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Overfilled battery now have rotten egg smell


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Recently started a thread regarding me stupidly over filling the leisure batteries.

After many replies, a couple of replies said it may correct it self after the battteries have had a good charge.

Well obviously this is wishful thinking but we went for that.

Today there was the rotten eggy smell of sulphur coming from the engine area, - batteries.

Does this mean the end? Should I replace them?

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I'm guessing that (at least) one of the batteries has an internal short. Certainly you should stop charging as a priority.

 

Feel the batteries. Is one noticeably hotter than the rest? If so, disconnect it from the bank and try charging again without that one.

 

However yes, it sounds like it could well be time for new batteries. Without a bunch of tests though it's difficult to be sure just sat here typing on my phone.

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that rotten egg smell is not hydrogen which is odourless.

 

Hydrogen sulphide smells of rotten eggs and is highly poisonous. Once it gets to high concentrations the ability to smell it may pass, and then it can be quickly fatal.

 

I don't know how a battery can produce H2S.

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I don't know how a battery can produce H2S.

Googling it will produce lots of info

 

First one that came up - may not be the best! (Sorry it is American spelling of sulfuric....)

 

Sulfuric acid contains sulfur, and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a possible by-product of over-charging and battery decomposition. If you smell the rotten egg odor of H2S in the charging area, you should assume that this very dangerous gas is a possibility.

And yes as Murflynn says only Hydrogen Sulphide will produce that smell, not Hydrogen, as stated earlier in the answers.

Edited by alan_fincher
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that rotten egg smell is not hydrogen which is odourless.

 

Hydrogen sulphide smells of rotten eggs and is highly poisonous. Once it gets to high concentrations the ability to smell it may pass, and then it can be quickly fatal.

 

I don't know how a battery can produce H2S.

Me neither, but it can.

 

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/health_concerns

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That rotten egg smell is Hydrogen, not very healthy if it goes boom so I would stop charging at least!

Hydrogen doesn't smell of anything, the rotten egg smell is Hydrogen Sulphide, H2S

The Sulphuric Acid H2SO4 has lost oxygen and what is left is Hydrogen Sulphide H2S

 

I would say the battery has come to the end of it's life, and if connected in parallel with any other battery can cause other serious issues with the connected batteries.

 

I would suggest that the offending battery is removed from the circuit, but this is not without it's hazards. There could be discharge currents from the good batteries to the bad one, and a disconnect could cause a spark, and with hydrogen, oxygen and H2S could cause a very nasty explosion. So complete ventilation is required and wear protective equipment, face coverage, gloves and a fresh water shower or a canal to jump into should the acid contact your skin, and hold your breath, the H2S as a gas could react with the oxygen in your throat and lungs to return the H2S back to concentrated sulphuric acid.

 

Worst case scenario not wishing to frighten anyone, but you need to be aware of the hazzards and possible consequences.

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When I ran the equalising thing on my Sterling Pro Charge Ultra the other day for the first time, I got a load of egg(ish) smells in the battery room.

 

You will get a noticable "acidy" smell when the battery is freely gassing, but it should not a strong rotten eggy smell which is indicative of a failed cell.

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so it is the consequence of over-charging.

 

 

hmm ................ I won't be visiting marine swindlers any more. :rolleyes:

Well sort of overcharging, but to one specific cell. A faulty cell will pass the full charging current of the battery, cells in series pass the same current.

A faulty cell will probably loose more water through gassing and also lose Hydrogen sulphide, it is complicated further as the poor cell is loosing electrolyte and a smaller area of the battery plates is now passing the full battery current, so it gasses more, smaller area of wetted plates... it goes on until all electrolyte is removed, but complicated further as battery plate residue falls to the bottom of the battery, some can short out the cell, this often shows as a battery terminal voltage of 10.5 volts as one of the cells has been shorted out.

 

So a good battery connected in parallel with this faulty battery has 12.5 volts, and the battery in parallel 10.5 volts, then the good battery will try and overcharge the faulty battery, with possibly high currents, limited only by the internal resistance of the battery. So a lot of heat can be generated, plus a lot of gassing.

