Charging flat battery with a Redarc isolator installed

[Jonty]

Looks like my battery is on the way out as I've had to jump start the car a couple of times this week.

I've topped up the water in the battery and am trying to give it a good charge overnight with the CTEK charger as a last effort to save it before buying a new one.

Perhaps a stupid question, but is there anything tricky you need to do to charge a battery that's hooked up to a Redarc isolator? Or is it just the usual way as shown below?

Only reason I ask is that I'm not getting a voltage reading with a multimeter off the tops of the terminals.

[RHKTriton]

Have you tried lifting off the ground strap and measured the battery on its own?

Haven't blown the fuse in the meter?

It'll be something stupid.

Have you tried measuring another source the verify your meter?

How old is the battery?

Good luck with the task.

[Jonty]

Yeah the meter is working fine. I should have said I can get a reading on it if I probe the positive side of the battery from one of the bolts on top of the fused battery clamp, which has wires and stuff going everywhere, I assume due to the redarc setup.

I guess it's doing something to hide the voltage at the terminal. I'm just not experienced with these dual battery/isolator setups yet.

Pretty sure battery is original (2013 with 65,000kms), so maybe it's just time.

[ag9111]

Its stuffed. 5 years is a good run
Just get a new one.

I only just replaced mine as well
Early 2013

[Jonty]

I let it charge overnight on Saturday and it's cranked over nicely the last 2 mornings, so will see how it goes.

Usually if the battery is dead, the CTEK won't go through the full cycle, but it got all the way through to the trickle stage, so maybe there's some left in it yet

[braydenc]

mine started doing that roughly the same time is buggered mate get a new one.

[RHKTriton]

We all hope to get that extra bit out of the battery, with it sometimes convincing us not to retire it yet.

Then....the traitor will put its 'four legs' in the air and leave you in the lurch at the worst time.

Super Cheap had batteries on special a few months back, I needed a battery for a project, so decided to get a newy for the Trity and use the old one for the project. The new one had a noticeable extra kick compared to the old one that was around three years old.

[Kevin Vermaak]

Hi.

I was looking at your battery and isolator setup. How have you mounted your isolator? would you mind posting some more pictures?

Kevin