A majority of people know that a car battery is constantly charged by the vehicle’s electrical system. There’s really no reason to pull the battery out for any other purpose. However, car batteries are also used for other purposes outside of a standard vehicle. Knowing how to charge the battery without a charger is the challenge now. Recharge car battery components with ease by following these simple instructions. Before you search online for “charge car battery without charger,” think about the safety factor first. Dealing with a car battery means that there’s significant voltage and current running through the terminals. Collect these items together, such as: All of these items will help you recharge car battery components with safety as a top
priority. The holiday light or light bulbs are also safety tools because the illumination provides cues for current control. There must be a power supply in some form so that a slow charge car battery process can occur. Think about the energy reserves that you have handy. There might be a power supply on a technician’s bench. A DIYer can have these devices too. Another battery that’s at least the same voltage as the car battery will work too. Be sure
that the power source is reliable. A dead battery will create charging frustrations. Ideally, you want to slow charge car battery components if you’re without a charger. The trickle effect ensures that the battery doesn’t overcharge, fume or outright explode. Because of these volatile conditions,
Battery University suggests always monitoring a charging session. Check your output power on the power source by using your wire probes. Verify the voltage and current. While you have the probes out, check the voltage on the questionable car battery. You’ll have an idea of how long the charging session will take with these values in mind. Place the
power source and battery as far away as possible from each other, instructs Pep Boys. This spacing is where to charge car battery components in a safe manner. Otherwise, a spark might form between the two devices. Connect three, holiday lights between the power source and car battery. These lights give you a visual cue that current is flowing. They also draw down the intense current so that you have
an effective charger that solely trickles. You’re ready to connect the power source, lights and car battery together. Be sure to place the setup in an area away from other people. Where to charge car battery components is a key part of staying safe. Connect the negative clip to the power source first. Complete the circuit by attaching the other negative clip to the car battery. Repeat this process with the positive side. Power should be flowing at this point. Watch the SetupRemember that you’ll only be trickling power through this setup. The car battery may only gain a few volts from 10 or 20 minutes of charging. You can check the progress with a multimeter attached at the battery’s terminals. The holiday lights should be illuminated with just a little bit of heat on their exterior surfaces. If they get excessively hot or bright, there’s too much power running to the battery. Disconnecting and troubleshooting the setup is the best course of action now. Remove and Verify PowerAfter about 30 minutes, remove power from the battery by releasing the negative clip first and positive clip afterward. Use your multimeter to verify the battery’s voltage without the load. It’s not necessary to charge the battery up to 12 volts. Overcharging might be part of the scenario. It’s best to charge it to a partial state so that no harm to the battery or yourself occurs. My camera shut down from low battery just when I needed to take some pictures. Here's how to charge any battery enough to keep
doing the important stuff. Fact 1: All past and future rechargeable batteries can be safely trickle charged if you don't overcharge them. Trickle means low current, like half an amp for an average camera or phone battery. This is the battery to my Canon S30. It's got three terminals, labeled "+", "-", and "T". Warning! Wear eye protection and if anything weird happens don't breathe the fumes! What was that other terminal marked "T" for? TIMMY of course, just like in the nursery rhyme! "Digital sensor, huh?" would be a running joke back when Americans knew Greek and knew that digits are fingers. But then numbers got so much use we forgot about counting on fingers, and now people barely know how to do anything with their hands. Anyway,
here's a finger used as a digital thermometer. Which reminds me of the joke about the doctor... SAFETY WARNING: scroll to the bottom if you want to read safety warnings. Here I am charging my camera's battery from my car battery. I'm using three christmas lightbulbs at once as a current regulator to get half an amp to flow into the camera battery.
For example, here's my test of one of these mini christmas lightbulbs hooked up to a bench DC supply: Volts Amperes I tested two bulbs and the data was the same. Since
my car battery is at ~13 volts and the camera battery is at ~7 volts, there will be 6 volts across the bulb. So I put three bulbs in parallel to get about 0.5 amperes to flow into the battery. Now just stand there for fifteen minutes or so until your battery is charged enough to take pictures again, you can make calls on your phone or whatever. SAFETY WARNINGS: Step 3: Charging From Any DC Source and ResistorHopefully you own an electrical meter. As seen in the previous step, the best improvised current regulator is usually a small lightbulb. The bulb is great because the resistance goes way up when the filament gets hot and limits the current. And you can only put an amp or so through one without burning it out, so it acts as its own fuse. And they're free gifts from garbage Santa. Here I'm using two bulbs in series to limit the current going into a gelcell. Use your multimeter to measure what current goes through your bulb at different voltages. Or you can just cowboy it and use one tiny bulb for a few minutes, while feeling to see if the battery gets hot or not. Wear eye protection and don't breathe the fumes! Step 4: Current and Voltage From a Bench SupplyThis step uses a bench power supply to charge a battery. A lot of us have those sitting around even if we can't find our cell charger. Or we know where to find an electronics guy who has one. Now what? Want to be totally mystified? Look up "lithium battery charge control". But we just want to take pictures or talk on the phone. So
here's what we do: Turn up the voltage and current limit knobs until 500 milliamps (0.5 amps) is flowing into your battery. If you feel like being careful look up how much current the experts use. My electronics guy told me to set my voltage limit to 8 volts for my 7.2v li-ion battery. Usually facts like that are luxuries. The point of this method is to trickle charge anything without being able to know much about the properties of the battery. Step 5: Time LimitIf you really have to do something else while charging your battery, you better hook up something to disconnect it after a few minutes. The whole point of this instructable is that we're not going to fully charge the battery because we don't know how, and we're in a hurry. So we're only going to charge it for ten minutes or so. My camera battery has 1200 milliamp/hours of capacity. So if it's fully discharged and we charge it at 500 milliamps, it would take more than two hours to fully charge it. Some types of batteries can be badly damaged by overcharging. Some are just damaged a little. That's it! Enjoy cautiously! 1 Person Made This Project!RecommendationsHow can I charge a car battery without cables?Jumpstart an automatic car without cables
If you drive an automatic car, make sure you have a simple portable charger in your roadside emergency toolkit. If you have a portable charger and your car battery is dead, all you need to do is plug it in the cigarette lighter and wait for about 20 minutes.
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