[RE-wrenches] Electrolyte Dilution vs Voltage

[Steve Higgins]

Mac,

I don't think she diluted the battery, it sounds like she exposed the tops
of the plates to air and they are corroding.

See the attached picture... see where the bottoms of the batteries are
cooler than the rest?

With the batteries in this picture they plates have been exposed to oxygen
and the plates are corroding.   That corrosion is adding resistance, and
causing heat build up within the battery.  If this were sulfation, you'd
see a more even temp range within the entire battery.

My guess is she exposed a bit of the plates, the best way to get this back,
is to focus on full charges followed by short 15 to 20% discharges...
that'll help bring back what every capacity that can be recovered.

To do this:

You charge to full... full absorb time and spot check spgs... you should be
in the 1.260+ range on your spgs.

You then discharge for 30-60 mins at the C/10 discharge rate... this will
be about 28 to 35 amps DC..

I would watch individual battery voltages during this discharge to make
sure you don't have a weak battery or cell within the battery.

After the 30-60 mins you then do another full recharge....

After 4-10 of these cycles you should see a capacity gain

If not then the capacity has probably been lost permanently.





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On Wed, Jul 18, 2018 at 8:38 AM, Mac Lewis <maclewis1 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello Wrenches,
>
> I have a homeowner client that takes pretty good care of her batteries.
> She has a 5 year old set of Interstate L16s (2 strings of 8).  However, she
> recently didn't water them for longer than normal and they gulped up more
> distilled water than usual (4 gallons).  She was unsure if any of the
> plates were exposed.  She has reported that since she added the water the
> battery bank has lost about 1.5-2V (48V bank) of her bank voltage in the
> morning.  She reported ~49.5V in the morning before she added the water and
> now she is below 48V.
>
> I have advised a good strong equalize charge to destratify the electrolyte.
>
> Will diluting the electrolyte make the voltage sag like that?  Is there
> any other advice you might give her until I can get up there?
>
> Thanks
>
>
> --
>
>
>
> Mac Lewis
>
> *"Yo solo sé que no sé nada." -Sócrates*
>
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