Re: charging a fully discharged car lead acid battery

dkuhajda@xxxxxxxx wrote: 
 A discharged, but not dead, battery is ok to jump start and allow the
 alternator to charge it up. A discharged battery will read around
 11-12 volts unloaded or minimal load, 100mA. 8 volts on the battery
 indicated that it was in a deep discharge state, not good.

After a couple of days (daytime only) at 1 amp charge, it is now reading 12 volts no load. Interesting that no matter where I dial in the current, it stays at 12.0 volts. The battery is acting like a voltage regulator of sorts.

 Unless it was a nearly new battery, I would do one of two things if
 it does charge and start the car: 1. Get it load tested on the
 coldest day in the near future, replace if it is marginal. 2. Simply
 replace the battery with a new one for the peace of mind.

It's just under two years old, original factory battery. When I topped it off with distilled water, tops of the plates looked great. Looked just like new finned aluminum heatsinks, clean and no gunk. There was some oil slicks on the electrolyte, no doubt from the red bearing grease someone (the factory?) had smeared all over the terminals. There was semi liquid red grease underneath the caps too.

Isn't there a better choice for corrosion protection than regular petro grease? In the 80's, I remember a cream colored paste for that purpose.
.

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