Specific Gravity varied widely after topping up.

[landyacht318]

The other day I checked my 9 month old Crown batteries and found the plates exposed slightly on a few cells and cursed mightily. I hadn't checked them in about 3 months. I covered the cells with distilled water and charged them.

The next day I got more distilled water and filled the cells to proper level and charged them again.

The day before I added water, they were holding 12.6+ volts overnight using 20 amp hours out of a 230 hour bank.

The day after topping up the cells they dropped quickly to 12.2 using the same amount. An Hour ago I pulled out the hydrometer.
I found:
1 cell at 1.290
2 cells at 1.250
4 cells at 1.275
2 cells at 1.265
1 cell at 1.270
2 cells at 1.255

The thermometer on my hydrometer said -2 for temperature compensation.

So, I disconnected the batteries from the RV, managed to force my Schumacher charger to go into it's EQ mode and adjusted my solar setpoints upto 16 volts and tilted my panel at the sun.

Right now they are taking 17.3 amps at 15.5 volts, bubbling away aggressively. I am monitoring temperature and they are at 75f. The ambient temp is 75f.

Obviously I am hoping for the best, yet expecting the worst, and wishing I had the money to go with AGM 9 months ago. It is not really easy to check my batteries and I went too long and let a couple cells drop too low.

Hopefully this EQ cycle restores the performance.

My questions are: Can I get the SG back upto what I recorded when they were new(1.295 to 1.285)? Is that what I should hoping/ aiming for?

Does the max SG level determine how sulfated each cell it, never to return even after an aggressive eq cycle?

I've been plugging into the grid much more with these batteries, which is no doubt why water consumption increased, but the cycles on these batteries have been very shallow and not very many of them. No cycle went below 55% SOC and most were above 85% SOC. So if i killed another set of batteries by letting them get too low I will really be cursing up a storm.

I don't know how long the Schumacher is going to allow the eq cycle to continue, and the sun is dropping. It was not easy to get the schumacher to go into EQ mode. Since I started typing voltage has dropped by .1 and the amps by 1 but the temp has increased by 1.5. I had to try 3 times by turning on 40+ amps of load and waiting until the voltage dropped below 12.3.

I'll check the SG again after it shuts off and report back.

[BFL13]

Good news that they are still usable. ( I did say they weren't all the way dead ISTR) I don't know what is normal for water topping up timing though.

My 6s need a little water every month or two. I can't tell if it is from Floating at perhaps too high a voltage for the ambient temperature (doubt that), or from frequent shorter term high amp dicharging and charging when being deep cycled.

I am amazed to read on here about people who hardly ever have to add water to their batteries. I wonder sometimes if that is a sign that I am a bad person! 🙂

In any case, I find it is vital to check the levels in the batteries at least once a month and top up as required. Also then to do the Equalize trick with the VEC1093DBD. These are fairly new 6s too.

I just use the hydrometer to suck up fresh water and squirt it in the cells. I don't know how much water that comes to in ounces or cubic pixocaples or whatever we are supposed to be using now as a unit of water. 😞

It seems the problem with the OP's batteries is that they are so hard to get at to monitor them. Is it possible to tow a little cargo trailer that has the battery bank in it and the big inverter, with a solar panel on top? That would help for ease of access and be sort of a nifty project for the handy-man too. ISTR at least one other Forum member does this or similar.

[landyacht318]

Batteries are now performing okay, not great, but using lots of water despite cranking back solar acceptance duration and voltages as well as float voltage

Each cell took two squeezes of distilled h20 from the hydrometer without the float in it. At this rate they will need to be topped up monthly, and it has been cool outside.

I didn't check SG tonight.

Have not yet asked distributor about pro rated warranty.

[landyacht318]

Well, a little surprise just now.

First right on the stickers on the top of the batteries it says pro rata warranty. Proof of purchase required...low maintenance..bla bla bla...

All the SG's rose!

The range was 1.305 to 1.260 with the thermometer on the hydrometer saying to add 7.

1 cell at 1.260 formerly read 1.250 then 1.235
2 cells at 1.270 one of these cells formerly read 1.255 then 1.230
2 cells at 1.275
2 cells at 1.280
3 cells at 1.285
1 cell at 1.300 This cell was 1.290 then 1.280
1 cell at 1.305 This cell was at 1.270 and then 1.275

Some of these numbers read higher than my first readings when the batteries were new.

After that first aggressive EQ cycle, the level in the cells was a few mm above the hanging arms.

Tonight they were several mm below on all of them.

I don't know why the solar could not reach 14.8 today despite starting on nearly fully charged batteries.


I don't know if the rise in SG is due to sitting at or near 14.7 for 6 hours today. I did drive a whopping 8 miles today, but no alternator current to these batteries.

Or perhaps the BatteryMinder 12248 actually did something that 15.6 volts at 16 amps could not.

Anybody else notice it is hardest to get the bubbles off the float on the lowest reading cells?

The one cell which only read 1.260 appeared like it had a lot of micro bubbles, and it was the most difficult to get the bubbles off the float. I actually quit rinsed the whole Hyd, wiped it and the float clean before being able to get a read without bubbles sticking to the float.

All other cells the electrolyte was clear, and the cells 1.285 and above shed the bubbles easily.

I'm gonna run the batteryminder all night tonight in Maintenance mode, but it really does not like my cycling fridge and shuts off often.

