Battery Charging Question

[Steve@Advance]

My grandson who is almost 3, wants to know the proper charging procedure for his John Deere tractor.

He asked if I would ask the experts on YT, as he can't type or read yet...

The tractor was given to me not running and no charger. I replaced the battery and bought a charger on Ebay. It has worked well until today. After a hard morning use, the battery needed a recharge. Plugged in the charger and nothing...

The charger that I bought was made for recharging toys, so I assume it had the ability to cut back and not overcharge, as it generally stayed connected most of the time. It was a 12v 1000ma charger.

I remembered I had a 1 amp transformer type manual charger, so I put it on for about 3 hours, checked the voltage, it showed 12.98 volts.

The battery is a sealed lead acid, 12v, 8ah.

Does this sound about right? I don't want to leave this charger on too long, afraid it will cook it. Or will it?

Or should I order another toy charger? I hate to as the tractor is about worn out and he's almost ready for a real one!

Thanks

 

[Janicholson]

Put a timer on it. The voltage sounds correct If it takes an hour to run down the battery, 3 hours should put it back. If the battery gets warm when charging the amps are too much. Not likely. Jim

 

[buickanddeere]

While charging , do not let the voltage exceed 13.8V .

 

[Geo-TH,In]

Steve,
When I need to change kids toy battery I would use an old 12v head light, put it in series with 12v manual charger and install a dc ammeter.
Let it slowly change. Perhaps a 0.1 amps or so.
The headlight is like a variable resistor. Zero amps R approaches zero, more amps more resistance. Try it. It works.
A redneck charger.

George

 

[Liquid_wrench]

Steve,

I use a Deltran 750mA ON motorcycle and garden tractors, it's automatic and doesn't over charge....I leave it on my bike year round. $25.00 on ebay.

 

[Mule Meat]

(quoted from post at 17:07:10 04/28/20) Steve,

I use a Deltran 750mA ON motorcycle and garden tractors, it's automatic and doesn't over charge....I leave it on my bike year round. $25.00 on ebay.

Here is the problem using a trickle charger. A 750mAh charger is fine when connected to a charged battery to keep it topped off. It will not work to well charging a dead 12 volt 8aH battery. It will take forever to charge and can overheat. Even todays phone chargers are mostly 2 to 3 amp output if you look at one.

A good 2 to 4A Fully Automatic Microprocessor Controlled Battery Charger/Maintainer would be much better suited for charging/maintaining a 12v deep cycle battery designed for a kids ride on toy.