battery panic-bubbling

[Dibbo]

Just returned to the boat after a hard slog ( Ha) at work to hear the charger fan running, not unusual,but the light on the Shoreline fridge was flashing... as i went to the stern to change the tell tale smell of boiling acid greeted me, turned charger off, an lifted cover, We have 4 110a batteries, the 1st, was very very hot, but the other three were OK, the 1st was hissing and spiting, removal of the plugs showed it wasnt dry, yet, I topped up and put charger on again, same result,boiling.

I have taken this battery out of the circuit now, charger is running,fan isnt so charger isnt over heating, batteries are showing 14.75v on and 13.12 when charger is off, half an hr and the fridge has stopped flashing.

Question is, is the battery knackered or is the charger over charging. Its a Sterling 1250, fully auto 4 step charger/power supply.

Thanks

Dibbo

[Guest]

Just returned to the boat after a hard slog ( Ha) at work to hear the charger fan running, not unusual,but the light on the Shoreline fridge was flashing... as i went to the stern to change the tell tale smell of boiling acid greeted me, turned charger off, an lifted cover, We have 4 110a batteries, the 1st, was very very hot, but the other three were OK, the 1st was hissing and spiting, removal of the plugs showed it wasnt dry, yet, I topped up and put charger on again, same result,boiling.

I have taken this battery out of the circuit now, charger is running,fan isnt so charger isnt over heating, batteries are showing 14.75v on and 13.12 when charger is off, half an hr and the fridge has stopped flashing.

Question is, is the battery knackered or is the charger over charging. Its a Sterling 1250, fully auto 4 step charger/power supply.

Thanks

Dibbo

 

 

Yes

[Dibbo]

Bugger, ta for that. We had been away for 6 days and wondered why battery usage had risen, had to recharge after 3 days, sigh, out comes the wallet

[Chris Pink]

Am I alone in thinking leaving a very high powered battery charger on while you're away for 8 hours as a matter of routine is a Very Bad Idea.

Edited August 9, 2012 by Chris Pink

[Dibbo]

Not sure, Is it?, thought a 4 stage charger was cool, and will self regulate, but I'm used to 6v systems on British motorcycles, interested to others thoughts, that's how we learn.

[ditchcrawler]

Am I alone in thinking leaving a very high powered battery charger on while you're away for 8 hours as a matter of routine is a Very Bad Idea.

Maybe going for more than 3 days between charges with an electric fridge is ?

[Guest]

Not sure, Is it?, thought a 4 stage charger was cool, and will self regulate, but I'm used to 6v systems on British motorcycles, interested to others thoughts, that's how we learn.

 

It will self regulate, and it won't put more charge into one battery than it puts into another unless that battery is faulty.

 

Some members on here try to grandstand what little knowledge they don't have

[Chris Pink]

unless that battery is faulty.

 

 

 

Strange, I thought the OP mentioned a faulty battery. Silly me. Still who am I to offer an opinion when such an expert as yourself gave us such an authoritative and interesting reply.

Edited August 9, 2012 by Chris Pink

[Guest]

Strange, I thought the OP mentioned a faulty battery. Silly me. Still who am I to offer an opinion when such an expert as yourself gave us such an authoritative and interesting reply.

 

Quidditch anyone?

[Dibbo]

So, its safe to say that it is OK to leave the charger on, tho there is no need to, unless batteries are low, and I have a knackered one anyway. so off to battery shop for another .......... Thanks all XX

[ditchcrawler]

So, its safe to say that it is OK to leave the charger on, tho there is no need to, unless batteries are low, and I have a knackered one anyway. so off to battery shop for another .......... Thanks all XX

Do you leave all the rest of the electrics on as well like the pumps and fridge, or is it just the charger running?

