Newbie Question on charging

[67383wagon]

Left my ignition switch on and my M817 is dead. How do you charge the batteries? Disconnect them and charge them individually or is there a way to charge them all at once? How to I jump start it with jumper cables from a 12 volt vehicle?
Thank you

 

[doghead]

Your best option is to charge each one individually with a charger.

No need to disconnect anything.

 

[67383wagon]

Ok that is what I did (all day yesterday) but I still get nothing. No click, nothing. I seems as though each battery accepted a good charge. When I tried starting it with the charger still hooked up, I can hear the draw of current by the humming noise changing from the charger but nothing. Coincidence that starter went bad maybe? My electrical skills/knowledge is horrible.

 

[doghead]

I would load test them next.

Also clean all connections, including the ground at the frame.

Check with a volt meter at the starter, for voltage.

 

[autoshopteacher]

I have an 817 and have owned the truck a year with no problems. I had hauled for a couple of days and stopped to fuel up. Could not restart. No click, no electrical response. I did all the troubleshooting including getting a $100 service call 28 volt jump. Had to pull start it. Battery test showed 2 bad batteries. I replaced them and no problems since. If you do get new batteries, ensure they are wet charged and put them on a charger before putting them into service.

 

[67383wagon]

Well I have two batteries reading 6.6 - 6.7 volts and two reading around 5.4 volts or should I be seeing 12+ volts for each battery? I guess I have to bad batteries now as well but I'm surprised that not enough for even a click. They were probably on the verge of bad and sitting dead probably did them in.
Suggestions on battery brands and or where to get a deal?
Thanks

 

[73m819]

12v for EACH

 

[markmontana]

5.4 to 6.7 volts is DEAD DEAD DEAD. Scrap yards will give you more than trade-in core value.

 

[67383wagon]

Recovering from a heart attack when I saw pricing on Hawkers, any alternatives and where?

 

[73m819]

I use TWO 8Ns in my m819, starts just fine, figure if they will start D9S and 10s, they will start a crappy cummins 250

 

[markmontana]

Series 31 heavy duty truck batteries work pretty good too. I've even grabbed a couple of cheap Costco batteries and started up many trucks.

 

[73m819]

The two 8Ns in my truck are $80 blems, the first set was 60 a peice, major name brand, just a outer screw up where it can not be sold retail

 

[Csm Davis]

Do you have hawkers if so hook a good battery up positive to positive and negative to negative and use a agm charger and you might get them back. There are threads on here about these batteries.

 

[emr]

I have to say it, Use the search for this and a ton of possible questions will be answered, Batts are tricky when you know nothing, As for the cost, the proper battery is worth every penny and part of the cost of owning the truck, A proper battery that is sufficient for the truck maintained will last 10 plus years, battery life shorter than that is Human error, maintaining has been covered a bazzillion times, read up its worth it, good luck,

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

Well I have two batteries reading 6.6 - 6.7 volts and two reading around 5.4 volts or should I be seeing 12+ volts for each battery? I guess I have to bad batteries now as well but I'm surprised that not enough for even a click.

Don't be. That's not enough to even tickle the starting circuit.

They were probably on the verge of bad and sitting dead probably did them in.

Yep.


Be careful about trying to start a vehicle with the charger attached. Unless it's built for starting, you may fry your charger. I've gotten away with it, but it's definitely asking for trouble.

 

[autoshopteacher]

A 12 volt automotive wet cell battery is fully charged at 12.5-12.6 volts. 12.2 volts is less than 25% charged. A battery showing 12.5 volts should not drop below 9.6 volts after a load of 50% of the cold cranking amps (CCA) applied at 70 degrees F. for 15 seconds. This load test is probably the best to discern your true battery condition. That said, I found the correct replacement batteries at NAPA without freight. About $160 each with my discount. They had been stored a while, not a high turnover item. I spent another $9 to add electrolyte. As to the smaller battery recommendation, I live in Montana; 9 months of winter, 3 months of poor skiing so I went with the OE replacements.

 

[Karl kostman]

I have a 925A1 and when I picked it up at GL it had what looked to be 4 brand new batteries, about a month later I could not get the truck to start, all the voltages read as they should but charging them did nothing, I finally put a load tester on them and found that 2 out of the 4 were shot, I reconected up the two good one and have been running on them for the last 3 months! All I can tell you is LOAD TEST them that is the only way I found the bad ones. Oh yea when I pulled the batteries out they were dated 06! Good luck
KK