>>About 10 yrs ago the US Army couldn't make up it's mind on
>>whether to charge batteries with or w/o the caps on. What is the
>>recommendation now? I have always charged with the caps on with
>>no problems.
>
>Let the caps on the battery while charging. Note that the battery
>is most of its lifetime charged in the vehicle with caps on.
>
I'd agree with Andreas, removing the caps seemed to be fashionable 30 or
more years ago for reasons nobody could give me, the vehicle system can
indeed give the battery typically 10 times the charge current of the
average domestic charger.
>Only if you use an express-charger with a very high charging
>current (much more than the vehicle's generator) it is recommended
>to remove the caps.
>
These devices are usually only very intermittently rated to give a
momentary high current to help the starter, the manufacturers though
charge the batteries in a few minutes on the production line but have to
place them in a "shower stall" and spray them with distilled water to
remove the heat generated, don't try this at home.
>Modern batteries don't have caps which can removed.
>
Certainly the maintenance free gas re-combination types don't and should
not be heavily charged above say 14.2 volts (for a nominal 12V type) as
the gassing at this voltage may be above that which the re-combination
system can handle. These are intended for modern vehicles with very
accurately controlled alternators, their usage in older types with the
contact controlled DC generators (dynamos) might be unwise since these
systems often voltage regulate at up to 14.5V.
Two new, large capacity batteries recently bought here are "low
maintenance" types implying a re-combination system but do have cell
caps albeit not too readily removable. They are clearly labelled with a
charge voltage warning specifying a maximum of 14.2V and never to exceed
level of 14.4V.
Richard
(Southampton UK)
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