[nicknorman]

Its an interesting point - we leave our boat on float charge when not on it - ie for several weeks at a time - with a Mastervolt Combi charger that does all the charging stages but of course would hopefully be on float for the duration. I suspect plenty of people do likewise if marina-based. However as has been demonstrated, it just takes a battery to develop a shorted cell and then the charger kicks into absorbtion and next thing, the duff battery is boiling away. I suppose eventually it would perhaps run out of water and, hydrogen explosions aside, become high resistance and everything would be fine if a little smelly. On the other hand, could the battery go on fire and wreck the boat?

[Dibbo]

Do you leave all the rest of the electrics on as well like the pumps and fridge, or is it just the charger running?

We live aboard, so yes everything else is running, as we come and go to work etc

 

Its an interesting point - we leave our boat on float charge when not on it - ie for several weeks at a time - with a Mastervolt Combi charger that does all the charging stages but of course would hopefully be on float for the duration. I suspect plenty of people do likewise if marina-based. However as has been demonstrated, it just takes a battery to develop a shorted cell and then the charger kicks into absorbtion and next thing, the duff battery is boiling away. I suppose eventually it would perhaps run out of water and, hydrogen explosions aside, become high resistance and everything would be fine if a little smelly. On the other hand, could the battery go on fire and wreck the boat?

A vbery good point, the hydrogen explosion was the worry for me, but of course, this battery was hot, to the touch, and the acid boiling, think we may start charging when required. Solar panels would be our next purchase me thinks, but no one can assume that a battery will short.

[RLWP]

Strange, I thought the OP mentioned a faulty battery. Silly me. Still who am I to offer an opinion when such an expert as yourself gave us such an authoritative and interesting reply.

 

<Richard wonders why his sarcasm meter has just gone off the scale>

Edited August 9, 2012 by RLWP

[The Bagdad Boatman (waits)]

With wind generator or solar panels a safety shunt to absorb overcharging voltage should be fitted. Did your battery bank wiring go from battery 1 to the charger etc. then all other batteries wired in parallel to battery 1, which would mean that electric using the shortest route would overwork battery 1. If you wire the charger/take-off pos to battery one and the charger/take-off neg to battery 4 it would be better.

[Justme]

With wind generator or solar panels a safety shunt to absorb overcharging voltage should be fitted.

 

 

Wrong.

 

 

No dump load is needed for PV if you are using a charge controller.

[Guest]

Its an interesting point - we leave our boat on float charge when not on it - ie for several weeks at a time - with a Mastervolt Combi charger that does all the charging stages but of course would hopefully be on float for the duration. I suspect plenty of people do likewise if marina-based. However as has been demonstrated, it just takes a battery to develop a shorted cell and then the charger kicks into absorbtion and next thing, the duff battery is boiling away. I suppose eventually it would perhaps run out of water and, hydrogen explosions aside, become high resistance and everything would be fine if a little smelly. On the other hand, could the battery go on fire and wreck the boat?

 

We do exactly the same - fortunately for us though when one of our batteries did the same as the OP's we were moving and the batteries were under charge from the alternator. It was when we returned to the marina and tried to fire up the Combi that we discovered the problem as the temp. sensor on the bank wouldn't allow the charger to kick in.

 

Other members on here have had batteries explode under charge.

[smileypete]

Just returned to the boat after a hard slog ( Ha) at work to hear the charger fan running, not unusual,but the light on the Shoreline fridge was flashing... as i went to the stern to change the tell tale smell of boiling acid greeted me, turned charger off, an lifted cover, We have 4 110a batteries, the 1st, was very very hot, but the other three were OK, the 1st was hissing and spiting, removal of the plugs showed it wasnt dry, yet, I topped up and put charger on again, same result,boiling.

I have taken this battery out of the circuit now, charger is running,fan isnt so charger isnt over heating, batteries are showing 14.75v on and 13.12 when charger is off, half an hr and the fridge has stopped flashing.

Question is, is the battery knackered or is the charger over charging. Its a Sterling 1250, fully auto 4 step charger/power supply.

