Are my batteries toast?

[One Awesome Inch]

Trying to revive my electric system. My two 6v golf cart batteries paired together give a reading of 6.7 volts.

 Time for a new battery?

 

[highdesertranger]

I sure you checked everything, right? did this happen all at once or have you been noticing a drop off over time? at RTR last year I noticed the refers were not cold enough. checked the batt voltage it was way low. started checking I had a loose ground, it was not loose enough not to shut everything down, but enough so the solar was not charging properly. tighten it up and everything was back to normal after the solar brought the batts back up. just saying don't over look the simple things. highdesertranger

 

[One Awesome Inch]

I connected a 12v tester directly to the battery terminals. My system has been hooped about 3 months. Finally taking the time to address it and started with the batteries.

 

[blars]

Each should measure about 6.3v when fully charged, in series they will be 12.6v.

 

[Gary68]

i would start by making sure they are full on fluid if you can and putting them on a battery charger and see if it takes and holds a charge then go from there but more experienced people should be commenting soon

 

[jimindenver]

They are golf cart batteries and suppose to take abuse better. You have been quite abusive with as long as they have been undercharged. They don't need a quicky, can you take them out and leave them plugged in for a few days somewhere?

Now some chargers will refuse to charge them due to the voltage being so low. A brief stint on the ground in front of the truck with the jumper cables should get the voltage up enough. Come to think of it, the cables just might put a lot more back in a short time than a day on your standard plug in charger.

As said pop the caps and make sure there is enough water. Fill with distilled water only if needed. I have seen the charging system and really don't think water will be a issue. I don't think you are getting any charge at all. Check the water AFTER you charge them because believe me, shoving that many amps back in will generate some heat.

I think I mentioned on one of the videos the size of the wiring. It's just not going to carry a meaningful current. Also I saw a corroded connection. That wire may be passing nothing at all.

 

[29chico]

i would start by making sure they are full on fluid if you can and putting them on a battery charger and see if it takes and holds a charge then go from there but more experienced people should be commenting soon

If you are going try and recover the batteries, I would suggest that you bring the fluid level to just above the plates with distilled water and then put them on charge.  When a flooded lead acid battery is in a low state of charge and then is charged the battery fluid level will rise.  This is due to chemicals being forced out of the plates.  If the batteries recover by a proper charge, after that you can fill the cell up to the max on the level indicators.

You will probably need to equalize the batteries by bringing them up to a round 15.5v (if you charge them in series) or more for a significant amount of time and monitor the individual cells with a hydrometer while considering the temp of the battery fluid on the hydrometer's readings.  For more detail on this, I refer you to the writings of Sternwake...

 

[One Awesome Inch]

Yeah it's crazy how small the wiring is. Supposed to be a professionally installed system... costing $1300cdn.

There is plenty of water but as one viewer noticed the acid doesn't look clean / clear. There is a 8 month old Trojan on cl currently for half what they are new
Might just scoop that up before it's gone.

 

[SternWake]

Yeah it's crazy how small the wiring is. Supposed to be a professionally installed system... costing $1300cdn.

There is plenty of water but as one viewer noticed the acid doesn't look clean / clear. There is a 8 month old Trojan on cl currently for half what they are new
Might just scoop that up before it's gone.

If the electrolyte is  dark cloudy/ muddy, even before putting them on a charger, do not waste time electricity or effort trying to get them to take a charge.

A three month drain to 6.3 volts is going to kill almost any 12v lead acid battery, but especially one not healthy at the beginning of those 3 months.

 

[highdesertranger]

what type of battery are we talking about. I assumed it was a bank of 2 6v. but you know what happens when you assume. highdesertranger

 

[Gary68]

[video=youtube]

 

[Trebor English]

Series pairs of batteries work better if they are both the same.  If you get one 8 month old from CL what will you pair it with?  If you pair it with a new one you will be limited to the capacity of the lesser of the two.

 

[One Awesome Inch]

Here are some pics...

 

[One Awesome Inch]

Series pairs of batteries work better if they are both the same.  If you get one 8 month old from CL what will you pair it with?  If you pair it with a new one you will be limited to the capacity of the lesser of the two.

It's a single 12 v Trojan battery.

 

[highdesertranger]

ok I watched the video and just looked at your pics. you have 2 6v batteries wired to 12v and you you have several issues.
1. that fat cable you pulled the crimped end off. the crimps are bad. you should never be able to pull an end off.
2. you have way to many wires connected to your batteries on the other end. get a big terminal block for the positive and negative, connect all the smaller wires there. feed the terminal strips with the same fat wire you have on the other side of the batteries.
3. your charge wires are way to small. how much solar do you have?
4. the charge wires coming of your dual battery solenoid are way to small minimum 6 gauge.
5. the wire you traced to your fuse box is the exciter wire it could very well be one of the small fuses. only need an amp or 2 for this wire.
6. the automatic circuit breaker on the dual battery set up is way to small.
7. the wet on top of the batteries usually means overcharging. but I don't see how that's possible with those small wires.
highdesertranger

 

[One Awesome Inch]

Yeah that's how the van came to me when I bought it ... small wires and all. I have a 12 slot fuse box and a 100w solar panel which I have yet to install. I bought some heavy wire and intend to replace everything... including the batteries it sounds like.

 

[highdesertranger]

that bad crimp on the fat wire could be your problem of low voltage readings. don't throw the batteries out yet. try charging them first. highdesertranger

 

[Gary68]

does anyone know if the batteries he all ready has are of quality or not

a good 12v goes for pretty good money and are worth it

 

[highdesertranger]

he has 6v batteries. highdesertranger

 

[Gary68]

yea,that what i meant,getting late,thing are getting blurry