sivankls

My 3 year old 100AH battery used for a 500 Watt inverter will not take charge beyond 13.2 Volts...used a high current pulse charger still no luck !! the floating voltage is around 12 volts...no internal shorts...any help will be appreciated !!

Nigel Goodwin

Buy a new battery! - it's 3 years old, it's knackered!.

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chemelec

And if you used a regular car battery last time, This time Buy a Deep Cycle Battery.
They usually Last Longer for this type of use.

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sivankls

Its tubular...Deep cycle battery....I still believe it can be recovered..by high current pulse charging !! to remove sulphanation
U have mail Chemelec

bryan1

Basically all your saying is your 100 a/h isnt keeping charged. Now what voltage is it, how are you charging it and as Chemelec says is it a deep cycle battery. You also dont state what devices you are using and what charge controller you have to keep the battery in a good charging state.

Provide all the answers to the questions above then maybe we can provide some answers to your problem.

I'm not being mean just without any real information I can't give you a decent accurate response.

Cheers Bryan

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sivankls

The charger is a Constant voltage current limited charger...the open circuit charger output volts is 14.0..the current is limited to 6 Amps..but falls off to nil when the battery charges to 14.Volts.With this charger, the battery gets to 13.2 volts..then I tried a pulse charger, the battery gets slightly hot and the acid bubbles..but still the battery volts is 13.2Volts..

ericgibbs

Check the specific gravity [SG] of the acid,using a Hydrometer, it should be 1.280SG for a battery in good condition, when fully charged.

Lets know what it is.

sivankls

What if its lower or higher...Should i change the acid or clean the cells and again add the acid ?

ericgibbs

The reason I am asking about the SG is that as the battery is 3 years old, you may have lost acid due to heavy gassing, which you have replaced with distilled water.

A local garage should have a hydrometer to check it, lets know what it is?

A one time you could buy made up battery acid, I used to charge up the battery and check the SG of each cell and top up with battery acid as required to get the SG to near 1.280.

sivankls

A local auto electrical shop had it checked (SG) they say its almost normal...They simulated cold cranking with a device drawing very high current, the battery dropped to 8.5 volts but observed small bubbles (gassing ?)....What they say is its almost end of life..but I still hope it can be recovered by high current pulses!!!

chemelec

It Sounds like you have Shorted Cell or partially open cell.
NOT a Sulfation problem.

Get a New Battery.

And if your using this battery in a Standby situation, your charge voltage should be about 13.6 volts.
Not the 14 to 14.6 volts as used in a Cycle sitiuation, like in a car.

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sivankls

The no load battery volts is 12.45....

ericgibbs

A couple of links, the 2nd link pdf gives data on battery aging.

http://www.wind-sun.com/PDF_Files/battvoltandsoc.pdf

http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/...9_265/_article

mneary

You might consider running your actual load and see how the battery performs.

If your battery is in any type of critical application, you should consider this against the cost of a new one when deciding your strategy. Also, consider the cost of your time determining what to do with an aged battery compared to just getting a new or professionally restored battery.

If you get a new battery, you have the opportunity to actually get the correct type.

sivankls

Therz marked improvement in the condition of battery..I have set the pulse rate as 0.5 second ON 3 seconds OFF..Now no warming or excess gassing up of battery..and with charging for 4 days the battery volts have risen to 13.8Volts...the no load battery volts after disconnecting charger and measuring after 6 hours was 12.9 volts..now I need to measure the AH capacity...