Warm battery
Submitted: Saturday, Feb 13, 2010 at 18:55
ThreadID:
76002
Views:
2699
Replies:
4
FollowUps:
0
This Thread has been Archived
Member - Keith C (NSW)
G/day all, I need some advice please. I bought a Powertech Plus 4 stage battery charger recently,it does both large and small batteries ,25-100 ah., at 6 amps , and 100+ah.,at 16 amps.Today I put a 105ah., wet cell deep cycle made by Federal that I use for my trolling motor on the charger .I just went to
check it and the battery case is very warm,too warm to touch for any longer than 20 secs, the water level is ok but the battery is bubbling a bit, I removed the vents before starting and covered the holes with paper towel to absorb any moisture.Should the battery be getting this warm???
Regards Keith C
Reply By: fugwurgin - Saturday, Feb 13, 2010 at 19:16
Saturday, Feb 13, 2010 at 19:16
Hi Keith
Before i say my peice i just want to say im no battery expert but have had a similar thing happen to me a few wekks ago.
I have an Sipercharge Allrounder 105ah battery, was not holding charge and was getting very hot when charging.
I have a 3 stage battery charger, the bloke at batteryworld (where i bought both the battery and charger) told me to put the setting on calcium (instead of GEL or WET which were the other options) he said these batteries have some calcium in there and would need a charge voltage of around 16volt, which is what the charger puts out when set on Calcium (obviously the current and voltage changes as the chargers senses the batteries state of charge) when set on WET it puts out around 14volt. I took the battery back and they replaced it, he said perhaps i should be using WET instead of CALCIUM despite initial recommendation. He said that the high voltage may have destroyed a cell. The battery charger was getting hot because there was a "dropped cell", the charger was sensing that the battery wasnt fully charged (even after being on charge for 24hrs). The OK cells were full but because the charger could detect that there was something wrong and kept trying to ram more charge into it, causing the cells to get hot (overcharging).
I am sure many chargers would be smarter than
mine but obviously
mine didnt stop charging.
my suggestion would be to make sure you are using the correct setting ie WET for WET etc. i know that sounds obvious but i was caught out.
Also
check the cells with a hygrometer to see if any are dodgy.
Hope you get it sorted.
Anth
AnswerID:
404074
Reply By: PeterInSa - Saturday, Feb 13, 2010 at 20:48
Saturday, Feb 13, 2010 at 20:48
Keith,
Firstly I am not a Deep Cycle Battery expert but in my experience the battery has had it. I understand that if a deep cycle battery drops below 10.5 volts for more than 5 hours they cannot be recharged properly and if left for a longer period, the battery just gets hot, very hot and cannot be recharged.
At 10,5 volts I think would still drive your motor but at a cost. Most Vans these days have cutoffs that disconnect the battery from the load (lights/TV etc)when the battery voltage reaches (from memory) 11.5 volts, so the battery does not reach the low voltage/Not rechargable condition.
Peter
AnswerID:
404090
Reply By: Battery Value Pty Ltd - Saturday, Feb 13, 2010 at 21:43
Saturday, Feb 13, 2010 at 21:43
This post has been read by the moderation team and has been moderated due to a breach of The Advertising/Self-Promotion Rule .
Forum Moderation Team
AnswerID:
404100
Reply By: Member - Keith C (NSW) - Sunday, Feb 14, 2010 at 08:26
Sunday, Feb 14, 2010 at 08:26
Thank you all for your help,It sounds like I need a new battery, The old one isn't holding charge.I will
check your ebay deal, thanks Peter
AnswerID:
404126