Why are my new 6 volts not charging?-gctid805668

[Garchar]

I bought two new 6 volt batteries last June and the other two one year before that. I get back from a vacation of three months and all four are dead at 10 volts for each group of two which was 13 volts before vacation. (Two 6's together).. I charged both groups of two over night and only get 11.6 volts after ten hours of charging. Should I try to charge each 6 volt separately or buy new ones again? Help. Garchar :sick: :sick: :sick: SEE NEW NOTATIONS ON FOURTH RESPONSE. Garchar :sick: UPDATED AGAIN :

[aluxury1]

Check your water level in the Batteries, they use water. Add distilled water. I just added over a half gallon to 2 Batteries.

[MonteVista]

Were the batteries left on charge or disconnected? What is the load on the batteries, such as bilge pump, CO monitor, fridge, etc.? In other words, were the batteries left with no charge (10v per group of 2 x 6v in series) because they were under load or because the charger stopped? You say you charged them upon your return but can only get them to 11.5v. What charger are you using, what is the charge current? How long were they charged? If the charger has completed its cycle this means the batteries have gone bad or the charger is malfunctioning.

Situation will not change by charging 6v batteries separately. Indeed how will you achieve that using a 12v charger to charge the individual 6v batteries?

[Garchar]

Water levels are full. It was hooked to a 110 volt heater via wall plug inside boat the boat and the power went off which made the system to switch to the batteries. I think the power was drained from the four 6 volt batteries. My charger is from sears and will charge either six or twelve volt. I hope this answers the questions I should have noted in the problem. Question still stands. See new notations. Thanks Garchar

[Ruffryder]

Drained too low & damaged... warranty on those batts? Hoping

Wish Bosch made maring batteries readily available...I only buy Bosch starting batt .

[canoel]

I would check the electrolyte levels in the batteries, then charge each individually with a 6 volt charger. The you can do a specific gravity test,voltage test etc. You may find you have only one bad battery.

[Garchar]

How do I check the electrolyte level and specific gravity level.? Thanks Garchar

[Ruffryder]

Bring it in to your local Auto zone or oriely, they will charge & test for you

[canoel]

+1 to what Joon suggested.

The electrolyte should be fully covering the plates. If not then add distilled water.

Use one of these to test the specific gravity. A good tool to have in any case.

[GearGuts]

Assuming you have a working charger and your battery connections are clean and tight it's most likely that you have brought what was once a week cell in your battery assembly to complete failure due to the overdischarge. You need to buy a battery hydrometer from a hardware store, use it as per its instructions and you will find that one or more of your cells tests way lower than the others. Replace that battery and set your inverter to disabled when you leave the boat for extended periods, the remaining batteries will be sensitive to further abuse. Keep us posted on what you find out. Good luck.

[dmcb]

As mentioned if the batteries were deeply discharged and left in that condition for a some time (a few days) they most likely were destroyed. That is the killer of any battery even deep cycle batteries.

Btw, if you have all 4 batteries in one bank, they should all be the same age and type. If not the first one that reaches its life will draw down the others.

In other words, change one, change them all.

Doug

[Garchar]

Thanks to everyone. As I mentioned before two batteries were One year old and the other two were two years old. I charged six hours and they are uo to 11.8 which is slowly climbing upward. The hydrometer says dead. Maybe a hard lesson learned again. Anymore comments are appreciated. Thanks Again Garchar.

[MonteVista]

How much current does your charger provide? How many outputs does the charger have? It is possible that the charger has a low charge current capability and when split between two groups each group gets only half and is taking much longer to finish charging.

If you can check the electrolyte levels in the groups and have topped them if necessary, I would charge the groups separately. This way all of the charger current will be used to charge each group separately and charging will complete sooner. Also, if only 1 group has one (or both) 6v battery that has gone bad, still the entire series connection of 6v batteries would be a bad 12v group and when you put a good 12v group in parallel with a bad 12v group the bad group prevents either/both being fully charged. Separate them.

[706jim]

Chances are the batteries are ruined.

It happens......

If repeated charging doesn't do the trick, you're in for a new set methinks.

Can't tell you how many batteries I ruined in my old Camaro by just leaving the stereo clock running. Just milliamps, but dead after a winter of storage.

[dmcb]

Can't tell you how many batteries I ruined in my old Camaro by just leaving the stereo clock running. Just milliamps, but dead after a winter of storage

For sure. That small draw adds up over time. The only safe way is disconnect the batteries for long term storage.

Doug