smkettner
Southern California
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How was the water level? Any pushed out onto the top?
2001 F150 SuperCrew
2006 Keystone Springdale 249FWBHLS
675 watts solar
Send a PM if I missed something
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landyacht318
Near a large body of water
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Joined: 07/11/2007
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Thank you for the continued interest SMK.
Unfortunately, life has gotten in the way of my battery maintenance. I have not yet had the chance to crawl inside my cabinet, Unscrew the hatch, pull the cell caps, and check for loss, or the SG when I knew they were as fully charged as they could possibly be.
Hard to complain having too much work considering the lulls of the last 18 months. Who am I kidding, 3 years.
If they were pushing out large amounts of water, I could see them dripping on the asphalt, which I have not seen any indication of. I am in San Diego. Temps from mid 70's to high 40's, Just Brutal 
Sorry, had to rub it in.
I have not yet plugged back into the grid since the other night, nor acquired a hydrometer to set a baseline regarding Max expected SG, but it is at the top of my list. Hopefully the Charger decides to to return to those scary voltages next time so I can check SG after it goes to float.
These new batteries have been surprising me with the quick rebounds to 12.6 ,even after my 6.2 amp mattress heating pad cycles off. I have not yet reduced my Solar acceptance rates from 15, to 14.5, but (sunny) today they reached 15 volts far before I expected them to considering I have too little solar for my Bank.
I will update after I find an Hydrometer locally which I can justify purchasing
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landyacht318
Near a large body of water
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Joined: 07/11/2007
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Okay I accquired a Hydrometer from Napa. Is it a or an hydrometer? It makes a lot of claims, like "temperature compensated, gives instant accurate readings for all batteries warm or cold"
I'm not sure how accurate it will be, but for purposes of cell comparison among the same 2 batteries, it should do.
Anyway I'm plugged in now and it is doing the 15.4 volts 10 to 11 amp thing again.
I've been using this charger regularly since 7/2007, with three different sets of batteries. It has never before behaved like it has now. Usually if left alone it would rapidly go over 16 volts then shut itself off when near the 90%range.
Or it would stop after 20 to 200 minutes at 14.8 then drop and hold float and act like a converter until unplugged.
I'm gonna check them in the morning after the charger reverts to float overnight and write down the SG readings per cell/battery
* This post was
edited 02/06/12 09:14pm by landyacht318 *
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mena661
Southern California
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Joined: 03/21/2009
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Keep us posted!
2006 Ford F250 Lariat 6.0 PSD 2WD
2010 Keystone Outback Super-Lite 285FL 5er, Reese Signature Series 18K w/Manual Slider
Four Trojan L16 6V's (740Ah)
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landyacht318
Near a large body of water
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Okay, the results!!
Battery case temperature: 63 F
Ambient temp was 64.5 degrees F at around noon.
Battery voltage at time of test 14.3.
Solar was contributing 0.3 amps into the fully charged bank at the time.
Ran charger all night on float after it spent a few hours at 15.3 volts accepting 11 amps which tapered down to 6 before it reverted to float.
On Battery 2, cell 3 electrolyte level was lower than all the other cells. I topped it off after the test was complete.
On battery 1, cells 1,2 and 3 were slightly overfilled. All other cells were right about where they should be. I had not added any distilled water at this point.
There were no signs of water being pushed out of any cell, at least on the battery surface, but the caps do show signs of darker matter accumulating. The caps on my previous Crown Batteries were black on the inside.
These are Crown Deep Cycle Batteries group 27, 115 a/h each, despite having the Crown stickers removed and replaced in front of me. I've owned them about 2 weeks, and they were about a month old when I got them.
Here is the tester I used. I took 2 to three readings on each cell keeping the electrolyte level inside the same and the angle it was held the same. My results should be within 5% of accurate, cell to cell, as some estimating of SG had to be done since calibrations are not numerous enough for my tastes.
Okay here are the batteries as tested with demarcations relevant to the following results:
Battery 1:
______________
Cell 1: 1.280
Cell 2: 1.290
Cell 3: 1.275
Cell 4: 1.280
Cell 5: 1.275
Cell 6: 1.305
______________
Battery 2:
Cell 1: 1.300
Cell 2: 1.285
Cell 3: 1.280
Cell 4: 1.300
Cell 5: 1.275
Cell 6: 1.275
I worked my way from battery 2, cell 6 to battery 1, cell 1.
I wish it were easier for me to do these tests, but it basically takes me an hour to remove things in my cabinet, crawl inside, unscrew the hatch and remove and pry off the caps without gouging the plastic.
What do you think of the variance? I triple checked 3 the cells which read 1.300 or above.
I thought they would all be closer. Perhaps I should have tested them right after the EQ voltages were removed.
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KendallP
Grants Pass, OR
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landyacht318 wrote:What do you think of the variance?
Well...
since you asked...
I don't trust those hydrometers. So the answer is...
I don't think much of anything about the variance.
But you probably weren't asking me.
When you're ready to go through this fun process again, do it with a glass float hydrometer. My "Australian" ones work very, very well and are usually around 5 bucks at O'Reilly's. Do a search for "Australian Hydrometer." There's another one just like it, only with a temp gauge for not much more, though.
Here you are
I have had 3 my "Auzzies" at one time (one broke, now 2) and they were all dead on with each other. Just make sure the upper half of the tube's interior stays dry throughout the test. Otherwise the float will stick to the sides.
None of those plastic jobs are worth the cardboard they came in, IMO.
Sorry.
That's a good lookin' cable job, by the way.
Good luck!
P.S. Found the one with a temp gauge. I use an infrared/laser thermometer, but this is a great way to go too for a good price. Can't say I've personally used this one, though.
Ace Hydrometer
Due Credit. I just found the post here from gandude that first mentioned that Ace Hydrometer. Looks like he even got it for free!
.
* This post was
edited 02/07/12 05:00pm by KendallP *
Cheers,
Kendall
1986 Winnebago Chieftain 22RC
Our Camper (with no payments)
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landyacht318
Near a large body of water
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Joined: 07/11/2007
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Yeah, I remember Mexbungalows saying the only ones worthwhile were Francis freas.
The one I boughtat Napa was advertised at 3.50$ and rang up as 6.50. I pointed this out but the store just said it was a mistake. I checked 3 other AP stores and they just had the floating ball ones, so I passed.
While the SG readings might not be accurate to true, they should be accurate when comparing cells to each other? No?
I do notice that 2 of the cells with the highest readings are closest to where the charge/ load cables connect to the batteries.
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landyacht318
Near a large body of water
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Joined: 07/11/2007
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Thanks for the link. 
I did not see that one in O reilly's yesterday.
My local Ace, which I didn't think to check, usually does not carry what I seek.
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KendallP
Grants Pass, OR
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landyacht318 wrote:While the SG readings might not be accurate to true, they should be accurate when comparing cells to each other? No?
Quite possibly. Perhaps even probably.
But I have zero faith in those hydrometers. If they're accurate, then IMO... you got lucky.
Just sayin'...
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mena661
Southern California
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Looks like the batts need some equalizing.
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