Upon checking my batteries(two 4 Ds), found one a little low, and the other with the plates exposed. I attributed it to being extremely hot for the last few weeks, with the 12v refrig working extra hard. Anyway, turned off all power (A/C and 12v), cleaned the terminals (although not really too bad), covered the plates with distilled water (took over a gallon) and turned on the charger. Had to leave in three hours...the charger was still running. Both batteries and three stage charger are about 2 1/2 years old. The built in meter showed both batteries as fully charged. Did not have my digital multimeter meter with me. My questions are: - Is the battery with the plates showing okay? - Since the charger was still running it occurred to me that maybe it's on the fritz and did not shut off as it should when the battery was charged and has been running ever since...thus burning up all the water...but only in one battery...? Thanks.
Battery Charger or Battery..or neither
- Thread starter Big Windy
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When our two 8ds reached their end of life...
one of them boiled dry in just a few days. The battery guy told me that's what happens when they reach the end. They were about seven years old. Replaced them with two new wet 8Ds from Insterstate. Terry
one of them boiled dry in just a few days. The battery guy told me that's what happens when they reach the end. They were about seven years old. Replaced them with two new wet 8Ds from Insterstate. Terry
It sounds like a bad battery,
but keep an eye on the charger which could be suspect. My 2 group 27 wet cells were loosing water at an alarming rate which I had blamed on summertime extremely hot temperatures. As they were not getting to full charge I replaced them with two new deep cycles and a week after the inboard charger failed. I suspect the charger was failing and cooked them batteries. It all went down so fast it did not occur to me and I did not get a chance to test charger output and performance on the three cycles. Test the battery that had the exposed cells and test your charger output individually to each battery. With two new batteries and a new Truecharge 20A the problem was corrected but I never new its nature.
but keep an eye on the charger which could be suspect. My 2 group 27 wet cells were loosing water at an alarming rate which I had blamed on summertime extremely hot temperatures. As they were not getting to full charge I replaced them with two new deep cycles and a week after the inboard charger failed. I suspect the charger was failing and cooked them batteries. It all went down so fast it did not occur to me and I did not get a chance to test charger output and performance on the three cycles. Test the battery that had the exposed cells and test your charger output individually to each battery. With two new batteries and a new Truecharge 20A the problem was corrected but I never new its nature.
Same Thing
I had the same thing happen, my fault, to much time between checks. I filled the batteries and have been watching them. It seems that the batteries may be discharging a little faster than before but its hard to tell, to many variables. When I checked the specific gravity it registered in the fare range on all cells, not just the one that exposed the plate tops. Of course I didn't check it before so I have no idea what the reading was prior to the low water event. One though is I may now have so much water in the batteries that the reading is a tad low. The real test will be this winter when they sit for 2 month, last year they had very little lost of charge
I had the same thing happen, my fault, to much time between checks. I filled the batteries and have been watching them. It seems that the batteries may be discharging a little faster than before but its hard to tell, to many variables. When I checked the specific gravity it registered in the fare range on all cells, not just the one that exposed the plate tops. Of course I didn't check it before so I have no idea what the reading was prior to the low water event. One though is I may now have so much water in the batteries that the reading is a tad low. The real test will be this winter when they sit for 2 month, last year they had very little lost of charge
Red Bud
Bert, Is your boat up at Red Bud at Oologah? I noticed you are from Oklahoma. I've got my boat up there as well.
Bert, Is your boat up at Red Bud at Oologah? I noticed you are from Oklahoma. I've got my boat up there as well.
I had the same issue as Benny...
When I bought my '85 Lancer in '05, the owner told me the batteries were new. But the charger was 20 years old. The batteries constantly had to be refilled. I suspected the charger and replace it. Next time I came down to the boat (one week later), both batteries were very hot to the touch, dry, and the lables had turned black. Well that answered that question. Batteries were also dead. Killed by the 20 year old charger. So I replaced both batteries with Wal Mart brand. The batteries and charger are working fine. Lesson learned there. If the battery is dry, it is toast.
When I bought my '85 Lancer in '05, the owner told me the batteries were new. But the charger was 20 years old. The batteries constantly had to be refilled. I suspected the charger and replace it. Next time I came down to the boat (one week later), both batteries were very hot to the touch, dry, and the lables had turned black. Well that answered that question. Batteries were also dead. Killed by the 20 year old charger. So I replaced both batteries with Wal Mart brand. The batteries and charger are working fine. Lesson learned there. If the battery is dry, it is toast.
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