Battery equalization in southern California

judelaurenzo25g wrote:

NinerBikes wrote:

judelaurenzo25g wrote:
Ive left my batteries the PD charger all week. I will pull them from the Rv this weekend and take measurement on the cells and post my reading. I will attempt to equalize them on Saturday. I will keep everyone posted.

I take it you bought a good hydrometer to measure the specific gravity.

Ninerbikes,

Yes It looks like a glass turkey baster with a thermometer inside.

So I took my specific gravity reading with my hydrometer.

Battery #1
1250
1200
1225

Battery #2
1225
1250
1200

Doesn't look good does it...?

Go put them on your equalizer charger, the manual model... and get back to us late tonight or tomorrow morning... you know now what you are looking for.

You are looking for about 1.270 to 1.275 or 1.280 across all six of them. 1.290 or 1.300 would be outstanding, but not to be expected with the age of these batteries.

Be as precise as you can be with your readings tomorrow morning... down to the .10 instead of the .25, if you can.

NinerBikes wrote:

judelaurenzo25g wrote:
Ive left my batteries the PD charger all week. I will pull them from the Rv this weekend and take measurement on the cells and post my reading. I will attempt to equalize them on Saturday. I will keep everyone posted.

I take it you bought a good hydrometer to measure the specific gravity.

Ninerbikes,

Yes It looks like a glass turkey baster with a thermometer inside.

So I took my specific gravity reading with my hydrometer.

Battery #1
1250
1200
1225

Battery #2
1225
1250
1200

Doesn't look good does it...?

KP, Mex doesn't like to spend a lot of time EQing batteries. He can correct me, of course, but I think his recommendations are to accomplish the task quickly.

NinerBikes wrote:
OP has a pair of golf cart batteries, in series, so he needs 11 amps at 16.0V. Same amperage, double the voltage.

Mex can correct me if I'm wrong, but I am quite certain that, unless the mercury is pretty dang low, those GCs will still bubble vigorously... eventually... at a much lower current.

Heck. Mena doesn't even like using his 500 mA floater on his L-16s because they bubble, albeit... a little... at ~14.2V. Once topped, of course.

Point is... if you don't have the killer, hot-rodded charger of a half-century-long battery engineer... you can still equalize batteries... so long as it's not super cold outside.

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
If every single last cell does not bubble vigorously for at least an hour, verify the voltage when equalizing. I have had golf car batteries take many many hours to start bubbling at 5%. One set took days at this value (11 amperes) to manage the start bubbling.

Group 24 (4) amperes

Group 27 (5) amperes

Group 29 (6) amperes

Golf Car (11) amperes max 8 volts

L-16 (17) amperes max 8 volts

2-volt Cell (55) amperes max 2.7 volts

OP has a pair of golf cart batteries, in series, so he needs 11 amps at 16.0V. Same amperage, double the voltage.

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
If every single last cell does not bubble vigorously for at least an hour, verify the voltage when equalizing. I have had golf car batteries take many many hours to start bubbling at 5%. One set took days at this value (11 amperes) to manage the start bubbling.

Group 24 (4) amperes

Group 27 (5) amperes

Group 29 (6) amperes

Golf Car (11) amperes max 8 volts

L-16 (17) amperes max 8 volts

2-volt Cell (55) amperes max 2.7 volts

Great stuff thanks! Looks like my EQ amps isn't high enough though. I EQ mine at 8 amps for the whole bank. Maybe I need that adjustable Mean Well power supply.

If every single last cell does not bubble vigorously for at least an hour, verify the voltage when equalizing. I have had golf car batteries take many many hours to start bubbling at 5%. One set took days at this value (11 amperes) to manage the start bubbling.

Group 24 (4) amperes

Group 27 (5) amperes

Group 29 (6) amperes

Golf Car (11) amperes max 8 volts

L-16 (17) amperes max 8 volts

2-volt Cell (55) amperes max 2.7 volts

judelaurenzo25g wrote:
Ive left my batteries the PD charger all week. I will pull them from the Rv this weekend and take measurement on the cells and post my reading. I will attempt to equalize them on Saturday. I will keep everyone posted.

I take it you bought a good hydrometer to measure the specific gravity.

Ive left my batteries the PD charger all week. I will pull them from the Rv this weekend and take measurement on the cells and post my reading. I will attempt to equalize them on Saturday. I will keep everyone posted.

It's battery time check in for the OP.