OK. Update:
He FINALLY broke out the Australian hydrometer I bought for him YEARS ago. (It's not that he's lazy. Far from it. He's a busy, unretired, workaholic who, at 72, still gets up at 5 to pump iron before starting his day.)
He was motivated by some trouble he's been running into. The bank has been failing to run his propane dryer, MW, etc. He's had to run one of his Honda gennies for laundry, etc.
5 year old Surrette S-480s
Readings:
7 out of 8 read 1.300 in all cells at about 80F via glass float, Australian hydrometer. Hard to argue with those numbers, though the shape of his positive plates is still an unknown.
BUT...
the electrolyte in the 8th (actually #7) couldn't float a helium balloon.
I told him to just get a brand new one. His buddy who sold them to him is working on getting another one with the 7 year, pro-rated warranty.
The controller setting has been 60V, which is the 12V equivalent of 15V. So it may hit 15 per pair by mid day or later each day and then drop overnight. Doesn't seem like a setting that would beat the heck out of a bank of that caliber, but I don't know.
(FYI: He also employs pulse conditioners. It seems they may be doing their job. We'll see how long the other 7 go.)
I asked him to take an individual voltage reading on that battery after a full charge, but he didn't feel like shutting down his system and disconnecting it. Too much work to do. But with crimson red hydrometer readings... it's safe to say the voltage wouldn't be too high... or at least for very long.
So...
based purely on what we know...
what do you think happened here?
