The Atlas has been in bits for a year and the 3/4year old Yuasa Acid 12v battery has not been looked after in the sons garage. I try to give it a charge when visiting but the Virus-----------!. I think the ignition was left on a few weeks ago , and the battery was totally dead. Putting it on the charger was a fruitless exercise, Zilch. I looked on the internet for the best deal. While making up the mind (what mind?) I played with connecting the battery up with the collection of chargers I have accumulated .None would accept it. I tried "flashing" it with a spare car battery and it briefly registered a couple of volts. Adding an intelligent charger I flashed it again and the charger decided it was a flat 6v battery and tried to charge. It slowly gave up the effort. I connected up to a tiny old "battery fighter"which went to "maintain" and I then forgot about it.Next Day battery showing 10v and now charging. Added a little salt EDTA and connected up marine desulphator gadget. Voltage very slowly climbed to 14v . Battery may still be dud,time will tell, but shows that things are not always clear cut. The battery may only be good enough to assist in the completion of the electrics ,who knows when that will be. PS. Sparks and battery gas a bit lethal !!.
I've often found...
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I understand
That 'Smart' chargers need to see some voltage or they don't know they are connected. Old fashioned chargers simply gave out a 7 or 14V feed and don't really care what is across the ends unless it is a dead short. I have experienced the same results as you have using a mix of old and new tech.
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To get the modern chargers…
To get the modern chargers to kick in I use a small 1a simple charger for 2 or 3 mins and then add the modern charger. After a few hours the 1a can be removed.
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The patient has improved…
The patient has improved further and slowly climbed up to 14.4 volts. I suspect that it will have to be kept on a battery monitor though. and I have doubts it will survive to next year. The trick of putting on an old style charger did nothing for it. Not even 1 volt. Connecting it to a charged car battery was drastic ,not recommended. Its prognosis is a bit like someone who has had a bad heart attack , vulnerable. A battery monitor is a good investment. I have 10 batteries to care for. Some are super expensive silver hydride 140 amp hour and now 16 years old still working.
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... that an old school dumb battery charger can bring apparently dead batteries back from the dead when smart chargers (I have a Ctek 5.0 which is otherwise excellent) fail.
We have a caravan and I once left the 12 volt system switched on while it was in storage foe some months - the battery was completely flat. I tried the Ctek then with no hope of success hooked up the old Halfords standard job. Nothing for 24 hours but it eventually revived and gave another couple of years' good service.
I have used EDTA in the past with reasonable results.