mmrmnhrm Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 While I figure out WTF to do with my non-fault but mostly dead hybrid pack, the car's been hitting the traditional starter (and thus the 12V battery) far harder than the charging system was really designed for. I'm sitting on a $100 gift card for Sears, so with the goal of having at least a weekly top-off/conditioning charge applied, what should I be looking at, and what is unnecessary fluff? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cordell Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 As long as there are no special charging instructions for your hybrid vehicle (I'm not sure so I'm just putting that out there) getting a decent maintainer is all most people need. Anything with a float mode should take care of the average car battery, I have a C-tek charger because it has a few different settings and lists my Optima as a special setting. Of which I needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmrmnhrm Posted October 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 No specials that I'm aware of, though one of the "make it work better" tricks discovered by a canuck corporate fleet manager (and "blessed" by Honda) is to occasionally disconnect the 12V battery so the hybrid charge state is lost, forcing a deep discharge recalibration. Doing the float charge while disconnected from the rest of the car would take care of both at the same time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mensan Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Your car should only need a battery charger if you believe your alternator is not working. Your alternator should work every time your engine is on. If your battery is needed to start the car, then the engine will be turning and in turn, charging the battery. Anything in addition to that would be, IMO, 'unnecessary fluff'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmrmnhrm Posted October 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 There is no alternator in this thing. The 12V is pulse-charged off the 158V NiMH hybrid pack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gillbot Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Not sure if it has enough output but for my wife's old car I used one of these: http://www.harborfreight.com/battery-float-charger-automatic-69594.html I cut off the clamps on teh end and wired in a 12v cigarette lighter adapter like this: http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=265-272&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pla That way she could pull in the garage, lower her window and plug the cigarette lighter in and it would keep the car topped off till she drove it again. Many cars, the cigarette lighter is wired right into the battery circuit and isn't keyed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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