Cooking batteries

G

gettinthere

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Nov 26, 2008
1,966
Endeavour 42 Cruisin
This time it's low water. My 5 T-1275s are a year old and never need much water. But I checked them today after about a month and all the plates were exposed. Took well over a gallon to top them up. They have never been below 80% SOC and rarely below 90% SOC.

So how bad did I damage them?
 
Don S/V ILLusion

Don S/V ILLusion

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Sep 25, 2008
7,096
Alden 50 Sarasota, Florida
Don't panic (yet)!

There is no definitive answer how much damage might have occurred without some basic testing. I know you know about load testing so that is where to start after running an equalization cycle which may recover the/some plate capacity.

Regardless of what happens, there should be no reason for losing that much fluid. Find the cause ( charger?) before it recurs.
 
G

gettinthere

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Nov 26, 2008
1,966
Endeavour 42 Cruisin
Usually dont run big loads but I needed to heat up my expansion valve on the freezer because of a possible sticking issue. So I did that with the heat gun thru the 2000w inverter, with the engine running at high idle to put some juice back in. Did that 2 days ago and that big stress might have been the cooker.
 
Stu Jackson

Stu Jackson

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Feb 26, 2004
22,776
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
gettinthere said:
are a year old and never need much water. But I checked them today after about a month and all the plates were exposed.
Click to expand
What changed? Seriously. The heat gun episode shouldn't be it, right? Don's right, go find out what's happening. Did you check the charger output voltage? What charger? How old?
 
Davidasailor26

Davidasailor26

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May 17, 2004
5,079
Beneteau Oceanis 37 Havre de Grace
I agree with Stu that the heat gun shouldn't be what caused it. Since you were running the engine at the same time as the gun much of the gun's current would come directly from the engine, reducing the load on the batteries.
 
jssailem

jssailem

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Oct 22, 2014
21,104
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
The heatgun would drain the battery not cook it. I agree with the wisdom of the other posters, looking at the charging sources is what is needed.
 
Gunni

Gunni

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Mar 16, 2010
5,937
Beneteau 411 Oceanis Annapolis
Until I upgraded to a truly smart battery charger I was having problems with overcharging my house due to a frequent DC load from my freezer. Believe they told me the system was not getting to float.
 
Maine Sail

Maine Sail

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Feb 6, 1998
11,672
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
WaterMiser vent caps. Oh and check bi-weekly until you nail down consumption....
 
shemandr

shemandr

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Jan 1, 2006
7,074
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
While we're on the subject of batteries - this is a battery isolator, right? It keeps a weak battery from draining a good battery while on the "All" switch and not charging? It allows charging of both batteries while set on "All"? In this case the charging comes from a 55 amp alternator. As I understand from recent re-reading that the isolator's negative attribute is the loss of a volt of charging voltage across it. It could be replaced with a combiner to not have the voltage loss. Am I summing up a lot of information with some accuracy?
Isolator vs. combiner. Ironic nomenclature.
IMG_1044.JPG
 
G

gettinthere

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Nov 26, 2008
1,966
Endeavour 42 Cruisin
Maine Sail said:
WaterMiser vent caps. Oh and check bi-weekly until you nail down consumption....
Click to expand
yes, considering water misers.
But these batteries are about a year old and have only needed light topping up once a month. What could have caused such a quick drop in water level? My old set never consumed much water all 8 years.
Perhaps long motoring on a sunny day? Combo of alternator and solar panels? But I have not changed the settings on either charge source since installing the new batteries and I know I have had long runs under power many many times since installing the new set of batteries.
The only thing new is that 2000w inverter. I've only been using it lightly on a regular basis until recently.

So far, after 2 days on a mooring, no sign of any water consumption.
 
G

gettinthere

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Nov 26, 2008
1,966
Endeavour 42 Cruisin
5 days later and no water consumption. at the dock with one charger running.
going to switch to the other charger
 
Maine Sail

Maine Sail

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Feb 6, 1998
11,672
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
shemandr said:
this is a battery isolator, right?
Click to expand
Yes & get rid of it...

shemandr said:
It keeps a weak battery from draining a good battery while on the "All" switch and not charging?
Click to expand
It odes nothing of the sort on ALL..... On ALL/BOTH your batteries are manually in PARALLEL and free to be discharged all the way to 0% SOC together... A diode isolator only prevents back-draining when the alternator is OFF. When the alt is on creates as much as 1.0V+ of voltage drop when the alternator is running......

shemandr said:
It allows charging of both batteries while set on "All"?
Click to expand
Nope... It does not require ALL/BOTH to charge both batteries.

shemandr said:
As I understand from recent re-reading that the isolator's negative attribute is the loss of a volt of charging voltage across it.
Click to expand
That and it also can't be used with other charge sources that require a 12V signal to boot such as solar, wind or smart chargers.

shemandr said:
It could be replaced with a combiner to not have the voltage loss.
Click to expand
I would look at that as should be replaced with a combiner, if you ever desire decent charging performance...[/QUOTE]
 
Maine Sail

Maine Sail

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Feb 6, 1998
11,672
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
gettinthere said:
The only thing new is that 2000w inverter. I've only been using it lightly on a regular basis until recently.
Click to expand
Inverters can be little demons on your charging system. They sag voltage enough, due to the short duration but high draw, to reboot/restart another absorption cycle even if the batts are still at a high SOC... This can = more water use..
 
G

gettinthere

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Nov 26, 2008
1,966
Endeavour 42 Cruisin
Maine Sail said:
Inverters can be little demons on your charging system. They sag voltage enough, due to the short duration but high draw, to reboot/restart another absorption cycle even if the batts are still at a high SOC... This can = more water use..
Click to expand
So it might not have been the heat gun directly but it could have been the inverter under the heavy load? I did run it a while, perhaps 15 minutes or more. I did have the engine running at high idle which can be around 20 to 30 amps. But I shut off the engine after the heat gun use and the only charging was from my 2 Blue Sky 2512 controllers after that. I was on a mooring.
 
G

gettinthere

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Nov 26, 2008
1,966
Endeavour 42 Cruisin
So here we are, the first of September and still at extremely low water consumption. I have sat at a dock for a few weeks using shore power into charger, I have motored several long days in full sun so the alt and the solar panels had full potential to do their thing, also have sat at anchor and run off solar and wind only. So the system has had a variety of draws. Water use has been as low as ever.
 
VanIslandGuy

VanIslandGuy

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Jan 12, 2016
268
Hunter 410 Ladysmith, BC
Maine Sail said:
WaterMiser vent caps. Oh and check bi-weekly until you nail down consumption....
Click to expand
Hi Maine Sail,
I'd never heard of these before this thread. Looks like it would be an inexpensive but worthwhile upgrade.
Would you suggest a specific size cap if dealing with Trojan-125 6V provided I have the vertical clearance?
 
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