Posts: 2752
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | Cowboyhannah - 12/30/2008 8:26 PM
Thanks for all the ideas guys--I wound up bringing it inside--I feel pretty dumb b/c what I thought was ice inside the filler holes was not. The bat was not registering when hooked up to my 3 bank charger--only flashing--the marina where they winteriZed it said they had to jump it to get it going-- I noticed the water level was low so I filled it up evanthou it is maintenance free. Then when I put it back in the boat and hooked it back up it took a charge and I now have green light on charger again.
Cowboy- you need to take it in and get it load tested. Adding water to an AGM VRLA battery dillutes the battery electrolyte specific gravity (SG) - you may have green charger light, but perhaps not a good battery for your needs. See table 1 of this document below. The new lower SG will impact the short duty performance - high rate discharge. You will likely see this in cold-cranking-amps (CCA) test, so if you're looking for high burst's of power like engine cranking etc. ->
http://www.engineersedge.com/battery/specific_gravity_battery.htm
Four things to do in getting it properly tested.
1. Make sure it's fully charged or what appears to be fully charged, i.e., make sure it's been charged within the last 24 hrs and off from charge/resting for ~8 hrs.
2. Check the open circuit voltage- before any load testing - see chart on page 3 of 8 in link from previous post.
3. Do CCA test - if OK and battery is for your trolling motor go to 4 below.
4. Capacity test. A 12V lead-acid battery is considered as 100% discharged when it reaches 10.5V (1.75Vpc) for low rate discharges. This test verifies/shows the deep cycle capacity. Normally this is also called the marine reserve capacity test. This test is usually run at 25A load. Timing starts when the load is applied and stops when the battery voltage reaches 10.5V
A brand new "good battery" can easily freeze. f.ex. you live in N. Minnestota, so you and a friend decide to escape winter for a week and go fish Cave Run KY. Last day there you fish real hard all day into evening- running the TM all day- end of day it's out of juice/discharged to 10.5V or less. You load up & hit the long road home-driving straight through. (no battery recharge) Start hitting snow in Chicago 10F with brutal wind, 10 hrs later by the time you hit Duluth you are in a raging blizzard with -35F temps and wind chills in the -50's. 3 hrs later you're finally home in Eveleth. I'll bet your new battery is a lead filled popsicle!
Al
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