Beautiful day today, not even that hot, breeze was 12-15, no
thunderstorms great day to scrape barnacles from the bottom and do some
sailing. I had not been sailing since mid-June due to the heat and
travel. Got aboard, put in the key, pressed START and
RRRrrr.....rr......r then silence. Huh? I keep my batteries charged
with a solar panel and have never had problems in 20 yrs.
Hmmmm...............OK, I try to relieve compression and get even less,
batteries are really dead. My neighbor has a battery pack for jump
starting his gasoline motor on his pontoon boat, not sure it'll work on
a diesel but we try. I relieve compression and push "Start"
RRRRRRRRRR (compression ON) R......... and silence. Compression OFF,
RRRrr..rr.r and silence. CRAP! OK, So we wont get it started but why
didnt the solar panels keep the batteries charged.
I check my wiring and see that the constant UV exposure has embrittled
the wiring insulation from the solar panel to batteries and it has
simply allowed the wires to corrode thru after 15 yrs.

So, now I have one 4 yr old battery, one 3 yr old battery. Neither has
ever been discharged completely. They were not allowed to discharge by
any use but simply by sitting. Replace or not?

wrote in message ups.com...

|
| So, now I have one 4 yr old battery, one 3 yr old battery. Neither has
| ever been discharged completely. They were not allowed to discharge by
| any use but simply by sitting. Replace or not?
|

Definitely replace 'em both as a set. Three and four year old batteries are
about shot anyhoo. Give the new ones a good first charge because the stores
don't generally bother doing much but putting acid in.

Paladin

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

I think it depends on the quality of the batts. Seems like if they're good
quality to begin with, you should be ok. I would definitely give it a shot.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

wrote in message
ups.com...
Beautiful day today, not even that hot, breeze was 12-15, no
thunderstorms great day to scrape barnacles from the bottom and do some
sailing. I had not been sailing since mid-June due to the heat and
travel. Got aboard, put in the key, pressed START and
RRRrrr.....rr......r then silence. Huh? I keep my batteries charged
with a solar panel and have never had problems in 20 yrs.
Hmmmm...............OK, I try to relieve compression and get even less,
batteries are really dead. My neighbor has a battery pack for jump
starting his gasoline motor on his pontoon boat, not sure it'll work on
a diesel but we try. I relieve compression and push "Start"
RRRRRRRRRR (compression ON) R......... and silence. Compression OFF,
RRRrr..rr.r and silence. CRAP! OK, So we wont get it started but why
didnt the solar panels keep the batteries charged.
I check my wiring and see that the constant UV exposure has embrittled
the wiring insulation from the solar panel to batteries and it has
simply allowed the wires to corrode thru after 15 yrs.

So, now I have one 4 yr old battery, one 3 yr old battery. Neither has
ever been discharged completely. They were not allowed to discharge by
any use but simply by sitting. Replace or not?

Charge them up and measure peak current into a low impedance load (short
circuit). If they deliver their rated current they are still good, the cell
impedance is not high.

Age does not matter, past history does not matter much. Keep them topped off
with distilled water and actually MEASURE their performance.

Don't listen to these old wive's tales.

Bob Crantz

Bad advice. Those batteries are obviously shot. No doubt
sulfphated all to hell.

Paladin


"Bob Crantz" wrote in message . ..
| Charge them up and measure peak current into a low impedance load (short
| circuit). If they deliver their rated current they are still good, the cell
| impedance is not high.
|
| Age does not matter, past history does not matter much. Keep them topped off
| with distilled water and actually MEASURE their performance.
|
| Don't listen to these old wive's tales.
|
| Bob Crantz
|
|

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

http://www.homepower.com/files/desul...mpedance%20%22

"Bob Crantz" wrote...
| Charge them up

Yes, but how? Doesn't it make a difference?


| .... and measure peak current into a low impedance load (short
| circuit). If they deliver their rated current they are still good, the cell
| impedance is not high.
|
| Age does not matter, past history does not matter much. Keep them topped off
| with distilled water and actually MEASURE their performance.
|

Agreed.
A moderate or low load test over a measured time interval is
easy to do and the best way to rate battery performance.
That's better IMHO than a quick high load test, unless you
are specifically testing start batteries.

| Don't listen to these old wive's tales.
|

Hey in some cases, that's all ya got!

Paladin wrote:
Bad advice. Those batteries are obviously shot. No doubt
sulfphated all to hell.
|


If that's all, not a problem... with the right equipment, of
course.

A good charger is not expensive and makes a HUGE difference
in battery life & performance.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

"DSK" wrote in message

A good charger is not expensive and makes a HUGE difference in battery
life & performance.


Bingo!

Battery charging is a science and must be done properly.

Gilligan wrote:
Battery charging is a science and must be done properly.


Looking thru the maintenance log of our tugboat, I saw that
the two previous owners had been replacing batteries after
about 2 years, although they carefully noted level readings
etc etc. The charger was huge buzzing ferro-resonant
contraption, cutting edge state-of-the-art 1920s technology.
I unbolted it and threw it away.

DSK