What's the best safest way to charge 6tl batteries

[Mike82ndABN]

Picked up a gp m998. Slaved and ran, wouldn't restart, volt meter in the red. I have a 12v charger and unhooked both batteries (24v system) and charged each individually for a bit, charger is still showing 10amp on the needle and volt meter is at the beginning of yellow. The charger will do 2 amp or 20 amp charge. The 20 Amp charge really gets the batteries warm and bubbling, so I backed off right away.

What's the recommended charge rate for a 6tl exide and how long are you guys charging these, how normal is the heat and bubbling? Any benefit to a 24v charger?

Thanks.

 

[gimpyrobb]

take the vent caps off and charge them at the high rate. You can boil the sulfide off and re-condition the batterys like that.

They are best charged individually.

 

[tstone]

You are better off to charge each battery individually as in series you may have a more difficult time charging with varying conditions of each cell. If you are not in a hurry, always charge on a minimal setting, this reduces heat, Hydrogen gas and prolongs the life of the plates. Check with a hydrometer and or a load tester when complete. A volt meter will work but it won't give you an accurate condition of the battery unless it is under under a load. Hope this helps.

 

[Mike82ndABN]

Sorry, forgot to mention I took the caps off yesterday and topped up with distilled to wet the plates, before charging. On 20 amp it's doing some serious charging/bubbling/off gassing. So this is ok and is part of the sulfide build up removal process? Or should I be going slow at 2amp.

Edit: I wrote this before I saw your post Tstone

 

[Andyrv6av8r]

I have the NOCO Genius Wicked Smart charger and have revived several 6TL and Hawkers with it on the 12 volt setting at 7.2 amps. It works great.

 

[Daybreak]

I have the NOCO Genius Wicked Smart charger and have revived several 6TL and Hawkers with it on the 12 volt setting at 7.2 amps. It works great.

Howdy,
Let me also add it works great.
The thing about the Noco Genius G7200 charger/maintainer/conditioner the longer you leave it connected, the better your battery will be.

After reviving 2 Redtop agm batteries, and 2 2HN flooded Exide's(12v separately), I now keep them maintained thru the 24v slave port with the Noco G7200 units 24v AGM mode.

Here is my little posting about it

 

[bchauvette]

I don't disconnect the 4 6tl's when I charge individually. If the electrolyte is above the plates I don't top off before charging do it after. Make sure the level doesn't drop below the plates while charging. Using a hydrometer bring each battery to same level of charge. Very important to remove the caps before charging but place them over the opening to reduce electrolyte splashing.

Keep the batts as fully charged as possible. Discharged batts sulfate, a nasty crusty coating on the plates. High amp start batteries aren't designed to go below a certain level of discharge.

 

[Karl kostman]

AAHHH BAtteries! When you done with all the stuff being mentioned above you will still want to LOAD TEST THE BATTERIES INDIVIDUALLY, and even if you dont want to still do it! I have had half a dozen batteries in trucks that came from GL and they would read 12.2 to 12.4 volts just sitting there fully charged and the truck wouldn't start, a buddy of mine borrowed me his 12 volt load tester and as soon as you hit these batteries with a load they instantly dropped voltage to between 6 and 8 volts which definitely equals WORTHLESS! No matter what if I have a battery that is questionable at all I will charge it fully then hit it with a load tester!
Good luck
Karl

 

[JoeD]

ditto what Karl said

 

[emr]

You do not need to disconnect anything to charge each batt with a charger . meaning you can fully charge each battery while in the truck just using one charger , after it says full move to the next one, you can out a 12 volt charger on each battery in the truck and not disconnect anything. It is better to remove clean fully charge and rotate the batts. The optimum charge rate for batts this size is 13.6. A trickle charger is spitting in the wind, Some will say they charge em, But reality is only enough on a good batt to start a good running vehicle vehicle, It will not be fully charged and will still have accelerated sulfation accuring..

Batts are vented and do not need to have caps off, Only lets evaporation take away some of the good stuff. Man you need to read my post in another thread today about a battery question, To much to type, Its not how long you charge a batt, Its properly charging it.. Meaning the charge rate, These big batts need 13.6 to fully and efficiently charge them fully. You ne a charger that will shut off or float when done, Any old batt charger that is not at least that smart is worthless and will harm your batt...

 

[emr]

Please read my response in the thread that says " Guess these batteries only last 4 years." I cover a lot of the factual info there...

The techs at Hawker say 13.6 is optimum charging for this size batt... I would do what they say, I have a bunch of different types of chargers, desuphators/ maintainers.

Try battery stuff . com and call there techs and tell them what you have and ask what they recommend ... Also the techs at Hawker are awesome , you can google the co. and call )))

 

[Mike82ndABN]

Thanks for the info. link to thread for others...
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?144473-Guess-batteries-only-last-4-years

 

[Mike82ndABN]

Ordered a Noco genius g7200. Regular charger isn't bringing them up

 

[KaiserM109]

Howdy,
Let me also add it works great.
The thing about the Noco Genius G7200 charger/maintainer/conditioner the longer you leave it connected, the better your battery will be.

After reviving 2 Redtop agm batteries, and 2 2HN flooded Exide's(12v separately), I now keep them maintained thru the 24v slave port with the Noco G7200 units 24v AGM mode.

Here is my little posting about it

I also want to sing the praises of the G7200 ($100), but if you have a rig with 4 batteries you should consider the NOCO G26000 ($200) because it has twice the output.

Those prices are what you can find if you shop around.

 

[MWMULES]

The great thing about the Noco genius is it will either bring them back or it will let you know they are kaput. It may take several days, but with the price of batteries it is worth it.

 

[Mike82ndABN]

Received the NOCO today, hooked it up to a single battery.

Manual says before trying recovery mode, to go ahead and attempt a full regular charge.

Should i just skip the regular charge and go straight to the recovery mode since my other manual charger wouldn't get it to hold a charge? also it says it may go to recovery mode automatically if needed, is this true?

Excited to see how this works. If it doesn't rejuvenate them, then no problem, it is still a great investment for the future and for maintenance.

 

[Daybreak]

Received the NOCO today, hooked it up to a single battery.

Manual says before trying recovery mode, to go ahead and attempt a full regular charge.

Should i just skip the regular charge and go straight to the recovery mode since my other manual charger wouldn't get it to hold a charge? also it says it may go to recovery mode automatically if needed, is this true?

Excited to see how this works. If it doesn't rejuvenate them, then no problem, it is still a great investment for the future and for maintenance.

Howdy,
I would hook it up and let it do its thing overnight. I would then attempt the recovery process. The time frame for the recovery can vary from a hour to----- dunno, maybe 12+ hours. The longer you leave it on the battery, the better.

 

[Mike82ndABN]

Bad news, recovery mode wasn't able to rejuvenate them, which is fine. The date on the batteries was 2005 and they just didn't have life left in them. I couldn't even get one ball to float in my battery tester. I don't think I would have trust them if I were to have got them going again, and I may have been stuck somewhere in the woods for while.

Love the NOCO though and will be keeping it around for maintaining my daily driver and the m998. Would still recommend the charger to anyone.

 

[Tracer]

I'm due for a new battery charger and I think I'll give the NOCO a try.........thanks.

 

[jake-cutter]

Which Noco charger is better for the hmmwv, the 7200 or the 26000? Any advantages or disadvantages of going with 26000?