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Copper piping turned silver


bigcol

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smelt a gas smell like sewer gas in wheel house, couldn’t make it out.

went into engine room, and all the copper piping overnight certainly over 2 days

all copper pipes are now silver as if I sprayed them silver

 

any ideals please, batteries are all under 6 months old

 

please let us know

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Quiet possibly one cell shorting and making the gas that turns copper silver.

 

My advice would be to feel ll the batteries when they have been on charge for a while to see if one or part of one is getting warm. If open cells the check for gassing and loss of water. Even better do a hydrometer check if you have the kit.If that is not possible disconnect all the interlinks and measure the voltage of each bate try, all should be abut the same but the start battery is allowed to be better charged. If any are low then that is the suspect one.  Otherwise isolate one and check its voltage, leave overnight and recheck. If its dropped then it is likely to be the culprit. If not repeat n the next one.

 

Edited to add  =- What's the charging voltage, charging at excess voltage might cause this.

 

Edited by Tony Brooks
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Thankyou will test today,

‘I have got a video but won’t let me download

but have you heard of this before?

big engine bilge, battery’s in a proper box

pity I couldn’t email the video

thankyou for the info

 

col

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2 minutes ago, bizzard said:

The electrolyte in a shorting cell often goes dark or black.  You might see it with a hydrometer check.

Thankyou bizzard, haven’t got a hydrometer tho, will have a look visually see if anything is plainly obvios

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If your smell is of rotten eggs, then it sounds like you are gassing off hydrogen sulphide from a battery which is then reacting with the copper to give copper sulphide.

 

Note the hydrogen sulphide is significantly toxic and will accumulate at low levels due to density. I suggest you ventilate well and consult information on this gas, e.g. the wikipedia entry. Be careful!

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I’ve checked all 4 battery’s 2 are showing black

and two are showing green

 

so this means 2 battery’s are knackered, or should be sent back to where I got them ??

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The other 2 battery’s showing black

 

 

These are the two showing black

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Edited by bigcol
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Okay, I know this sounds stupid, but should I now disconnect the 2 battery’s.?

i bought these from batterystore and come with 4 years warrentee.

has anyone had dealings with this company

all four bought November 2017

 

col

28 minutes ago, jonesthenuke said:

If your smell is of rotten eggs, then it sounds like you are gassing off hydrogen sulphide from a battery which is then reacting with the copper to give copper sulphide.

 

Note the hydrogen sulphide is significantly toxic and will accumulate at low levels due to density. I suggest you ventilate well and consult information on this gas, e.g. the wikipedia entry. Be careful!

Yes. Rotten eggs you are right

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I would disconnect all the batteries so that are separate and measure the voltage on each one, looking for abnormally low readings. 

 

Are they sealed batteries? If not look for abnormally low water levels in the cells.

 

Then reconnect the good batteries and check the charging voltage to make sure you do not have a duff charger (voltage too high).

Edited by jonesthenuke
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1 minute ago, bigcol said:

Okay, I know this sounds stupid, but should I now disconnect the 2 battery’s.?

i bought these from batterystore and come with 4 years warrentee.

has anyone had dealings with this company

all four bought November 2017

 

col

Yes. Rotten eggs you are right

I doubt you will have any success in 'sending them back' unless it is a manufacturing fault.

It sounds as if it is more likely to be 'overcharging' and 'boiling' the acid - how are you charging them ?

 

Check the charging voltage of whatever it is you are using.

I had a battery charger that decided to just 'keep-going', fortunately I noticed and switched it off at over 16 volts (12 volt system)

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1 minute ago, jonesthenuke said:

I would disconnect all the batteries so that are separate and measure the voltage on each one, looking for abnormally low readings. 

 

Are they sealed batteries? If not look for abnormally low water levels in the cells.

Hi their sealed, but 2 are green and 2 are black meaning faulty, so should I disconnect the dead ones ie black ?

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I had a similar problem a few years ago. Turned out that the control circuit in the alternator had failed, causing it to generate well over 16V. This was cooking the batteries.

We noticed first when our gas alarms started going off when the batteries had been charging for a fair time. I investigated & found the high voltage.

A new alternator cured it, though I was later able to get the old one fixed cheaply, and now keep it as a spare

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Okay I’ve tested  battery’s

1 black light measures 10.9 v

2 green 12.9

1 black 12.9

 

all was disconnected and tested 

I’m running off 2 batteries now as 24v system

ive taken the 10.9 battery away

but trying to add the 3rd battery to bank, although blk it shows 12.9 volt

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Ref the green so called "magic eye" All it consists of is a cage to contain a plastic ball a charged battery has denser fluid so the ball will float high, if charge is low the ball is floating in a less dense liquid and will float lower.

Also if the fluid in the battery is depleted irrespective of the level of charge it will be insufficiently high enough to raise the ball in its cage.

So the 3rd battery at 12.9v may only need topping up.

Phil

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13 minutes ago, bigcol said:

Okay I’ve tested  battery’s

1 black light measures 10.9 v

2 green 12.9

1 black 12.9

 

all was disconnected and tested 

I’m running off 2 batteries now as 24v system

ive taken the 10.9 battery away

but trying to add the 3rd battery to bank, although blk it shows 12.9 volt

The 10.9 one is faulty, my guess is the other 3 are OK but the "green eye" is only a crude hydrometer and they show black because:

 

1. they are stuck

2. that cell is discharged

3. that cell is low on electrolyte.

 

A back indication does not necessarily mean the battery is faulty.

 

Get the 10.9 one out of circuit and put the other three back. Start charging keep and eye, hand  and nose on the black one. If it starts to smell, get hot etc, get that one out of circuit.

 

 

Oh, I am with Alan,  don't replace with sealed.

Depending upon how dry the cells are in the faulty batteries you may soon be in battery explosion territory so take care.

Edited by Tony Brooks
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1 minute ago, Tony Brooks said:

Get the 10.9 one out of circuit and put the other three back.

Col has a 24v system.

Just now, Phil Ambrose said:

Alan you know as well as anybody , there are sealed batteries and there are sealed batteries. 

Phil

Indeed, and, a 1/2" drill and half-a-dozen corks soon converts them.

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