Meaning of Excessive Water Loss in a Marine Battery
 

I have a 2-3 yr old Diehard Deep Cycle Marine Battery. The battery
is stored properly during the winter. In the spring, each cell is
filled to the proper level. This year, the boat launched in late June,
and has been used an average of once a week since.
The other day, the battery was weak. On check, the water level
had fallen to the top of the zinc in two cells. The battery has since
been refilled and is being recharged.
My question: Is this possibly a normal amount of water usage,
in which case I should simply be checking more frequently OR is there
an abnormal condition of the battery causing this, OR is something
external causing this such as excessive charging?
Your help is very much appreciated!
Frank

Every wet cell battery needs to have the
electrolyte level checked regularly.

If you didn't check the level between June and October and it is now down to
the lead plates, that could be considered lack of maintenance.

If you have a cheapie charger that you keep connected most of the time (rather
than a "smart" charger), you could be boiling away your electrolyte by over
charging.

If the battery is three years old, it may be approaching the end of the trail
in any event. If so, recycle it, get the best battery
you can afford, and take special care of it.

In article , frank1492
@worldnet.att.net says...
I have a 2-3 yr old Diehard Deep Cycle Marine Battery. The battery
is stored properly during the winter. In the spring, each cell is
filled to the proper level. This year, the boat launched in late June,
and has been used an average of once a week since.
The other day, the battery was weak. On check, the water level
had fallen to the top of the zinc in two cells. The battery has since
been refilled and is being recharged.
My question: Is this possibly a normal amount of water usage,
in which case I should simply be checking more frequently OR is there
an abnormal condition of the battery causing this, OR is something
external causing this such as excessive charging?
Your help is very much appreciated!
Frank



It quite well can be loss from normal use. If it continues your trouble
may the voltage regulator but I wouldn't panic over it yet.

--
MikeG
Heirloom Woods
www.heirloom-woods.net

On 04 Oct 2004 18:04:52 GMT, (Gould 0738) wrote:

Every wet cell battery needs to have the
electrolyte level checked regularly.

If you didn't check the level between June and October and it is now down to
the lead plates, that could be considered lack of maintenance.

If you have a cheapie charger that you keep connected most of the time (rather
than a "smart" charger), you could be boiling away your electrolyte by over
charging.

If the battery is three years old, it may be approaching the end of the trail
in any event. If so, recycle it, get the best battery
you can afford, and take special care of it.

The only thing I would add is that if it's only two cells, then it's
probably the result of age and/or overcharging. I sort of disagree
with the end of it's life cycle - I have a Megatron starting battery
that is five years old and is still strong. It's begining the end of
it's use cycle and won't see next year, but five years is about the
max.

Having said that, I changed over to AGM batteries for my trolling
motor on the Ranger and that's what's going into the Ranger to replace
the Megatron.

Just out of curiosity, which two cells was it, middle or either ends?

All the best,

Tom
--------------

"What the hell's the deal with this newsgroup...
is there a computer terminal in the day room of
some looney bin somewhere?"

Bilgeman - circa 2004

Thank you all for your thoughts. I will see if I can get
the battery up to full charge and keep it there, assuming
it was just a maintenance issue. Hopefully that will get
me through the season ( a couple more weeks.)
I'll then get a new battery in the spring.
Frank

frank relates:

-Thank you all for your thoughts. I will see if I can get the battery up to
full charge and keep it there, assuming it was just a maintenance issue.
Hopefully that will get me through the season ( a couple more weeks.)
I'll then get a new battery in the spring.-

Bilge- Loss of water is mainly due to to off-gassing during charging, and
evaporation.

You might already know this, but storing your battery on a concrete floor or a
steel deck will cause it to self-discharge. Happily, plywood or scrap 2x4's are
cheap.

Which reminds me, I have to check the general alarm batteries, and the radio
batteries, and the Emergency 24 voltdc circuit batteries...

Jeez...now I'm sorry that I read this thread!

Good Luck;


Mutiny is a Management Tool
Select Your Tattoo while Sober

On 06 Oct 2004 16:07:14 GMT, (Bilgeman) wrote:

frank relates:

-Thank you all for your thoughts. I will see if I can get the battery up to
full charge and keep it there, assuming it was just a maintenance issue.
Hopefully that will get me through the season ( a couple more weeks.)
I'll then get a new battery in the spring.-

Bilge- Loss of water is mainly due to to off-gassing during charging, and
evaporation.

You might already know this, but storing your battery on a concrete floor or a
steel deck will cause it to self-discharge. Happily, plywood or scrap 2x4's are
cheap.

You are aware that case leakage is no longer a problem, right? :)

Of course, I don't believe it either, thus I store my boat batteries
on a little plywood shelf in my wood shop over the winter. :)

Which reminds me, I have to check the general alarm batteries, and the radio
batteries, and the Emergency 24 voltdc circuit batteries...

Jeez...now I'm sorry that I read this thread!

And I still have to finish a set of cabinets that I promised my long
suffering wife last Spring.

Thanks for bringing plywood that up. ;)

Later,

Tom