Time taken to charge batteries VS alt size.

So time to drill eh? Will drilling possibly lead to a fix, or just confirm they are stuffed? I doubt they would be low on electrolyte given the under charging they have been getting.

Just tried batt 2, under 2 hours @ 5a.

 

pull off any labels on the top and send me a photo of th top from above either using advanced or send to Noosapropshop@yahoo.com.au in j peg format and I will telll you where to prise the top off

 

Here are some pics. Excuse the dodgy wiring. I just quickly joined some wires together so I could charge them in parallel as I drained them all. On "fast charge" its charging at about 13.8v with all 4 hooked up. I did have it on "engine start" where it was sitting at 14.8v and rising @ 6a per battery, but I am going to bed and don't want to leave it overnight as "engine start" will go over 17v if I let it. What is the maximum voltage I can charge to temporarily (a few hours)? You said something about 15.5v? This will be the first time these things have had any real current put though them. I have seen some batteries come good with a boost before. Maybe I can hammer them hard once I can top the water off?

The idea of these sealed things is a joke anyway. The supercharge one in my car tipped over when I was transporting it in the boot and leaked acid out anyway!

 

Integrated carrying handles, charging terminals, "magic eye", not what I would call cheap!

 

I've had very good results with "desulphation pulse chargers". It won't fix most completely ruined batteries but it is giving me almost twice the life from batteries.

 

"desulphation pulse chargers" can I mimic this somehow?

 

You could try this one (do a google search). Mine is the same brand.

BatteryMINDer 12 Volt OnBoard Desulphator / Conditioner

 

Hmm. Wonder if this is for real or snake oil. Seems almost too good to be true.

 

I can see a long thin lid on the opposite side to the terminals ...prise it off with a flat screwdriver and you will get access ///only cure for sulpahtion /////Mild sulphation is a long charge at low curent 1 A for 2 Weeks ...never worked for me in 30 years .....dirty unsmoothed rectified ac is the best.......high charge levels just disintegrate the plates ....if the acid is redish brown then its been over charged and the plates have broken up ...

bite the bullet go buy some batteries !!!

 

I will try to prize the cap off. The battery in my trailer yacht is a car type battery with a similar lid. I tried to prize it off too but it felt like it was going to break before it came off. Are these things glued on?

As for the long charge at 1A. Will providing 1A eventually raise the voltage over 14.5 volts once the batteries are fully charged? If it does will that damage it?

Also what is the definition of "high charge levels"? If I am charging at 15.5V and only providing 6A is this a high charge level? What about when I charge at 14.5 volts and the battery is taking 20A because its flat? Which one of these is a high charge level? And can a high charge level help when used sparingly? Obviously if you leave it on a high charge it will damage something.

My mate doesn't want to spend money on this boat as it will be up for sale soon.

 

If you were using a garage charger to get a battery up for a restart then 20 A would be considered a high charge BUT you would have a temp sensor in the centre cell to cut it out at 65 deg C.....batteries dont take more than about 25A however big your alternator and that drops off fast .
You can try the long slow dirty dc charge but I would try drillin a hole 10mm dia but put a pipe arond the drill so you only have 1 cm sticking out and drill on the centre line opposite the 6 circles you can see in the plastic moulding on the opposite side to the eye.....

If you have had it on charge for a couple of days...the 6A will be ok but the 15.5v is high and I think is sulphated .....if it will only do 2 hrs at 5 a then its fookowed.....100 ah at k mart was $200 2 year warantee...ooooooo$$$$$

 

I ripped that plastic cap off one. I don't have a hydrometer handy. I will get one tomorrow. I am pretty sure these caps are not meant to come off EVER!

In hindsight I would have been better off drilling holes in it. A hole will be easier to seal than this cap which was glued onto a matrix of channels designed to condense the gases back into water. I had to mangle it to get it off. I wasn't too worried given the batteries are probably stuffed. The fluid level is good though.

I have been putting the 4 batteries in parallel on "engine start" when I am home then switching the charger back off when the voltage gets over 15.5 for 30 min or so. Seems to take longer to get to 15.5 again each time. Maybe they are starting to accept charge! That said they are only taking 1A each at 15.2V.

 

yes dennis and when you swith off they are in parallel and run eachother down ......just leave them on for a week ....awaiting hydrometer test results
looks like this hey ....

 

We are going out on the boat this weekend. So I will put the 3 back in and keep the one that I opened for testing. If I can get it to come good (doubt it) I will take the others back off and give them the same treatment. I have hydrometer now. Will test today. I only turn them off for a few min to let them them stabilize when I am blasting them with engine charge. I cant leave it on that too long or voltage will go to high. I can't see them discharging much the, specially considering they are were all within 0.01V of each other at rest. When I am not there I just leave them on fast charge which only puts in about 0.4A each at around 13.9V.

Yeah that pic is similar but these ones have a painful ridge in the middle that was very well joined so it ripped and cracked the lid.

 

Ok so I tested the SG and it is off the scale! From 1275-1300+ The highest ones had a dusty liquid appearance with a hint of red. I didn't wait long after charging to measure though. Will this matter much?

Prognosis?