We'll I guess It's new battery time !!

[ar240owner]

I winterized the boat today and found me secondary battery looked like this !!!! My house battery is original to the boat so I guess next year I'll have two brand new ones

 

[Seadeals]

Yikes! I expected to write mine off two seasons ago (especially after I accidentally deep cycled one leaving the battery switch on). My Battery Minder seems to be keeping both in tip top shape like a rock star. They are like Energizer Bunnies. Spend for basic quality and maintain religiously. They will last a very long time.

 

[jcyamaharider]

Yikes!!!

 

[buckbuck]

What causes that?

 

[ar240owner]

I was told that it prob had a dead cell , and with it being sealed when it was charging it produced more that normal gas and with it being sealed the gas had no where to go , so it swealed , that's what I was told , I am by no means a battery expert

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

You always need to keep in mind that batteries give off hydrogen gas and oxygen gas, held in a confined area they can cause explosions if a spark is introduced like disconnecting a battery cable or charger lead.
A bad cell gives off a lot more of the gas since direct current breaks down the two gases when traveling through water, battery acid is mostly water. The explosion can be very violent, I would say you were lucky on this one.

 

[txav8r]

Another good reason not to charge dual batteries in parallel. A smart charger can't detect a bad cell or low/high volts/amps...because it sees plenty of each with two batteries. Note to self...get another dual pulse tech charger. And I am sure glad you found that before it had any more serious side effects. Did the charger tell you it was bad?

 

[rkluck]

Wow that has to be the worst I have ever seen! Glad you didn't have any problems.

 

[jcyamaharider]

No wonder your stereo was lasting less and less all summer....

 

[ar240owner]

Another good reason not to charge dual batteries in parallel. A smart charger can't detect a bad cell or low/high volts/amps...because it sees plenty of each with two batteries. Note to self...get another dual pulse tech charger. And I am sure glad you found that before it had any more serious side effects. Did the charger tell you it was bad?

It was not in parallel , I have a three bank on board charger

 

[txav8r]

Good to know! Did the charger tell you the battery was bad? Or did it continue to charge a very bad battery?

 

[Island Jay]

Dual battery charging, eg 2x12v in series, is common. The batteries need to be the same make/mode/age so the likely hood of a failure is minimal and you will get the best life span out of them.
If anyone need a charger, feel free to reach out to me.
thanks!
Jason

 

[ar240owner]

Btw both battery's where from 2007 , boat was bought in 2008 in March , so I think I did good

 

[txav8r]

Dual battery charging, eg 2x12v in series, is common. The batteries need to be the same make/mode/age so the likely hood of a failure is minimal and you will get the best life span out of them.
If anyone need a charger, feel free to reach out to me.
thanks!
Jason

Yes it is common to use batteries in series or in parallel. But unless your using 6v batteries, you would never use them in series in our boats...because two 12v batteries in series is 24v, not 12. And very few chargers can detect a dead cell or a battery that can't take a charge, if a single charger is used with more than one battery "in parallel". When batteries are places "in series", your doubling the volts in terms of two batteries. Just to be clear, batteries in series is very different than batteries in parallel.

Wow! 6 plus years is excellent lifespan!

 

[ar240owner]

I got 7 years out of them all of 2008 till all of 2014 yea I think I got my money's worth !!! Lol

 

[scot71]

@txav8r is right. 2 12v batteries in series will equal 24v with little to no increase in capacity, while 2 12v batteries in parallel will still give you 12v but the capacity will be doubled, or nearly doubled.

 

[mattschepker]

sx210owner, I hope to get 7 years out of my batteries

 

[dan144k]

Funny story about about putting to batteries together in series to get 24 volt. (short version)

When I was 18 a friend called me that his cousin from florida need a ride a to pick up a plane he bought near madison, (10 degrees outside january weather 1 am)
1. Plane was covered in ice, used ice scraper to de-ice
2. Located at frozen field type runway, plane had been sitting for a while
3. Had to do multiple trips to local gas station, they put premium fuel in the tanks, bad fuel gauges so he had to use a stick,
also started buying cans of windshield de-icer at some point
4. twin engines that would crank, but not enough speed or pop to fire and start.
tried jumper cables from car to planes 12 to 24 converter, still no running after 3 hours
5. Went to gas station bought second set of jumper and found a minivan near runway and gently borrowed the battery
6. Wired my car battery and borrowed battery with 2 sets of jumper cable in series to get 24 volts

Plane started both engines and they took off for Florida about 6 am.

 

[David Analog]

dan,
Did the plane ever land?

 

[SCSTWG]

I work in the telcom industry and all of our equipment is powered off DC voltage operating at -48vDC. At each of our central office (equipment locations) we have a power plant with rectifiers that convert 208 vAC to -48 vDC and we then have a minimum of 8 hours of battery backup. Depending on the amount of telecom traffic fed from the site, there can be MANY batteries at the site. Each "string" is wired with 4 of them in series to produce the -48vDC. Series applications like these are common.....just not on our boats.