The Forestry Forum

Rather than hijack the current 12 V. battery topic (pun intended), I decided to ask this question in a new topic.

I have a break-away setup on my trailer with a small gel-cell battery which applies the brakes when the pin is pulled.

This has never been used  8) but I am wondering if the battery needs to be recharged periodically (annually) or if the gel-cell holds a charge for a long time. How do you tell when a gel-cell needs recharging?

-Doug

It may get trickled by the light circuits from the pulling vehicle.

It should get charged by the vehicle when in use. You should have it tested once a year or so to make sure it is ok.

Well, I wired the setup so I am pretty sure it is not connected to the light circuit. Maybe it should be, but it isn't. Anyhow, I haven't used it with the lights on in the past year.

Who can check it? I mean, it's not like a wet-cell that you can use a hydrometer on. How about I put a 2 amp trickle charge on it for 12 hours--no problems?

-Doug

Hi Doug
All batteries will loose charge over time, the gel cells are about the best for holding onto charge, but topping it up with a small charger is a good idea.
The battery should have an Amp/hour rating on it someplace. This will give you an idea of how fast / long to charge it from flat. If it says 10 amp hours capacity it should take about 12 hours at 1amp to recharge, or 6 hours at 2 amps etc. A 2 amp charger shouldn't hurt it, just keep an eye on temp and if you have a meter stop when it gets up to about 14 volts.
To test the battery hook up a small load, like a 12v tail light and run it for a hour or so. If it does this then it's OK. If it dies after a few minutes the battery is stuffed. Then just top it up on the charger again.

Ian

You can get some idea of how the state of charge is by checking the voltage. A fully charged 12 volt battery will show something like 13.8 volts. If it has just finished charging you'll get a "flash" reading of 14.2, but that won't last long.