Battery discharge

[crgross1]

I have made ALL the improvements and then some that were suggested for connections to the battery, connected an ammeter between the positive battery post and its cable which shows no current flow yet the battery completely discharges over a period of a week.
This is the case whether the boat is in the water or out.
Any and all suggestions for solutions to this problem gratefully appreciated !!

 

[Texasmark]

Re: Battery discharge

First of all, will it self discharge without connections on it? Have you have it load tested at WM or AZ?

If you passed the first two questions, start hooking up accessories/engine, etc., one at a time (give it time to show if it is discharging.....don't have to wait the whole week) till you find it. Time consuming, yes, but sounds like you are chasing an elusive weasel.

The battery should be at around 12.75v give or take 0.1 at full charge after 24 hrs from last charging activity. If you hook a (the) sucker on it it should show a drop of 0.2 or so within a couple of hours.

HTH
Mark

Mark

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Battery discharge

If it discharges with either cable removed you have a battery that obviously won't hold a charge and needs to be replaced. Doesn't matter how old it is. Tear the label off the top, remove the caps and you will likely find one or more cells low on water.

 

[j_martin]

Re: Battery discharge

Modern batteries have shared cell walls. If there is a pinhole leak in between any 2 cells, they will discharge.

I'm amazed that batteries live more than a month with the beating they take in a boat.

John

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Battery discharge

sound like a dead cell or low battery acid. we use to pour the old acid out of dead batteries, then rinse them out, with the hose. put new acid in and charge them, it kept you going, and recharge at night.

 

[Texasmark]

Re: Battery discharge

Hey tas, funny you mention that. I had an associate that was one of our sharpest (sometimes you wonder) engineers....always experimenting with things. He had a farm in N. Okla. and was tired of working in the city. So he figured that if he could restore old batteries (like you said) he could make a living near his farm. So he would go to used car lots and do his thing.

So he told me that one day he had a couple of strips of 12v batteries hanging off rectified house power (120V rectified) and a couple of strips means somewhere around 25 batteries in this room, all in a state of charge and accidentally knocked the connection off one.

Obviously the room was full of hydrogen and the spark that originated caused the whole place to blow up. He said it darn near killed him and the only thing that saved his eyes was the fact that he was wearing glasses. :% After his recovery, he went back to the factory. d

Mark