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Hi, I've just gone to take my dad's 12 month old Avensis for a spin, before he comes back from holiday, and there wasn't enough power to open the door. I used the key and a pathetic noise comes from the front, an alarm running at one volt by the sounds of it. I've followed the instructions in the handbook and it won't turn off, only when the key was in the ignitions, when I take it out the alarm tries to sound again. So I disconnected the battery, dug out my Airflow battery conditioner and hooked it up, but only the orange 'On' light shows, I seem to remember the conditioning light should also be on. I went to the Airflow website but it seems to be sales only, has anyone used one lately? If so, does this sound right? How long do you think it will it take to charge from flatter than a flat thing? If it helps, he's been away for 30 days, and it's been in the garage for all of that time, I parked it up after dropping my parents off..
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According to the website I found via a google search, "The Automatic Battery Management unit will charge a battery from a minimum of 9 volts to 13.8 volts and then turn off."
If the battery is less than 9volts, then does that mean the charger won't work?
www.airflow-uk.com/battery-conditioner.htm
Sounds like it needs a more manly battery charger to charge it up.
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I turned it off earlier and the nine volt light come on, so I've switched it back on. It's just that the Optimate I use on the motorbike has several lights when it's charging, I got this one for the car but I've not had much cause to use it. I'll leave it charging for 48 hours and see how it is, the alarm will probably come on again when I reconnect it. My brother in law has a fast charger but I don't want to fry someone else's battery.
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Why don't you try your Optimate on it. That should certainly charge it up (slowly) whatever state of charge it is currently in.
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Doug-r1
The red and green lights will give you some indication of the current state of the battery which sounds poor. When you connect the Airflow you should have a yellow and green light. When up to charge the green light will go out leaving the yellow light. As the voltage drops the charger will kick in again and the green light illuminate.
I've got some instructions which I've scanned in and you are welcome to them if you can provide your e-mail address.
As DD states I think you need something a bit beefier to give it a boost. The Airflow is basically a conditioner to look after leisure an motorcycle batteries during long layups.
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Fullchat
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These little chargers struggle to charge a dead battery. It may also be the case that your battery is now knackered having been deep discharged.
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I thought the whole point of a battery conditioner was it could recover from deep discharge, I bought the Airflow because it's rated for larger amp batteries than the Optimate. I've still only got the amber light showing, after 12 hours of charging I switched off and it still showed 9 volts. Thanks for the offer fullchat, but if I post my email address then I'll probably get 3,000 invitations to buy drugs/fake rolex watches/slimming aids/strange unlisted shares in US companies.
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I've just checked it and the charger is stone cold, I know when it's charging it gets quite hot, so I've swapped it for the Optimate, I'll see how that does. Otherwise I'll I'll toast it with my brother in law's fast charger, and then see if the airflow will keep it charged.
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A battery conditioner is to keep it topped up,not to charge it;are you saying a year old Toyota battery has gone flat/totally failed in such a short period or was something else wrong with the car?Are you/is he a member of a motoring organization? ;if so contact them for help.
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I do not think the Airflow claims to recover deep discharge batteries. They require a minimum voltage of 9 volts to operate.
www.airflow-uk.com/battery-conditioner.htm#2
The Optimate does make the claim and works from 2 volts.
"Diagnosis of deep-discharge or light sulphation; automatic recovery phase with precisely controlled parameters to recover many neglected batteries, even from as low as 2 Volts. In really difficult cases the interactive programme even gives the battery a subsequent "second shot"."
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There's a difference between recovering a deep disharged battery, and recovering a knackered through being deep discharged battery.
I have an optimate but it's too small for a lot of batteries.
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I put the Optimate on for 26 hours, switched it off at 8:00am this morning, and at 7:00pm a multimeter showed the battery as registering 11.99 volts, which would suggest full marks for Optimate and that the battery is discharged rather than knackered. I've never come across a Yuasa battery that failed so early in it's life. I've put the Optimate back on overnight. I might get an Accumate Pro, it seems a heavier duty version of the Optimate.
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If your meter is accurate 11.99 is too low. Should be 12.5-12.6 volts with no load. Will be interesting to see if more charging makes any difference.
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I've had trouble charging a completely flat battery with a modern charger;I then got out my 50 year old charger(no electronic bits)and that charged the battery overnight with no problems.
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"Accumate Pro"??? I think I'd be frightened off by the oxymoron "intelligent electronics".
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"are you saying a year old Toyota battery has gone flat/totally failed in such a short period"
Unlike old cars, modern ones do take some current out of the battery when they are just parked. For instance by the intruder alarm. If the car battery was not well charged when it was parked, this drain could be the reason it went flat.
On the other point, the probable reason the small (low power) battery conditioner does not like charging batteries that are below 9 volts is it will get hotter doing it and is probably not up to it. The heat occurs due to more volts being dropped inside the charger to get down to lower battery voltage.
You can use an old fashioned several amp non-electronic charger (watch the cells for excess gassing though) but not while on the car. Say a 4 amp one for a limited time.
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I used the airflow for 24 hours, and then reconnected everything, reset the clock/computer/radio, and it started first time. I did about sixteen miles on the motorway to get the oil circulating and then put it away. It's been sitting for three days now and it's showing 12.3 volts.
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Assuming your meter is accurate, 12.3 volts is still too low. As a rule-of-thumb, 12.2 v is 50% charged, 12.5 v is 75% charged. However any battery below 12.4v should be charged to prevent damage.
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