Thanks

Dibbo

14.8V is too high for leisure batts in summer temps, it should be 14.4V at the most. Although the Sterling Procharge manual states 14.8V for all open batts I'm afraid it's a bit wrong, misleading, and dangerous on this one.

 

Also as others have said if the batt connections aren't great, more or most of the 50A charge current can go into one batt first, causing it to heat up more and possibly overheat. Think about it, up to 50A into an overheated batt makes a lot of heat and hydrogen/oxygen!

 

It's well worth getting a panel ammeter as well as a voltmeter and finding out what normally should happen in the different batt charging stages, then monitoring it for any abnormalities.

 

I'm beginning to think that sealed batts are better for less experienced people, a sealed batt that gets sulphated is much safer than an open batt going into 'themal runaway'.

 

Edit: Just to expand a little, the hotter a batt gets, the lower it's charge voltage should be. It's fine if the charger can compensate for this with battery temp sensing, but no good if the sensor is faulty, has fallen off, or is on a different battery!

 

Without lowering the charge voltage the charge current and batt temperature can go up and up, even when the batt is fully charged, in extreme cases the effect snowballs into 'thermal runaway'

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

Edited August 10, 2012 by smileypete

[jelunga]

Am I alone in thinking leaving a very high powered battery charger on while you're away for 8 hours as a matter of routine is a Very Bad Idea.

As the OP told us it is an auto 4 stage charger, in my view it is wrong to ever turn it off!

It should keep the battery bank in peak condition as near to fully charged as possjble thereby extending the life of the battery. If the battery is boiling then either charger set for wrong battery type or is faulty or more likely battery knackered with internal short

[Naughty Cal]

Am I alone in thinking leaving a very high powered battery charger on while you're away for 8 hours as a matter of routine is a Very Bad Idea.

 

We leave our battery charger on constantly whether we are at the boat or not. It pretty much looks after itself and the batteries and it also means we have cold beer and a cold fridge when we arrive at the boat on a Friday night. Oh plus we set off from the marina with fully charged batteries.

[smileypete]

Am I alone in thinking leaving a very high powered battery charger on while you're away for 8 hours as a matter of routine is a Very Bad Idea.

No, and it would be much safer to use a low power charge source, say 5-10 amps.

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

Edited August 10, 2012 by smileypete

[by'eck]

Am I alone in thinking leaving a very high powered battery charger on while you're away for 8 hours as a matter of routine is a Very Bad Idea.

 

Probably

 

The power of the charger is not relevant if its a multi-stage one with float mode AND batteries are not faulty.

 

In the OP's case one cell has gone short circuit and the result is a 10 volt battery being charged as a 12 volt one resulting in the exact conditions he describes.

 

If left connected, eventually the battery will either explode of the case will split - I'll bet its bulging already.

[Chris Pink]

Probably

 

....

 

If left connected, eventually the battery will either explode of the case will split - I'll bet its bulging already.

 

 

That's OK then.

 

So what you're saying is that people who would probably turn the gas off when leaving the boat and wouldn't leave the stove roaring should merrily produce hydrogen gas in their absence with the possibility (there's been a few on here this year already) of a battery fault maybe leading to an explosion.

 

I wonder what the insurance will think?

 

And i'm a little puzzled no-one (except Asdaman in passing) has mentioned the temperature sensor. Did the OP have one fitted? Would it be a good idea to fit one to each battery?

 

And the power of the charger is relevant as a 50A charger will produce 50A (or 600W) if the battery has a fault which gives a low terminal voltage.

 

I personally would not leave a lead acid battery on charge unattended and unmonitored. I think the practice should at least be given some consideration rather than the dismissive replies i see here.

Edited August 10, 2012 by Chris Pink

[Guest]

I wonder what the insurance will think?

 

Just priceless Dumbledore..you are starting to sound sensible at last - a bit like Dave....

[Chris Pink]

Does this have some kind of meaning? it appears to be English but has completely passed me by.

 

If we're making Harry Potter comparisons, then I'd probably picture you as Goyle.