Batteries

Quote: Face

F#$%ing batteries, man...

A bad cell in the battery. Use some
of the money Trump gave you to
buy a new one. A battery with
a bad cell will charge fast and
drain fast. It's like putting a dead
battery in a flashlight with a new
battery. Won't last long.

Quote: Face

F#$%ing batteries, man...

HOW do you tell when a battery is flat vs battery being s#$%? I don't f#$%ing understand how one can have so goddamn many problems with these Christing things...

Did you check the water level in the battery's?

Quote:

Boat batteries are damn near new. I pulled them in Oct, charged them fully, then stored them in the basement all year. Last month I charged them all back up and reinstalled them last week. THEY'RE ALL F#$%ING SHOT.

Might be an old wives tale, but I've always went by it, don't store battery's sitting directly on concrete. I always put a block of wood between the case and the cement. I'm going to guess you were cooking dry cells.

Quote:

Charger brings boat battery to full. Won't even lower the mf'ing motor without dying. Charge it back up, I get 3 revolutions on the starter and it's dead, not even strong enough to fire a brand new motor.

I'm wondering about the water pump.

Quote:

Deep cycle up front? They say they're full. Plug in the motor and kick it on, IMMEDIATELY drops to 25% charge. Stop using it and it quickly "refills" up to 75%. Start using it again and immediately back down to 25%. And dropping fast.

Flat, full, charged and refilled are arbitrary terms. Old school was the battery test was a specific gravity test. Nobody wants to mess with that, and rightfully so. So next, battery stores came up with a load tester. You've seen 'em, big horse clamps, and the put a yuge load on the battery while checking voltage. That's an adequate test, since we aren't battery scientists, we just want the ****ing battery to batt when it's it's turn to bat. Under load, at least the starting battery, should put out 12+ volts. I just checked my year old battery yesterday, which is sitting in a camper, it shows 12.56 volts.

Whatever you are referring to that says the front battery is 25% charge and "refills", that on a minor scale is the same test the battery shop is doing [i think], it is saying "the voltage" drops when you put a load on it? Try it, check the battery voltage when the battery is just resting, then turn on the trolling motor and check the voltage again. What do you got, 12.5/10.5? Just a wag.

If the cells are covered and you charged them, but didn't overcook them, your battery's are nfg. Your dealer ought to help out,,,,but those were the days. Boats are super hard on battery's anyway. I don't expect more than two years from them. Nice to start the season with new and fresh.

Siderail. I was sitting at this laptop yesterday and someone knocked on my door. It was some old guy so I opened it. He asked if there was anyway I would sell my truck sitting in the driveway. I don't have a sign on it or anything. Over the years he is the third guy to do that. I said wtf, take a look at it. I let him drive it around the block and we agreed on a price. Guess it was time.

I only store batteries on a trickle charger. I learned that at 18 when I got my first motorcycle.

Quote: petroglyph

I said wtf, take a look at it. I let him drive it around the block and we agreed on a price. Guess it was time.

Good. Job well done. Have a can of beer and enjoy the memories. There comes a time when an aged vehicle not only becomes a money-pit, but a frustrating and unreliable one.

Quote: DRich

I only store batteries on a trickle charger. I learned that at 18 when I got my first motorcycle.

We do that with our Harley's. In the
barn they're on chargers all winter.

Quote: petroglyph

Did you check the water level in the battery's?

Is none. Haven't seen a refillable battery since 19never. Since I pour the acid and pound the caps myself, I can confirm they're all sealed- type.

Quote: petro

Might be an old wives tale, but I've always went by it, don't store battery's sitting directly on concrete. I always put a block of wood between the case and the cement. I'm going to guess you were cooking dry cells.

Pops said same thing, and this is why I get so gd pissed off. It IS an old wives tale. I know this because I know so gd much about them, but STILL wind up getting effed by them.

They USED TO discharge. Way back, cases were wood. Cool=wet, and the wood would warp, and the cells would break. Battery dead. They then went to rubber case which has a high carbon content, and carbon is conductive. Trickle trickle trickle, those went flat, too. Today is plastic. A cool, dry place on a concrete floor IS the best way to store a modern battery, and is exactly wtf I did.

Quote: petro

Flat, full, charged and refilled are arbitrary terms. Old school was the battery test was a specific gravity test. Nobody wants to mess with that, and rightfully so. So next, battery stores came up with a load tester. You've seen 'em, big horse clamps, and the put a yuge load on the battery while checking voltage. That's an adequate test, since we aren't battery scientists, we just want the ****ing battery to batt when it's it's turn to bat. Under load, at least the starting battery, should put out 12+ volts. I just checked my year old battery yesterday, which is sitting in a camper, it shows 12.56 volts.

Whatever you are referring to that says the front battery is 25% charge and "refills", that on a minor scale is the same test the battery shop is doing [i think], it is saying "the voltage" drops when you put a load on it? Try it, check the battery voltage when the battery is just resting, then turn on the trolling motor and check the voltage again. What do you got, 12.5/10.5? Just a wag.

If the cells are covered and you charged them, but didn't overcook them, your battery's are nfg. Your dealer ought to help out,,,,but those were the days. Boats are super hard on battery's anyway. I don't expect more than two years from them. Nice to start the season with new and fresh.

My boat has 3; a normal 12v car battery in back. Runs starter, gauge cluster, radio, sonar... you know "the boat". Up front I have 2 - 12v marine/ RV batteries run in series, so 24v to the motor. The boat battery needs nothing ever, such little draw. The ones in front take a beating, needing a recharge every trip. For those i have a quality onboard
system; just plug it into the house like a camper.

