Hey Freaks, how blue should the blue circle on the battery indicator be when the the battery is fully charged? Is this an on/off thing or does it show a percentage (partially charged, mostly charged, fully charged, etc).

 

blue means good white needs charge

 

So it's either on/off (charged/needs charging)? I see some blue but mostly white. Car started up OK so it can't be too low on juice but I am wondering if I can tell anything more (level of juice) from the battery indicator.

 

you can't tell much with just that indicator.
i had mine in white and the car worked fine.
but the battery finally went to crap early.
i went to the dealer and got a new one
under warranty.

 

I think it's an on/off thing. I'm sure it's a float that uses specific gravity of the electrolyte to give an indication of charge, but it probably only shows up when it's over a certain gravity. It seems pretty worthless. If you're into it, a hydrometer for a few bucks will give you what you're looking for but I don't think it's worth the trouble.

Through casual observation it seems the ECU varies engine idle speed according to electrical load and battery state in order to maintain the charge (logic borrowed from the hybrids no doubt). If they had a voltmeter on the dash we'd probably go nuts wondering why it's wandering back and forth all the time.

I think this is a car where you're better off not knowing/worrying about it.

 

niko3257, Steve244 , thanks for the input. I have a reason for keeping an eye on the battery. I didn't drive the car for a few days and I had not closed the hatch properly, so the light was on. The battery would not start the car (although it had plenty of juice for lights and other). OK, my bad, but I charged the battery fully using a charger and it still does not show full blue on the indicator. So I just want to keep an eye on it and see if there is anything up or the it's just the indicator not telling me much.

 

the indicator wont tell you much at all. also most
likely you fried your battery.

 

Damn! I hope not. Didn't realize I could fry it just by recharging.

 

Doubt it. If you were constantly depleting and recharging (deep cycle) it wouldn't be good for the life of a battery that's not intended for that type of use. A one time deal shouldn't hurt it.

 

depending on the amp you used, it can take as much as 20-24hrs to get a full charge. i typically use a 2A on my regular and deep cycle batteries...from 50% it takes about 18-20hrs. and it's a good idea to get the proper charger with an auto-off float mode.

for long term storage i use a battery manager which is a little different from a typicall digital battery charger where it stops charging and floats with even less amperage when it reaches full and keeps an eye on the level... if it drops it automatically recharges and keeps it full. i use these managers on my hobby cars during the week and during hibernation.

 

Thanks, kenchan. I used this:

Black & Decker Power Tools

It took about 5 hours to get the battery from about 80% to fully charged. The battery "seems" fine now. I did not use the car from Saturday AM until today and it started right up. I guess time will tell if the battery is compromised. Would jumping it have been a better alternative to charging?