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A few months ago I replaced the stock battery in my 2006 Elise with a Braille B2015 and at the same time picked up a Griot's Garage Microprocessor-Controlled Battery Charger/Maintainer (this one: Battery Charger). The battery charger is supposed to charge the battery to 100% and then occasionally start an "exercise mode" where it puts a load on the battery, etc. to keep it maintained.
I set it on AGM 12v battery and 10a charging and this worked fine for the first few months, although every now and then I would check on the charger and it would show an error (in which case it stopped charging). According to the instructions, the error pops up when the battery's voltage doesn't rise as expected. In the past, I would just shut down the charger and restart it and there would be no issue (at least for a while). However, earlier this week I started getting an error every day (which means it stops charging when the error pops up). The error only shows up after the charger has charged the battery to 100% and is not yet in "rest" mode. (According to the instructions it is still working to get the battery to a "true" 100% charge, whatever that means.) The charger also shows the voltage of the battery while charging. I noticed that this week it's been getting up to 13.6, but then dropping back down to 12.8 or 12.9. (I believe I recall that in the past, the voltage during charging has risen as high as 14.4, but I could be remembering incorrectly.) I've checked the voltage with a voltmeter and it seems to square with the charger's reading.
So, here's my question: is it a bum battery or a bum charger? I've had no issues starting the car, even when it's been sitting out all day without a charger on it. For whatever reason, the charger doesn't think the voltage is getting high enough and shuts down. Should I replace the charger with a different type that won't shut down in this situation? I guess the battery could be bad, but it's only a few months old and has been kept on a charger since it was installed in the car.
I set it on AGM 12v battery and 10a charging and this worked fine for the first few months, although every now and then I would check on the charger and it would show an error (in which case it stopped charging). According to the instructions, the error pops up when the battery's voltage doesn't rise as expected. In the past, I would just shut down the charger and restart it and there would be no issue (at least for a while). However, earlier this week I started getting an error every day (which means it stops charging when the error pops up). The error only shows up after the charger has charged the battery to 100% and is not yet in "rest" mode. (According to the instructions it is still working to get the battery to a "true" 100% charge, whatever that means.) The charger also shows the voltage of the battery while charging. I noticed that this week it's been getting up to 13.6, but then dropping back down to 12.8 or 12.9. (I believe I recall that in the past, the voltage during charging has risen as high as 14.4, but I could be remembering incorrectly.) I've checked the voltage with a voltmeter and it seems to square with the charger's reading.
So, here's my question: is it a bum battery or a bum charger? I've had no issues starting the car, even when it's been sitting out all day without a charger on it. For whatever reason, the charger doesn't think the voltage is getting high enough and shuts down. Should I replace the charger with a different type that won't shut down in this situation? I guess the battery could be bad, but it's only a few months old and has been kept on a charger since it was installed in the car.