But c'mon, man! Even my WHEELER batteries, which are tiny, and complete dog s@#$, and get the ball's vibrated off them and dunked in water weekly last me at least a number of years greater than 1. The trolling motor, ok fine, but the BOAT?! HOW?!

And yes, they drop when a load is placed on them. Boat battery read full but died before fully LOWERING the trim. And up front, I either have one good battery or I f@#$ed up the series, as operation killed one immediately (the one that kept "refilling") while the other held 75% the whole 5hrs I used it. Course, that adds another question; it's that other battery good, or did I just not wire it in series? Lol

Only have a voltmeter for the boat, tho, which read 13.X until I hit the key, when it sat on 10v. Up front is a percentage gauge, not voltmeter. Left the house at 100, both were 75 when I hit the water. Then one stopped to 25 soon add I turned it on, rose when I turned it off, and the other stayed at 75.

Would you know this mf'in Yammy quit on me, too? Don't get me started, guy! =p lol

Quote: Face

Pops said same thing, and this is why I get so gd pissed off. It IS an old wives tale. I know this because I know so gd much about them, but STILL wind up getting effed by them.

Bwahaha, it's always you guys.

Quote: petroglyph

Bwahaha, it's always you guys.

Lol, c'mon man, you know what I'm saying, though? I don't mean it in a pompous douchebag way, what I'm saying is that I don't settle for just a word; if you tell me something I'll follow, but if it doesn't make sense I'm gonna go looking for the answer. I don't settle for one source or word of mouth; if it vexes me, I'm gonna go off and become an expert in it because I piss off too easy and an answer is mandatory, especially when not knowing could get me killed. And so it goes with these goddamn batteries...

Heat is bad, you can damage the cells, you can f#$% with the chemical composition. Extreme cold is bad because you, again, f#$% with the chemistry inside. Vibration damages the internals. Depleting too far damages the internals. Reverse polarity can fry it, cause a fire or explosion. A Chinesium charger can do the same, if it's some counterfeit garbage without proper fail safes to prevent overcharging. Hyper charging or jumping can damage it from overloading. Loose terminals can cause an arc, basically makes it a welder. It'll melt your posts right off in 10 seconds.

I take it far enough to understand the issues going back to the f#$%ing 1800's, hence my awareness of battery cases made of wood, or batteries without cases at all. It's how I knew about the rubber cases and the properties of carbon. Of my scientific path of education, chemistry was my wheelhouse, what I trained in most. I understand that even dirty terminals, and not just green crusted messes but even brand new clean ones but in a dusty environment, that dust likely has conductivity and you can bleed a battery dead by that alone, and so I take all of those steps. Clean, dry, in a clean environment, not hooked up where they'll bleed flat, not hooked up where a Harbor Freight trickler is gonna burn my house down, but cleaned and maintained and stored in the exact manner they were stored at "The Battery Post" before I bought them. You know 3/4 of these things were in battery boxes? So not only a plastic case of the battery itself, but inside another plastic case keeping it off the floor. Nothing near it that could fall on them and arc between the posts... I spent a good amount of time on this.

And for f#$%ing what? I'm still out $300, still got stranded on the f#$%ing water, still had an outing ruined.

You see, you watch what I tell you right here.

I call my local home and auto. "Got a tester?" I say. Sure do, they say. So I tote em all down.

They test all 3, some big ol stainless steel contraption straight out of "Chernobyl", so you know it's legit. ALL THREE come back as "Good". Went to school with this dude, the owner is the brother of my local wrench. His mama is my neighbor for 35yrs. So I've no problem telling him "The f#$% they are, ain't nothing goes from 100% to dead just lowering an o/b, I don't give a damn what the machine says" and going through the whole day I just had. He says he's got a machine out back that'll test em good, runs em up and back again. I say hit it, cuz I know it's s#$%.

Leave, go to the crick, catch some minnows, come back. Any word on that batt? "Yeah, it's s#$%."

Why are these things so f#$%ing stupid so goddamn always? lol batteries, man, how do they work?

So, switching gears... who makes the choice equipment these days? I can't keep up with Chinese rip offs and capitalistic buy outs anymore to know any better, and I'll be damned if I rely on this Black and Decker again. Anything owned by a box store is right out. So,... Schumacher? Westwood? Who hasn't been bought out and gone to s#$% yet?

Quote: Face

You see, you watch what I tell you right here.

I call my local home and auto. "Got a tester?" I say. Sure do, they say. So I tote em all down.

They test all 3, some big ol stainless steel contraption straight out of "Chernobyl", so you know it's legit. ALL THREE come back as "Good". Went to school with this dude, the owner is the brother of my local wrench. His mama is my neighbor for 35yrs. So I've no problem telling him "The f#$% they are, ain't nothing goes from 100% to dead just lowering an o/b, I don't give a damn what the machine says" and going through the whole day I just had. He says he's got a machine out back that'll test em good, runs em up and back again. I say hit it, cuz I know it's s#$%.

Leave, go to the crick, catch some minnows, come back. Any word on that batt? "Yeah, it's s#$%."

Why are these things so f#$%ing stupid so goddamn always? lol batteries, man, how do they work?

So, switching gears... who makes the choice equipment these days? I can't keep up with Chinese rip offs and capitalistic buy outs anymore to know any better, and I'll be damned if I rely on this Black and Decker again. Anything owned by a box store is right out. So,... Schumacher? Westwood? Who hasn't been bought out and gone to s#$% yet?

I was thinking your basement floor was cold.

https://scanneranswers.com/how-to-store-a-car-battery-for-winter-and-long-term/