To the Battery Guru's

2 good answers on other forum

First and most important is... I gather this is a normal screw top wet cell battery.
It must be understood that normal wet cell lead acids gas and lose water and an increasing rate as the charge voltage in increased.

13.8 volts is and has been for many decades considered the optimal voltage to charge normal wet cell lead acids ...... it provides the best compromise of charge effectivness and fluid loss.

Modern sealed batteries of many sorts will tolerate and some will argue require a higher nominal charge voltage typicall in the range of 14.2 to 14.5 volt reigon ...... and many of our charging systems ( smart chargers and alternators) are set for this.

Running a normal wet cell battery on a charge system with a higher charge voltage will result in increased if not rapid fluid loss, particularly on a high current charger.

So fluid loss in normal life of the battery explained.

As batteries age everything about them deteriorates ...... charge efficiency, charge holding AND fluid loss ...... if fluid has not been kept up to the battery damage to the plates occurs...... it is a slippery slope of accelrating deterioration.

Even with a new battery, it is possible to boil a "battery dry" in a few days with a modest increase in charge voltage and a high current charger.

Now if you have bunged this normal screw top wet clell battery on a "smart" charger .....it will try and bash as much charge into that battery as fast as possible. Particularly if that charge is designed for or set for sealed batteries .......so nothing is a surprise here.

Remember most of these "smart chargers" are most certainly not, and if they see certain conditions they my change to full up fast charge and not fall back to the lower stages.

If you are running normal screw top wet batteries ...... you must either ensure the charge voltage is no higher than 13.8 volts OR you must terminate charging when the battery gasses freely OR if you are trying to rejuvinate a battery by hammering charge in .... keep the fluid up to the battery.

If you have a vehicle with a modern alternator set for sealed batteries, it is a bad idea to run screw top batteries.

cheers

Internal shorts in the battery. Surprised that the Ctek even tried to charge it.

Another Question for @Bantam,

Picked up a new battery for the other 1/2's Lancer today.
A Century 75D23L.

The Guy at the counter tested it & said it's a bit low, do you want to check for another one.

Said Nah, I'll charge it at home anyway.
Got it home & checked the fluids, & added 80mls of water over the 6 cells to bring it up to the markers.

What I did notice though, was the black deposit you usually only see on older batteries on the yellow caps when I removed them.
Thought this a little unusual for a brand new battery.

It's been on charge for 3 hours now, & the indicator has turned green, but SG across the cells still only ranges from 1225 to 1250, between fair & good on a quality hydrometer.

Other thing I noticed is a black film on the surface of the electrolyte, something I don't recall when filling empty batteries.

Other fact is their battery selector recommends a 55D23L & but the book also recommends the 75D23L.

The difference:=
$170.00 & 500CCA 2 years warranty
Vs
$210.00 & 650CCA 3 years warranty.

Got me wondering if the one I chose has been on the shelf a bit long being the more expensive on & the one not listed in the touch screen battery finder.

Interested in your comments.

Thanks

Phil.



Battery.