Trickle charger question

[Cloggy Saint]

My trusty trickle charger recently gave up and I'm a bit concerned by it's replacement. I hooked it up yesterday and this morning it's reading 14.6 volts which seems too high, the most I've ever seen the battery put out is 14.2 when driving. Is this ok?

[Cloggy Saint]

Would appreciate a quick answer to this. Just checked again and it's reading 14.9V so I unhooked it.

[HenryM3]

I know it’s not much help but I have 2 cars on trickle chargers and never seen over 14v

[Cloggy Saint]

My previous one never went over 12.2 ish so it's a bit concerning to see almost 15v.

[Brianmoooore]

14.6 volts is fine when you first connect it, although that's not what I'd define as a trickle charger. If it's still at 14.6 volts after a day or so, then there's something wrong.
There aren't really trickle chargers on sale any more of the type there was back in the day. The modern versions are smart chargers which can work either as a conventional charger or adjust to be a trickle charger.

[Cloggy Saint]

This one is officially a smart charger that charges to full capacity and then compensates for any drop in voltage. The battery was very low when I attached it (about 7v) and then climbed to 14.9 before I pulled the plug. How much is too much? Would 15v be asking for trouble?

[Brianmoooore]

The voltage doesn't matter in the slightest. It's the current that voltage produces that is important, and if this is too high, it risks blowing the plates in the battery apart along with producing too much heat.
The current flowing is a function of the charger voltage, the battery voltage and the internal resistance of the battery. If the charger really is 'smart' , then it takes the last two into account to determine an appropriate first one.
Having been around long enough to have driven cars where ammeters were normal standard equipment, I know that car batteries are happy with charge currents of up to 30A or so for short periods, and high single figures for longer periods, before falling close to zero when the battery is fully charged.
From what I've seen of these modern chargers, they don't trickle charge ever. They charge the battery, switch off, then recharge it again when the voltage has fallen to a pre determined level.

[martauto]

The voltage doesn't matter in the slightest. It's the current that voltage produces that is important, and if this is too high, it risks blowing the plates in the battery apart along with producing too much heat.
The current flowing is a function of the charger voltage, the battery voltage and the internal resistance of the battery. If the charger really is 'smart' , then it takes the last two into account to determine an appropriate first one.
Having been around long enough to have driven cars where ammeters were normal standard equipment, I know that car batteries are happy with charge currents of up to 30A or so for short periods, and high single figures for longer periods, before falling close to zero when the battery is fully charged.
From what I've seen of these modern chargers, they don't trickle charge ever. They charge the battery, switch off, then recharge it again when the voltage has fallen to a pre determined level.

What an answer

Mart.

[HenryM3]

Well, according to my far to expensive CTEK it does everything that can possibly be done to a battery, in fact if I hadn’t spilled some oil on the instructions I think it even says that it wipes your butt when not in use.

[DanThe]

My Optimate charger does the same, its about 10 years old, I will see a voltage of up to around 14.6 volts for a while then it drops to around 13, goes back up then down etc etc. Great charger as it has revived plenty of old batteries for me

[Satan]

Don't leave the charger in the engine bay or anywhere near to something flammable.