 

If you rearrange ohms law, V= I x R and substitute in Watts = V x I then you get Watts = I^2 x R ( I squared x R )

 

Take the charging current, square it, multiply it by the internal resistance of the battery, then you can see where a lot of watts, in the form of heat come from. Some of the energy will go into the disassociation of the electrolyte into gases etc.

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You will get a noticable "acidy" smell when the battery is freely gassing, but it should not a strong rotten eggy smell which is indicative of a failed cell.

 

 

Yes its definitely an 'acidy' smell not rotten eggs. So all is well then!

 

I'm beginning to wonder if I should just buy a new set of Yuasas each year. I can earn the cost of them easily in far less time than it takes to equalise them!

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Yes its definitely an 'acidy' smell not rotten eggs. So all is well then!

 

I'm beginning to wonder if I should just buy a new set of Yuasas each year. I can earn the cost of them easily in far less time than it takes to equalise them!

Yes to the first sentence.

 

Quite possibly for your situation that might be the best route. See how you get on - Solar will start again in a couple of months ;)

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I thought H2S was a proposed new railway to let people from London get to Wigan in a half a day, realise they don't like the North, and so get back to London the very same evening. I suppose that concept does stink a bit.

 

.............Dave

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I would suggest that it was not caused by the overfilling but rather the faulty cell or cells had been gassing for a long time so needed topping up. That lead to the overfilling. It was in my view a pre-existing condition that only came to light after a prolonged charge.

  • Greenie 2
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I would suggest that it was not caused by the overfilling but rather the faulty cell or cells had been gassing for a long time so needed topping up. That lead to the overfilling. It was in my view a pre-existing condition that only came to light after a prolonged charge.

I totally agree. Have another Greenie :)

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You must turn off the chargers (including solar) and ventillate well before disconnecting the batteries. Don't use an electric fan to ventilate. The hydrogen, if present, will rise so open hatches and deck boards as appropriate. You should get all the batteries checked ashore if you don't have the knowledge or equipment to do it yourself. When disconnecting, take off the negative lead first.

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Having googled it Hydrogen Sulphide is quoted as being about as toxic as carbon monoxide.

 

Also its explosive, and being heavier than air is likely to accumulate in bilges.

 

So not to be messed with it seems.

 

Yet I'm sure that in Chemistry lessons we used to do things that filled the lab with it, didn't we?

 

And I thought the stink bombs that kids regularly let off in the 1960s & 1970s were producing H2S.

 

So was that actually something else that stank of bad eggs, or were we putting oiurselves at risk each time they were set off in an enclosed space?

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And I thought the stink bombs that kids regularly let off in the 1960s & 1970s were producing H2S.

 

So was that actually something else that stank of bad eggs, or were we putting oiurselves at risk each time they were set off in an enclosed space?

 

Well - our stink-bombs used to consist of ammonium sulphide, which when exposed to air gave the 'rotten egg' smell.

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Interesting Medical Article :

 

British scientists have discovered that hydrogen sulphide, best known for its rotten-egg smell, can significantly reduce swelling in joints damaged by rheumatoid arthritis.

They tested a new drug that is injected into arthritic joints, where it gradually releases small amounts of the gas.

The results, published in the Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, show it prevents the release of inflammatory chemicals that cause tissue inside the hips, knees, wrists and elbows to become inflamed.

The study raises the possibility that the gas could also help sufferers of osteoarthritis, and even those whose joints have been affected for some years.

The findings, by a team of researchers at Exeter University Medical School, are the latest in a series of discoveries on how hydrogen sulphide could be a potent new treatment for numerous conditions such as heart disease, asthma and diabetes.

For example, it's thought that it can reduce blood pressure by helping cells in the lining of blood vessels to relax. This makes them dilate, allowing blood to flow more freely.

Experts think this may be the reason why garlic, which contains small amounts of hydrogen sulphide, seems to be good for the heart.



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