Waukesha
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- Grand Rapids, MI
I'm scratching my head.. Below is for an MEP-803A with Optima Red Top batteries.
I had left my generator off the charger for 2-3 months as I dealt with a move. When the talking heads on TV started projecting ice & 2'+ of snow, I figured I should go start the generator and make sure it still works. It primed as normal, turned it to start and... CLICKkkkkk. So I pull out my trusty volt meter and it measures 13v on one battery #1, and 11.7v on battery #2. Based on some research online, 11.7v while low, isn't "dead" for an Optima Red Top. I ran out to the store to purchase a NOCO Genius 5X2, knowing that the NOCO Genius 7200 charging at 24v would never properly charge the two batteries.
Fast forward 12 hours or so, and the NOCO is flashing green on battery #1 (originally at 13v) and it's giving me a dead battery symbol on battery #2 (originally at 11.7v). I pulled battery #2 out of the generator to bench charge/diagnose. At the time of pulling, it was registering 12.7v (which according to Optima's website is close to 100% charged). I placed battery #2 on the NOCO 7200 overnight, and it charges the battery to 100% on its scale, and the volt meter measures 12.9V. I ran the repair/desulfanation function for 24hrs, battery #2 now registers 12.9-13v. I put the battery back in the MEP and it started up, albiet a little slowly, which I attributed to the 10* temp over the last 36hrs. Generator ammeter registered about 10 amps and slowly dropped back down to ~0-2 amps (couldn't tell exactly).
Fast forward to today.. I drove an hour round trip to exchange the NOCO 5X2 thinking that it was bad. I just returned home and installed the replacement charger and it's behaving like it's going to give me a dead battery symbol in ~10-12hrs. Behavior includes registering that battery #1 is 100% charged (which it is by all methods of measurement available to me), and for battery #2 the Noco 5X2 is showing a VERY slow progression from flashing 25% charged to 50%, 75%, and finally flashing 100% charged, at which point it will give me the dead battery symbol.
I should also note that load test battery #2 with a Schumacher BT-100 battery load tester and sitting is registers in the green, and under load voltage drops down to 11-11.2V (can only hold loads for ~10 seconds with this resistive type tester)
What gives?
I had left my generator off the charger for 2-3 months as I dealt with a move. When the talking heads on TV started projecting ice & 2'+ of snow, I figured I should go start the generator and make sure it still works. It primed as normal, turned it to start and... CLICKkkkkk. So I pull out my trusty volt meter and it measures 13v on one battery #1, and 11.7v on battery #2. Based on some research online, 11.7v while low, isn't "dead" for an Optima Red Top. I ran out to the store to purchase a NOCO Genius 5X2, knowing that the NOCO Genius 7200 charging at 24v would never properly charge the two batteries.
Fast forward 12 hours or so, and the NOCO is flashing green on battery #1 (originally at 13v) and it's giving me a dead battery symbol on battery #2 (originally at 11.7v). I pulled battery #2 out of the generator to bench charge/diagnose. At the time of pulling, it was registering 12.7v (which according to Optima's website is close to 100% charged). I placed battery #2 on the NOCO 7200 overnight, and it charges the battery to 100% on its scale, and the volt meter measures 12.9V. I ran the repair/desulfanation function for 24hrs, battery #2 now registers 12.9-13v. I put the battery back in the MEP and it started up, albiet a little slowly, which I attributed to the 10* temp over the last 36hrs. Generator ammeter registered about 10 amps and slowly dropped back down to ~0-2 amps (couldn't tell exactly).
Fast forward to today.. I drove an hour round trip to exchange the NOCO 5X2 thinking that it was bad. I just returned home and installed the replacement charger and it's behaving like it's going to give me a dead battery symbol in ~10-12hrs. Behavior includes registering that battery #1 is 100% charged (which it is by all methods of measurement available to me), and for battery #2 the Noco 5X2 is showing a VERY slow progression from flashing 25% charged to 50%, 75%, and finally flashing 100% charged, at which point it will give me the dead battery symbol.
I should also note that load test battery #2 with a Schumacher BT-100 battery load tester and sitting is registers in the green, and under load voltage drops down to 11-11.2V (can only hold loads for ~10 seconds with this resistive type tester)
What gives?
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