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I have a car battery that I am trying to recharge. It measures 3.28v, and my charger is a Selmar Turbo 8.

This is the charger I am using:

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Here is a picture of the ammeter gauge that I found

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First of all I tried to charge the battery overnight and the current was about 0A. I left it overnight and came back the next afternoon, and the battery was hot to the touch, and the charger was cycling on and off, with the current about 4A.

I turned off the charger and the battery was making a quiet hissing noise, like water in a pipe, and it made this noise for about 10 minutes, so I levered off a cover and there were some holes. The voltage was about 6v at this point.

These holes were completely empty, and the battery had a strong smell, like sulfuric acid with these holes open. The battery must have been empty as it did not slosh about at all when I moved it. I filled the battery with deionised water and tried to charge it again after leaving it to cool.

I left it to charge for 3 hours, and the voltage is back down to 3v.

The charger goes up to about 12A on the ammeter gauge, which is the maximum, and then trips if I try to charge the battery on the High or Low setting at 12v, and High at 6v.

The current at 6V on the low setting is about 6A.

Have I completely destroyed the battery? Should I just buy a new one?

I don't know anything about the battery, the label is filthy, but it's a 12V car battery and its sat for about 8 months.

George
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3 Answers3

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The battery is toast. Save yourself potential serious injury. Buy a new one. If the battery has been dead for eight months...it is pretty much a goner.

Old_Fossil
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The "strong smell, like sulfuric acid" is in fact sulfuric acid, which is the acid component in a lead-acid battery. If it's coming out strongly enough for you to smell, the battery is dangerous. Recycle it and get a new one!

Mason Wheeler
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If there truly is no liquid in it, you cannot charge it. Attempting to will have no effect. But if there is some, and you try to charge too fast, heat and explosion hazards are produced.

WGroleau
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