Just discovered that my instrument battery bank boiled down below the plates. Not sure of the cause....maybe from a shore power overcharging issue? Right now they are topped up and charging at 14.1, seem to be performing okay. They are 6 volt deep cycle Interstate batteries, about 3 years old. They operate from the engines while underway and have a separate charger for shore/genny use. My question is how bad is the battery damage from having the top of the plates exposed, by maybe an inch or two.?? Thanks, Jim

All depends on how long they have been uncovered. The batteries will pretty quickly tell you if they were damaged - they will either work ok, or not On Apr 25, 2011, at 7:01 AM, "Quinces" <vquince@comcast.net> wrote: > Just discovered that my instrument battery bank boiled down below the plates. > Not sure of the cause....maybe from a shore power overcharging issue? > Right now they are topped up and charging at 14.1, seem to be performing > okay. > > They are 6 volt deep cycle Interstate batteries, about 3 years old. They > operate from the engines while underway and have a separate charger for > shore/genny use. > > My question is how bad is the battery damage from having the top of the plates > exposed, by maybe an inch or two.?? > > Thanks, > Jim > _______________________________________________ > http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers-and-trawlering > > To unsubscribe or modify your subscription options (get password, change email address, etc) go to: http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/options/trawlers-and-trawlering > > Trawlers & Trawlering and T&T are trademarks of Water World > Productions. Unauthorized use is prohibited.

Thanks Peter, They were performing fine when I discovered the plates were dry out of the acid....so maybe they will be okay now. I will keep a better eye on them! -------------------------------------------------- From: "Peter Hayden" <peter@twistedtree.com> Sent: Monday, April 25, 2011 8:00 AM To: "Quinces" <vquince@comcast.net> Cc: <trawlers-and-trawlering@lists.samurai.com> Subject: Re: T&T: battery damage > All depends on how long they have been uncovered. The batteries will > pretty quickly tell you if they were damaged - they will either work ok, > or not > > On Apr 25, 2011, at 7:01 AM, "Quinces" <vquince@comcast.net> wrote: > >> Just discovered that my instrument battery bank boiled down below the >> plates. >> Not sure of the cause....maybe from a shore power overcharging issue? >> Right now they are topped up and charging at 14.1, seem to be performing >> okay. >> >> They are 6 volt deep cycle Interstate batteries, about 3 years old. They >> operate from the engines while underway and have a separate charger for >> shore/genny use. >> >> My question is how bad is the battery damage from having the top of the >> plates >> exposed, by maybe an inch or two.?? >> >> Thanks, >> Jim >> _______________________________________________ >> http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers-and-trawlering >> >> To unsubscribe or modify your subscription options (get password, change >> email address, etc) go to: >> http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/options/trawlers-and-trawlering >> >> Trawlers & Trawlering and T&T are trademarks of Water World >> Productions. Unauthorized use is prohibited.

Hi Jim My experience is that once uncovered, their life is shortened and the longer they are uncovered, or the more often they uncover, the shorter the life, down to none. How old they are is probably a factor also. Load testing the battery, per starting battery protocol, could give you some indication as to whether they will still hold a charge and load testing them, per deep cycle protocol, wll give you an indcation as too how long they will hold the charge. But Peter is right, you'll notice fairly quickly if they are damaged significantly... they won't hold a charge as well as they used to. If not damaged significantly, then you'll probably not be able to tell if their life has been significantly altered; just to many other variables involved. If planning to go where batteries are more expensive or difficult to get, it might be a good thing to test them first, or maybe just replace them, if reliability is a concern; but then, it's easy for me to spend your money. Fun, but easy! Rudy Briney Bug, Panama City, Fl --- On Mon, 4/25/11, Quinces <vquince@comcast.net> wrote: > From: Quinces <vquince@comcast.net> > Subject: T&T: battery damage > To: trawlers-and-trawlering@lists.samurai.com > Date: Monday, April 25, 2011, 7:01 AM > Just discovered that my instrument > battery bank boiled down below the plates. > Not sure of the cause....maybe from a shore power > overcharging issue? > Right now they are topped up and charging at 14.1, seem to > be performing > okay. > > They are 6 volt deep cycle Interstate batteries, about 3 > years old. They > operate from the engines while underway and have a separate > charger for > shore/genny use. > > My question is how bad is the battery damage from having > the top of the plates > exposed, by maybe an inch or two.?? > > Thanks, > Jim > _______________________________________________ > http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers-and-trawlering > > To unsubscribe or modify your subscription options (get > password, change email address, etc) go to: http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/options/trawlers-and-trawlering > > Trawlers & Trawlering and T&T are trademarks of > Water World > Productions. Unauthorized use is prohibited.