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Thread: Battery SOC Indicator Fault?

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    Default Battery SOC Indicator Fault?

    Hi all have a SLA Century N70 in my old '96 Landcruiser, battery is only 2.5 years old.
    I always give it a top up every couple of weeks in winter to keep it healthy as we use the LC for firewood gathering so lots of short starts.

    It starts the vehicle with plenty of oomph.

    Recently did another charge as the visual indicator showed it needed charging.
    My multistage charger went thru it's cycle & completed; indicating the battery is in good nik. Yet the visual indicator still showed that it needs charging.

    Tried resetting the charger so it cycled again, showed fully charged on charger; but still not on battery built in indicator.
    Checked OCV (well not quite, it's still connected, so still has small parasitic drain from clock), 30 mins after charging, 12.8v, then 1 hr after charging, 12.7V, nothing wrong with that.

    Have it on maintenance voltage of 13.7v for 12hrs, the battery indicator has not changed, still says needs charging.
    It's only taking 1 watt to keep at 13.7v.

    I did some research & the battery inbuilt colour SOC indicator is an inbuilt Hydrometer for 1 cell only. It bases it's colour change on specific gravity.
    Ok so it's cold in my shed & that can affect SG, but the car sitting next to it has an almost identical Century battery & it's indicator is showing green on the colour SOC indicator; as in not needing to be charged.

    Before I had batteries with SOC indicators, the above info I've tested would indicate the battery is healthy, so I'm leaning toward the batteries inbuilt indicator having failed.

    Anyone else have an opinion on this or similar experience?
    Cheers, Tiny
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    The information is out there; you just have to let it in."



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    I have found those dinky SOC indicators to be totally unreliable... I don't even take any notice of them now

    When it comes to modern electronic chargers, i find my Noco to be very selective when it will charge
    The battery has to be drained to some degree, even after 3 months on the bench in winter it will choose not to charge the battery after sensing it.

    Where as my CTEK will run through the charge cycle no matter what state the battery is (great for a winter top up)

    Both chargers will then arrive at the maintain stage and just stay there.

    Been doing the same to the Mrs battery in her car Tiny, would be same age, 2.5 years...
    I have no interest in looking at the SOC thingy... I'd have to remove the spare wheel to even check it
    Last edited by ol' boy; 21-07-19 at 12:44 PM.
    If u want to go on an expedition get a Land Rover, if u want to come home from an expedition get a Landcruiser!

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    Tiny (21-07-19)

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    Thanks OB, yeah, so as I suspected then, they are unreliable.
    Funny thing is the one in my tractor is now 12 years old, still shows battery healthy, no need to charge & starts first time every time, even when cold & using the preheat element..

    This is only the 3rd one of these (with SOC indicator) I've owned, all previous automotive batteries were wet flooded cells, that I used a hydrometer on to check individual cell health.

    Having said that; the bike batteries are SLA's, but don't have a SOC indicator. If it don't start you toss it & get a new one.
    The missus Ducati appeared to be getting hard to start last summer, slow turnover, whether hot or cold, so because it is hidden in under the swingarm in a little box that takes forever to access, I bought a new one before I pulled it apart to replace it, only to find the positive terminal was loose & corroded. Cleaned it all up, put the old battery on the bench & load tested it, charged it etc. Still in perfect condition. So we have a spare bike battery now.
    I reckon it was never tightened properly when they predelivered the bike & installed the battery maintainer/charger pigtail, as it took some real careful & precise tool manipulation to get that positive terminal on properly. Time & patience I have; bike shop mechanics with big hands do not. Yeah OK I did swear a lot & curse the people that engineered the battery position. lol.
    Cheers, Tiny
    "You can lead a person to knowledge, but you can't make them think? If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.
    The information is out there; you just have to let it in."

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    ol' boy (21-07-19)

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    To be honest Tiny... I've been using my chargers to understand the condition of the battery
    Once you are used to how they operate, you can then gauge a batteries condition and SoC.

    Batteries that will still start the vehicle, but when you connect the charger, make the charger run hot and take ages to complete each stage, were obviously in poor condition from just alternator charging.

    Then on the flip side, when the charger just marches through the charging stages with minimal fuss and not heat generated, they were obviously in a good condition

    I have also used this method to identify batteries with a dropped cell
    Poor charger is working over time to try and reach a voltage that its just not going to reach.
    If u want to go on an expedition get a Land Rover, if u want to come home from an expedition get a Landcruiser!

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    Tiny (21-07-19)

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    Ignore indicator, it only covers a cell. It is a float ,can get sludged up. With sli batts can't beat proper use and ext chgr top up periodically, I top up my batts monthly. Gotta say new batts such as Bosch agm need little top up, wet lead acid needs plenty, more internal leakage.

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