Battery water level low -- is it permanently dead?

[BobandWeave]

4 year old battery. Parent's car. Not used this winter so I put it on a cheap 1A battery maintainer. Not one of those "smart" ones so I scheduled it 1 week on, 1 week off the charger.

Battery now dead. Thought it was inadequate charging so I charged it with a big 12A charger overnight. Still dead. Pried open the cell covers. Can see the plates; water seems to have dried up.

Questions:

1) Can I revive it by adding distilled water and recharging? If yes, how reliable will the battery be after?

2)How did it dry up over the winter? Did I do a bad thing by putting it on the cheapo maintainer?

 

[HerrStig]

You were careful with the charger, I suspect the battery just reached its end point.

 

[Chris142]

Once the plates get exposed the battery is a goner.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
Once the plates get exposed the battery is a goner.


+1. A little exposure might be ok, if the plates are uncovered, the battery should be replaced.

 

[Wolf359]

That dumb charger might have fried it. Sounds like that charger put a continuous charge on it at 1 amp at 24/7. After a week that's 168 amp hours. Probably less. Batteries are typically in the 60-80 amp hour range. Throw away that 1 amp charger. Even a cheap smart 2 amp charger is in the $20-$30 range. Get a meter too and check the voltage before putting a charger on the battery.

 

[BobandWeave]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Once the plates get exposed the battery is a goner.


+1. A little exposure might be ok, if the plates are uncovered, the battery should be replaced.


Will take the advice given, replace battery.

Battery is from a good supplier. They'll give me some pro-rated value back since it's just from 2013.

 

[BobandWeave]

Originally Posted By: Wolf359
That dumb charger might have fried it. Sounds like that charger put a continuous charge on it at 1 amp at 24/7. After a week that's 168 amp hours. Probably less. Batteries are typically in the 60-80 amp hour range. Throw away that 1 amp charger. Even a cheap smart 2 amp charger is in the $20-$30 range. Get a meter too and check the voltage before putting a charger on the battery.


Interesting. I was worried that the dumb charger wasn't powerful enough. Battery was in the car and the maintainer would have to charge it as well as power the 2003-era electronics.

I used this strategy successfully on one of my cars (same charger actually) which was a 2001 Europen sporty car. And it was sitting outside in an unheated shed. My parent's car was inside the non-heated garage but part-of-the-house garage. Though winters are mild here (think Pacific NW).

But you could be right. Something must have dried up the water. Though it could also be my aging parents forgetting to unplug the charger occasionally (i.e. 2 or 3 weeks in a row plugged in to a dumb charger).

 

[Donald]

Thus why people buy temp compensated Battery Minders, not the $10 from HF.

I would replace if the plates were exposed to air.

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted By: Donald
Thus why people buy temp compensated Battery Minders, not the $10 from HF.

I would replace if the plates were exposed to air.
I burned up 2 batteries with a HF one.

 

[wrcsixeight]

Ideally, a fully charged battery would be held at just high enough voltage to prevent self discharge.

On a flooded 77f degree battery, this is right around 13.2v, but will vary among manufacturers slightly. Higher battery temps require lower float/maintenance voltages, cooler temps require higher voltages.

Sounds like your maintainer lost is voltage limiting and just went full throttle at its max output amperage, and opnce the battery reaches full charge, not much current is required to push voltage up above ideal float maintenance voltages.

replace battery, do not use that maintainer again, or of you do, check voltage at battery terminals when battery is fully charged to make sure it is in the low 13v range.

If you refuse to believe the maintainer is anything but the smartest piece of electrical equipment you ever bought, then put it on a timer to run 15 to 30 minutes each day, and the water loss should be minimal.

If you put maintainer on a less than fully charged battery, the voltage will read lower than 13's and could take quite some time to get to/above 13.2v. It will eventually climb to whatever maximum the maintainer allows, and this could be/Is too high as indicated by your extreme water usage.

Not only does an overcharged flooded battery use more water, there is electrolytic erosion of the positive plates, which in a starting battery are thin and porous to begin with.

Once the plates are exposed, the exposed portion has very little chance of contributing to the chemical reaction. When refilled and recharged for a prolonged period at high voltages, there is a small chance some of the exposed plates might try and do something again, but it is unlikely unless the plate exposure time was brief, and at cold temperatures.

The battery retailer and manufacturer are not responsible for your dry and failed battery, nor should they have to eat any of the prorated warranty as it was effectively murdered by your maintainer.

 

[meep]

just for kicks, I'd still dump some H20 in it and see if it comes alive. The electrolyte will be in solids on the bottom, right? so if they dissolve into solution, and the copper/lead plates are still made of copper and lead... it should all work, right?

-m

 

[wrcsixeight]

There is no copper in the plates of a battery. The electrolyte will not be solids but the plates that were exposed to air will have formed an occluding crust.

After refilling and charging these crusteez might fall off go to the bottom of the cell and short it out.

Refilling and recharging a dry battery is almost always ineffective and a waste of time and electricity effort and thought.

Whatever portion of the plates which were not exposed will still have some usable capacity, but teh specific gravity of the electorlye will be weaker, slowing the chemical reaction, so much lower capacity and CCA.

 

[2010Civic]

I've had good luck with my BatteryTenderJr. It will shutoff when the battery is full and then turn back on when it drops again. I would either get a better maintainer or instead of using it one week on/one week off use it one day on/2 weeks off. That would be more than enough.

 

[69GTX]

Originally Posted By: meep
just for kicks, I'd still dump some H20 in it and see if it comes alive. The electrolyte will be in solids on the bottom, right? so if they dissolve into solution, and the copper/lead plates are still made of copper and lead... it should all work, right?

-m



I did this and it got me 3 more years on my Sears Die Hard battery.

I have just bought the car and never thought of looking at the battery. It was only 3 years old. A few months later the car wouldn't turn over. I take off the caps and the battery is way below the plates. And there's sulfation to boot. So I add several cups of distilled water and charged the heck out of it the next 1-2 weeks. The initial charge started around 8-10 amps and went several hours as I recall. It started up the car fine over the next 3 yrs. Though this was a garaged car so it wasn't subjected to temps under 28 deg F to start up. I also routinely put a charger on it for 15-30 min every 1-2 weeks. But the first time it acted up again....it was replaced at the 6 yr point.

 

[bubbatime]

There is no way I would use that battery for anything but a lawn tractor. Trade it in for a new one.

And JUNK that charger. Get yourself a smart charger.

 

[cronk]

I have a Battery Tender JR, $30 from Walmart and will not overcharge.
I've heard good things about the Battery Minders available on Amazon as well.

 

[B320i]

Several friends of mine dealing with old heavy vehicles that are seldom used (i.e. preserved) have been quite impressed with battery rejuvenator products (liquids you add into the cells).

Typically batteries are expected to last 3-4 years; mate has rejuvenated all four batterys of the system at the 3 or 4 year mark as they no longer held charge very long. Still going well over a year later. When you deal with several hundred dollars for good batteries on large vehicles, a small investment to stave that off for a while is well worth it.

I suspect smart battery chargers might be able to do something similar to the rejuvenator product. In this case, battery may be a writeoff anyway.