Hey guys, I’ve got a bit of a head scratcher and figured I’d throw it your way. in the last 9 months I replaced the battery in my 46 Ford. Soon after I realized the voltage regulator was on the fritz so I replaced that and checked all the charging system and it’s all good. the replacement battery however had run low in all this and when I put it on the charger a schumacher battery companion sem-1562a And when I came back the trouble light was on. online guide says it’s either a bad terminal connection or something wrong with the battery. The new battery has these thread in battery terminal posts that are hard to get tight so I messed with them to no change. still said trouble still wouldnt start the car so I get a replacement battery. keep the same thread in posts. drive the car a couple weeks and then it’s down for 8 weeks to change a starter and bang out a fender. go to start it and the battery is dead, won’t jump start after 6 or 7 minutes. pull the charger out and when I came back to check. you guessed it. Trouble light. the battery has been completely disconnected from the car this whole time and it doesn’t make a difference if I have the clamps directly on the posts or on the battery cable ends- tried it both ways after trying to jump Start. I don’t think it’s a charger issue because I can put the charger on the original battery I removed that’s been in the car the last 9 years and it charged it just fine. That battery actually seems to be holding a charge now so I think the whole issue that got it pulled was the voltage regulator not working maybe? either way charger will charge other battery’s New battery won’t charge in our out of the car. the only thing I can think is these cheap thread in battery posts are suspect? the threads are correct but not the tightest, you thread in a threaded rod with a slot For a screw driver and then the lug threads on top of that with a hex on the bottom to wrench tighten. ive got them pretty tight now so I’m left scratching my head. never found any good/ bad reviews for battery terminals so I’m not really sure where to go looking now. Don’t really want to change my battery cable ends for flat tabs with holes in them and use a bolt and nut but again I’m kinda run out of ideas here. thoughts?
I have had problems with the threaded battery terminals, I end up replacing the battery with a conventional battery with the positive & negative post on top and cutting the battery cables and replacing the ends with the regular battery clamps. HRP
@Blues4U ill give that a try. It’s charged my other battery from what I thought was dead previously but I know I’ve seen mentions of charged throwing “trouble” when they over heat from trying to charge to much. Though I’ve never noticed it being hot, maybe warm? @HOTRODPRIMER thats been my current thought.
Did you clean the screw in posts? Could be a invisible film in the threads blocking a good connection.
@BamaMav i haven’t. They were brand new so I never thought of that but it seems like that would give a similar result. Good thought
keep the same thread in posts. the only thing I can think is these cheap thread in battery posts are suspect? Cut about 1/8" off of the threads in your charging posts so they don't bottom out. There are two different lengths offered and the only difference in them is the length of the threads. .bjb
@Pat Thompson I screw the bolt into the battery and then the lug onto that so that’s a very likely possibility. Are they not supposed to be bottomed in the hole? I suppose I could take it out screw the post into the lug and then screw that into the battery. I would t have thought it would make a difference?
Well shit I’d never thought about that. Looks like we could have a winner. I’ve always figured the made the connection threw the threads or the bottom of the hole.
tell us why there is a side post battery, with top post type terminals on it? Does the battery have to have side terminals so it will fit in the car? If so, maybe you ought to buy the correct battery cables, or at least the correct terminals to put on the ends of the cables.
I didn’t intentionally buy a side post battery. I looked up what I needed spec wise and the photo and info online suggested top posts. when it showed up it had this arrangement. Website must be wrong? Everything else looks correct. anyhow I figured I’d just put the lugs on it and go about my day as it doesn’t really make any real difference space wise where the cables land. when I looked up screw in battery posts there were plenty to choose from so it never crossed my mind that it was unusual to do?
All my cars use threaded terminals, and I personally prefer them. But I don't use bolts in them. I use studs in the holes so when I tighten the nuts it's not tightening into the threaded lead terminals. Those threaded lead holes are not a great idea, but using a nut, lock washer, and washer to hold my ring connectors on works excellent. Since nothing was connected to the battery, except your charger, I'd say it's time for a new charger.