I did take the batteries out of parallel and ran a 5 amp load on each and they performed very similarly.

[landyacht318]

I forgot to call the battery distributor today. I was busy adding insulation to my fridge and cabinet. A little rebuilding is necessary.

I was plugged in last night with a battery minder floating them all night, and the solar could not bring the batteries upto 14.8 volts today even taking all loads off the batteries(fridge/fans).

The solar seems to be down by 20% despite cloud free skies. Only getting 9 amps max from 198 watts. Used to seeing at least 11.5 in these conditions.

I'm starting to think I should unparallel the batteries and see if one drops to 10.5. I'd think the Hydrometer would indicate a shorted cell, but it could have happened since I last checked.

[HiTech]

landyacht318 wrote:
It Goes to float after it holds the programmed time at acceptance.

Any update?

Jim

[landyacht318]

I don't have the money to just throw at this problem, and wouldn't if I did. If they want to warranty them great, if not I'm just gonna run them till a cell shorts out or they just cannot produce 30 amp hours overnight.

I hardly think that pushing a couple buttons to raise the solar voltage setpoints well above the schumacher's max voltage to try an equalization cycle wasn't worth the minimal effort of at least trying.

Crawling inside my cabinet and removing a hatch to check water and electrolyte is a PITA, but no way around that.

The problem can be entirely solved by never looking at my battery monitor again, and just replacing the batteries when for some inexplicable reason they can't run my fridge overnight, but that's not gonna happen either.

I personally have never seen a case where a battery recovered from even a small portion of exposed plates and my own is no different.

While the last two months have been pretty hot around here, it is nothing like what the rest of the country dealt with this summer. Coastal San Diego is a mild climate. I did ask Bluesky if it were possible to add a temp sensor capability to my 2512i, but the response I got said that the 2512ix has a temp sensor capability.

They did not drop below 12.1 last night after removing 56 A/h. They have some life left in them.

[time2roll]

I would not have even made half the effort before just getting new batteries.
Never seen or heard of a miracle save you are looking for.

[teddyu]

OP, Why are you attempting to equalize/charge the batteries with the solar system connected? Did you ever consider that the solar may be reacting like a parallel battery? If I was trying to force the Schumacher into a higher charge rate, I would isolate the solar system from the battery system until everything was topped off. Then the discharge tests you've been running are conclusive. Two things in parallel quadruple the potnetial results. JM2¢...

[MEXICOWANDERER]

You might want to consider adjusting a new battery's electrolyte to "tropic blend" specification. This works well in places like Florida and the southwest (and here). Warm electrolyte is angrier than cool electrolyte and continues to take it out on plates and paste even when it is supposed to be kicking back when the battery is resting. This adjustment is best done when a battery is brand new and performed by a battery manufacturer or distributor. They can also amplify the benefit (and slight loss of performance) inherent with changing to a tropic blend.

[pianotuna]

Hi Jim,

Send me a pm with your email address and I'll send you a copy. Thanks for letting me know it is MIA.

[HiTech]

I get cannot be found when I click it.

Jim

[pianotuna]

Hi Jim,

I've posted a temperature vs gassing voltage on freecampsites.net.

2nd message is about gassing

[HiTech]

mexbungalows wrote:
Using just the alternator and no cycling a replacement Diehard battery went from November 1998 to April 2011, without benefit of gizmos.

A simple charge maintainer, occasional driving including going over driveway entrances to stir up electrolyte is darned hard to beat. A center tap transformer delivers 60Hz pulses and a high frequency (what isn't high frequency these days?)charger delivers a "pulse" charge automatically. I stood to make a lot of money in the early 90's. All I had to due was to present a gizmo high frequency regulated charger and label it "High Frequency Automatic Desulfation Charge") and collect a six figure check. I couldn't do that then and I could not do it now. I used Ramcar Battery cells enclosed in Pyrex containers so I could see what was happening. My kWh meters NiChrome test loads, and variable frequency military test power supplies could not affect sulfation. Even to GHz levels and thousands of watts. I quipped about the tests here. Mark Daugherty president of Ramcar shook my hand after I admitted "This can not be done by any technology I am aware of" and said "You'll never be rich but you'll go to your grave with a clear conscious".

Hands-Off maintenance is hard to come by. Batteries that don't bounce down the road once in awhile have to be stirred (correctly). Float voltage at 05C is an entirely different animal than it is at 35C. Trying to outwit inevitable chemical changes takes more than a simple maintenance charge regimen.

Time is money. If a person has no time to monitor a battery and adjust accordingly, it'll cost them money. Some people hit it lucky and get most of the requirements fulfilled. Most do not.

Really interesting points.

I have had the worst luck with batteries in my various SHOs, all of which run notoriously high under-hood temps and eat batteries and alternators on a regular basis. I need to learn more about maintaining batteries that live in higher temp environments now that I am in Texas.

Jim

[pianotuna]

Hi,

Sorry to hear of the battery woes. I'd add temperature compensation to the solar if you can. That will reduce the electrolyte loss in any future flood jar.

Good luck with the warranty. Answer any questions they have, but don't volunteer information.

Mex, as usual, thank you for sharing your knowledge of the "color code" on the positive plate erosion.

[landyacht318]

It Goes to float after it holds the programmed time at acceptance.