12V Charger on 6V Trojan - Now what ?

[PKFK]

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.....

I had to take the batteries out of my boat to do some plumbing work (don't ask !!).

I have a house bank of 2 - 6V Trojan T145's hooked up in Series, plus a 12V starter battery.

My shore charger is a 2-bank guest (10 A per bank) that I usually have one output to the 12v starter battery, and one output to the combo bank of the 2 6V Trojans.

I was in a rush putting everything back together, and hooked the charger up across the terminals of ONE of the 6v Trojans, instead of the 2 together.

I left the boat for 3 days and came back to see the charger stilll trying to charge (vs float) the house bank - of course it was trying to bring the one 6V battery up to 12V.

The battery was warm - but luckly the plates under each of the 3 caps still had liquid over them.

QUESTION -

Have I totally screwed the T145 battery ?
Is it recoverable ?

I paid over 500 bucks for the 2 batteries - I hope I did not kill one of them in my stupid haste.......

Have any of you guy heard of this before, and can I expect the battery to keep working, or have I killed it ? (It seems to measure 6.2V at the terminals).

What do you think ?

 

[tomgrigsby]

First - I'm not an expert. Having said that, water still above the plates and 6.2 at the terminals, you're probably fine. Boiling it dry would be bad but you didn't do that. You could run a test by putting a load on for a given time, if you have a frame of reference experience, such as knowing you can run the lights for a certain period of time, and see if things are still the same. All considered though, it doesn't sound like the kiss of death to me.

 

[Honeyman]

$500 for 2 Trojans...WTF!!! As Tom says, since they weren't boiled dry and still read in the range 6.2, I suspect you're ok. But seriously, whats up with that price? Air freight into remote area or something...

 

[PKFK]

Welcome to Canada.

The CDN dollar is at PAR with the USD.

Canada has almost as much oil as Saudi Arabia (surprise !!....and is the biggest exporter of oil into the USA.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/...ons/company_level_imports/current/import.html

But guess what - we get boned on EVERYTHING in Canada at the checkout counter.

Gas costs me 1 buck a liter.

That is - BTW - 4 DOLLARS USD a GALLON.......in a country awash in petrolium.

Trojan 145 in Canada - about 255 + TAX + TAX + TAX + TAX

Trojan 145 in US - about 180 bucks - give or take.

So yes - the bank of 2 cost me over 550 hundered smackeroos - USD or CDN - take your pick 'cause they are about equal.

Oh yeah - I forgot - we get "free" healthcare in Canada.......where your DOG or an NHL hockey player can get an MRI in 2 days - but a Human cancer patient might wait 4-6 months for the same service. (unless you are a politician)

As Uncle George wrote "all animals are equal - but some are more equal than others"

And yes - you hit a nerve !!!!!