The reason that your 9 year old battery still seems to take a 1.5 amp charge may be because it is 9 years old. By that I mean that there have been a lot of changes in battery chemistry, design, manufacture and battery load requirements in the last 10 years or so. This is not my area of expertise, but as I understand it newer batteries have a greater internal resistance between cells. And though I'm not sure why that is, it seems to also mean that they have a greater resistance to charging, especially when they drop below a certain state of charge. In more recent years, at an OEM dealership level, an OE battery would sometimes be replaced as defective under warranty because it failed load testing after attempts were made to recharge it using older charging equipment and methods. The line mechanics didn't have a clear understanding of the newer charging requirements for these batteries. And most dealership service departments weren't anxious to spend their money on newer, more sophisticated (expensive) charging equipment that they didn't see a clear need for. A coworker, who was more of a tech than a parts changer, did some more research into the matter. As I recall, he discovered that at least some of these "failed" batteries could be brought back to spec if charged properly and safely following manufacturer supplied procedures. This took more time and required the tech to pay more attention to what he was doing. Of course that meant that as a result these new procedures were either largely forgotten or never learned in the first place. But when the OE manufacturer began rejecting some of our warranty battery claims that seemed to bring about a change in attitude. Proper, new charging equipment was bought (grudgingly) and techs were trained and required to use it (also somewhat grudgingly). Again, I don't know the exact procedure and I'm sure the info is available online. But essentially it seemed like the battery initially needed what appeared to be a period of "over-charging" to overcome this increased internal resistance. After it reached a certain level of charge it would then accept what seemed like a more normal charging rate to safely bring it up fully. In other words, your 1.5 amp charger isn't going to touch it since it can't overcome the increased internal resistance that's built into most newer batteries.
I've found that a fully-discharged battery usually needs a 'whack' by upping the charging rate (I use the 40 amp rate on my charger) initially, once it gets a small temp rise you can back it off.
If your going to use the GM (group 75/78) battery, switch terminal ends to the side terminals with the correct bolt. The contact comes from the surface not the threaded hole and those adapters can be problematic for coming loose. It looks like you have clamp on ends anyhow. I've seen smart chargers not turn on because the battery was too low to register.
I’ve used those adapters before without issue, always put a 3/8th lock washer painted with anti-seize on the washer. Could be why I never noticed whether they didn’t sit flush or not.
Never had any trouble shooting a battery. 12 gauge does a good job. (Come on, you knew somebody was gonna say it )
Looks like you already have clamp on cable ends, just change them out. What is the battery voltage? Do you have headlights? How long will they stay on before dimming down, do they go out if you try and engage the starter?
I've learned to stay away from clamp on cable ends as they WILL cause trouble eventually. Every adapted connection for the battery terminals is just asking for trouble. They will be fine for a temporary fix. Only way is by using quality molded or crimped cables. And, I find it kinda funny that they call them 'smart' chargers when in truth they are quite dumb.
Battery cable attaching bolt on the left. Side terminal charging adapter, used without the cable in place. Left is slightly longer to make up for the thickness of the cable. There are even some longer bolts for when multiple cables are required on the same terminal.. .bjb
Pull the adapters out and measure the voltage at the posts, what reading do you get? What brand and part number battery is it? Screw in 2, 3/8" uss bolts finger tight and see if it will charge.
If you're working with a "smart" charger that seems to have no effect on a battery with very low or zero voltage, here's a simple work-around that may "fool" the charger into working as you'd expect it to.
I just brought back a dead battery that had sat in the truck for 5 years without being charged. It started at 2 volts. Took a week and a half used a 10/2 amp charger. It took a week to see bubbling and reach 12 volts so I could use one those HF analyzers. After a few days it was up to 80% and could turn over the truck with ease.
Ok so I got it charged! ive driven the car with these terminals so I knew they worked but they were always troublesome with not staying tight. either way I took two threads off the end of the studs and cleaned up the contact sides of everything and cranked them down to really make sure contact was being made. then I tried a 2/6 amp charger for a while and didn’t see very much improvement. so I took jumper cables from a charged battery to my dead battery and then put my original low amp charger on as well for a couple hours. I noticed that it seemed to be taking a charge at that point t so I pulled the extra battery as I didn’t have time to keep checking on it and left the 2 amp charger on it all day/ over night. The bigger charger doesn’t have a automatic shut off so I didn’t feel good leaving it for 12 hours. anyhow it seems to have done the trick and this morning it’s 100% charged. I think I had just really drained that sucker and it wasn’t sending enough signal like suggested. would have never come up with that, thanks guys! - I ended up not trying to jump start it because it’s currently -8 and I like my shop being warm
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