Earlier I had reported that I was in the process of recharging a
battery that had been weak and I thought might have lost its water
prematurely. After a trickle charge of 24 hours, a hydrometer test
still seemed to reveal one weak cell (the five balls would rise to the
top, then drop back down. On other cells, only one ball would drop.)
The bad cell was not one of the originally dry ones. Very little
"gurgling" action was shown in the cell while charging.
I had the battery tested at the local Autozone. He put it
through a load test and proclaimed it to be in excellent condition.
(The voltage was over 12 volts.) He said the bad hydrometer reading
was probably due to imcompletely mixed acid and water.
The battery has not been put back into service, but before I
did, I thought I would ask the experts! Did the hydrometer test lie,
or is the cell really NG, in which case the AZ guy was wrong and
I'll have a future problem again. (Really can't imagine the cell would
be bad if the battery put out more than 12 volts under load.)
Once again, thanks so much for your help!
Frank