Can I charge a car battery?

[Jamin_00]

With the PL8?

[ghost2212]

As long as it has a PB setting then yes, I wouldn't charge it above 1/5C though.

[Jamin_00]

Is that 1 - 5c or 1 5th??

[ghost2212]

Is that 1 - 5c or 1 5th??

Would be 0.2C but reading on the internet I would actually say 0.1C as a maximum to be honest. Also remember that a 12v lead acid is 6s as each cell is 2v.

[Jamin_00]

OK, so its a 6s Lead pack and my batt is an 80ah not mah I think. Is that correct?

[ghost2212]

OK, so its a 6s Lead pack and my batt is an 80ah not mah I think. Is that correct?

That sounds right, I would charge at 5A to be safe.

[Jamin_00]

K, cool

[snotvis]

At the MK flyin Swale charged my car battery at 20A with his PL8 after I ran it flat charging Lipos...the leads did get pretty hot though - so 10A would probably be better.

[cjcj1949]

They usually advise 5 amps for bench charge, but in car chargers are a lot more, more like 20 amps. The main thing is to make sure the volts don't go much above 14.4. That's when gas starts to be generated. Older batteries tend to get to 14.4V at 5 amps fairly soon and can take a long time a long time to charge as the amps drop.