AGM battery leakage

[climbing coastie]

What would cause an AGM battery to leak water? 

I’ve got a clear fluid collecting on top of my battery around some sealed plugs. At first I thought it was spilled water, but the corrosion it’s  causing I’m guessing it’s acid of some sorts. I thought AGM batteries weren’t suppose to leak even if the case was cracked. Should I be worried about hydrogen offgassing?

 

[John61CT]

Case cracked, they can leak.

They also vent when overcharged.

Some try to fix, but I would replace.

Try to correct whatever caused the cracking.

 

[Weight]

That is sulfuric acid. Wash ares with baking soda. Get new battery.

 

[highdesertranger]

overcharging. unless you did break your case. highdesertranger

 

[RVTravel]

How does one overcharge a battery when they are using a controller? Or, how does one typically overcharge any battery? If not using solar I guess they are using a bad quality charger?

 

[highdesertranger]

a dumb charger or a malfunctioning controller. highdesertranger

 

[John61CT]

Or just putting out a higher voltage than that chemistry will tolerate.

GEL is quite sensitive for example.

Many chargers are not user adjustable.

 

[RVTravel]

It would be nice to know what happened here. Cracked battery versus controller issue or dumb charger (not 3 stage smart charger).

 

[tx2sturgis]

Well that makes the 'non-spillable' claim somewhat iffy.......just for grins, is your batteriy installed sideways?

Is this one battery leaking in a pair of batteries? Or several batteries leaking?

It's possible, not likely but possible, that whoever filled the battery put in too much electrolyte.

The other more likely possibility is that the charger or controller is over-charging the batteries.

I guess a third possibility is that the battery was dropped in shipping...again, not very likely...but possible.

Is the battery still under any kind of warranty?

 

[frater secessus]

... dumb charger (not 3 stage smart charger).

Even a smart charger will overcharge AGM if it's misconfigured (set to the wrong profile or setpoints configged improperly).

If OP is very lucky maybe something dripped onto the battery from above and there really is no damage.  I just re-read the first post;  it's really from the battery.

 

[John61CT]

I've seen lots of sealed batteries get stress cracking from sideways / diagonal loads on the posts.

Some from those post-mounted fuses (MRBF?) then with heavy-gauge cables bearing down unsupported. Or just overloaded too much stuff directly on the post where a buss bar should have been used.

Also happens when not tightly strapped down, batt allowed to bounce even "just a bit" in the box.

Lots of motion / vibration in a mobile setting.

Some people are also just too heavy handed, not realizing just how fragile plastic holding 80+lbs of lead is.

Always inspect carefully at the shop, and even more so if delivered.

 

[climbing coastie]

Battery is installed upright. I remember hearing a crack when I installed my hold down strap. But didn’t worry about it as I thought AGM’s didn’t leak even if damaged. Maybe I should have.

I disconnected it from my altanater a couple days ago, thinking that was overcharging it.

Still leaking. Maybe worse than before, so I apparently configured my charge controller wrong.

Should my controller be set in FLOODED, SEALED, or GEL for an AGM battery.

 

[highdesertranger]

what does your battery manufacturer say. you need to match the charge profile. obviously it's not a flooded. highdesertranger

 

[John61CT]

Battery hold-down setups have that metal top-perimeter edging for a reason, distribute the stresses around the strongest edge-corners, no squeezing compression side to side.

Batt maker gives voltage specs, measure charger output on Sealed (AGM) setting to verify within those specs, for both Absorb and Float.

GEL is (should be) lowest

 

[climbing coastie]

I didn’t use a standard battery tie down. Just bent a metal strip and put holes in it.

I’ll test everything in a couple days. All charging components are disconnected for now.

As always, thanks for all the help

 

[John61CT]

I didn’t use a standard battery tie down. Just bent a metal strip and put holes in it.

Very important that the batts are tightly held down, if they're actually bouncing around **more** than the vehicle is that can't be good.

 

[climbing coastie]

Cleaned the battery with baking soda and changed parameters on charge controller to lower than stated by manufacturer to help prevent this from happening again.

Issue is when I took my battery out to clean it I heard water sloshing around inside. I’m guessing this isn’t normal for an AGM battery.

My next question is, is it dangerous to keep using this battery until I can afford a new one? Shipping to Alaska is expensive. Can I wait until fall when I head down to the lower 48, or should I stop using this battery immediately?

 

[RVTravel]

nm

 

[highdesertranger]

that sounds like a sealed flooded battery and not an AGM. got a link to the battery? highdesertranger

 

[climbing coastie]

https://www.vmaxtanks.com/XTR4D-200-12Volts-200AH-Deep-Cycle-XTREME-AGM-Battery-_p_165.html