Hi
I got hold of some old forklift batteries. I was told they were fully charged and therefore let them stand for a couple of months. I have just checked them and they are flat as a pancake. (I am kicking myself)
I realise that they are probably now sulphated and beyond repair but I want to try to stick a charge into them just to make sure.
I have a new charger that I have never used before and is quite complicated. I am unsure if I am getting any charge into the cells.
I have connected 12 batteries to create a 24v bank. I have connected my charger. Two lights flash which indicate "the charger operates in equalize mode" This mode is described as "The multi plus will charge with increased voltage for one hour (2v for 24v battery). The charging current is then limited to 1/4 of the set value.
The charger has been flashing these two lights for over four hours.
When I measure the voltage across the battery terminals they show 1.9v (the same as they did before) I would expect that they would show higher than this when actually connected to the charger ?
Am I correct that even with severely damaged batteries, you would expect to see 2.6v across each cell whilst the charger is actually connected?
The charger is similar to this (exact same manual does not appear online)
http://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Manual-ML-MultiPlusIn.pdf
The image at bottom of pg 12 describes the state that the charger is in.