave my Sea-doo battery connected to the electrical system when I give it a 3-month top-up charge to its gel battery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because the battery is so far down into the hull it is hard to get the charge clamps onto it. This is where the permanently mounted charge leads are worth their weight in gold. They just plug straight into the CTEK charger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A velcro strip makes sure the lead end is secure and some zip ties hold the leads in place. The Sea-doo battery replacement procedure<\/a> was a challenge but we got there in the end.<\/p>\n\n\nCharging a car battery while still connected<\/h2>\n\n\n\n