Donated Battery...Question

[WillandShay]

Hello Everyone!

My next door neighbor gave us a marine battery. I put my meter on it and it had 6 volts showing. But it has been sitting outside for the last year. Do you all think that this battery will hold up? Are these battery's OK, to sit like this and then re-use? Being that it is a marine battery, I think it is worth a shot to see if it will work out for us. I know if this was a car battery, there would be no hope, but since I do not know that much about marine battery's, and by what I have heard they will stand this kind of use, or abuse, it may just be OK.

Thoughts?

Will

 

[Lyle29464]

Re: Donated Battery...Question

my guess is it very well may be ok. use a smart charger and load test it.

 

[1980Galaxy]

Re: Donated Battery...Question

charge it up and see if it holds a charge. the longer you let a battery sit without a full charge, the shorter the life of the battery. you may not be able to bring it back but its worth a shot.

to answer your question: no, its not ok to let it sit like that and re-use. always keep it charged to prolong the life of the battery.

 

[WillandShay]

Re: Donated Battery...Question

OK. Thanks for the responses. I will update you all on the battery.

Thanks.

Will

 

[Mel Taylor]

Re: Donated Battery...Question

I just charged a battery that was down to 4.5 volts. My charger detects the battery voltage and automatically sets the charging voltage to either 6 or 12 volts. The is no switch to manually switch the charging voltage from 6 to 12 and vice versa.

This battery was down to 4.5 volts, the charger decided it was a 6 volt battery and when the battery voltage reached 6 volts, it indicated 100 percent charges and shut off. In order to get it to charge the battery properly, I connected another 12 volt battery to it with jumper cables, positive to positive, negative to negative, connected the charger to it and let it charge for a few minutes. That let the charger recognize it as a 12 volt battery and when I took the jumper cables away, the charger continued to charge at the 12 volt rate.

The battery took a full charge and is working just fine now.

You might have to do something similar if your charger is one of the automatic ones.

 

[5150abf]

Re: Donated Battery...Question

May as well throw it on a charger for a day or 2 and see what it will hold but I would be very leary of it and cetainly wouldn't make that my only power on the boat.

I personnaly would be suprised if it came back, 6 volt is really really dead and may indicate a dead cell.

 

[TerryMSU]

Re: Donated Battery...Question

A co-worker brought back an Optima that was way down by doing the parallel trick. Otherwise, the charger thought the Optima was bad. This was a vehicle starting battery, and he has been using it for several weeks since then.

TerryMSU

I just charged a battery that was down to 4.5 volts. My charger detects the battery voltage and automatically sets the charging voltage to either 6 or 12 volts. The is no switch to manually switch the charging voltage from 6 to 12 and vice versa.

This battery was down to 4.5 volts, the charger decided it was a 6 volt battery and when the battery voltage reached 6 volts, it indicated 100 percent charges and shut off. In order to get it to charge the battery properly, I connected another 12 volt battery to it with jumper cables, positive to positive, negative to negative, connected the charger to it and let it charge for a few minutes. That let the charger recognize it as a 12 volt battery and when I took the jumper cables away, the charger continued to charge at the 12 volt rate.

The battery took a full charge and is working just fine now.

You might have to do something similar if your charger is one of the automatic ones.

 

[CaptOchs]

Re: Donated Battery...Question

I would take it to an auto parts store. Most will test your battery for free. Some will even offer to charge it overnight for free as well.

Don't give up hope if it's dead; the battery could still be under warranty. The manufactured date is typically stamped on them somewhere. Most are prorated from that date. If it has a 5 year warranty and it's dead in 2 1/2 years, you'll get a brand new battery for half the cost of a new one. I'd say that's a pretty good deal.

 

['78 Crusader]

Re: Donated Battery...Question

I wouldn't trust that as the only battery on my boat. If I had two batteries on board and that battery was one of them, ya I'd be okay with it. But if it's the sole battery on board, I'd not trust it at all.

Just my $.02

 

[dmoriarty51]

Re: Donated Battery...Question

i had a car battery sit all winter and read .41 volts come spring time... i took it to back to autozone as it was a 3 yr free replacement battery and only a year old where they proceeded to charge the crap out of it for a couple hours and its still in the car today 2 or 3 years later.

 

[WillandShay]

Re: Donated Battery...Question

Hello everyone!

I have acquired a battery charger and I am going to let it sit on charge for awhile.

How long should I let this battery sit on charge for?

Will

 

[rockyrude]

Re: Donated Battery...Question

For all intents and purposes, 6v is dead. Divide the total amps of the battery by the amp charge rate of the charger and that should give you the approximate hours needed to bring it to full charge if it's going to happen.

 

[WillandShay]

Re: Donated Battery...Question

OK. So the charger is 12v 6amp, 12V 2amp, and 6v 2 amp.

Last night I put the battery on charge on 12v 6amp. I used my meter and the charger was pushing 13V 6amps.

I had to put a bit of distilled water in it, just to the bottom of the plastic vents. It did boil a little out. It charged for 12 hours. I then measured it again after waiting 30 minutes and it was holding at 12V. I am going to leave it off charge for about 10 hours then charge it 8 more hours tonight.

It is a 115amp battery so I figured on about 19 hours of charging is what is needed.

If any of this sounds off, please let me know.

Thank you!

Will

 

[rockyrude]

Re: Donated Battery...Question

Sounds about right, 6 amps is the "fast" charge rate and 2 amps is the trickle rate.

 

[WillandShay]

Re: Donated Battery...Question

Sounds about right, 6 amps is the "fast" charge rate and 2 amps is the trickle rate.

Do you think I should trickle charge it for the last 8 hours?

Will

 

[zagger]

Re: Donated Battery...Question

By marine grade do you mean it is a deep cycle battery or marine cranking battery. A deep cycle should spring back as they are designed to discharge to low levels and be recharged. Do several load tests after recharging, 12 volts means nothing without amps behind it. Good luck.

 

[WillandShay]

Re: Donated Battery...Question

This battery is a Everstart 27DC-6 with 115 amp hours and 720 cranking amps.

Will

 

[rockyrude]

Re: Donated Battery...Question

Now I'm a little confused. First, I believe "DC" means deep cycle. Before you said you only had a 115 amp battery which will sounded a little light for any real use in a boat. Now you say you have 720 cranking amps which sounds more normal. Which is it? If it is the 720, that is the number you need to work with for charge time.

 

[WillandShay]

Re: Donated Battery...Question

Now I'm a little confused. First, I believe "DC" means deep cycle. Before you said you only had a 115 amp battery which will sounded a little light for any real use in a boat. Now you say you have 720 cranking amps which sounds more normal. Which is it? If it is the 720, that is the number you need to work with for charge time.

OK. Here is the link to the battery at Walmarts site:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/EverStart-27DC-6-Marine-Battery/16795212

Please read it and tell me how many hours to charge. I thought I am supposed to go by the amp hours.

Please let me know.

Thank you.

Will

 

[gdombroski]

Re: Donated Battery...Question

OK. Last night I put the battery on charge on 12v 6amp. I used my meter and the charger was pushing 13V 6amps.

I had to put a bit of distilled water in it, just to the bottom of the plastic vents. It did boil a little out. It charged for 12 hours. I then measured it again after waiting 30 minutes and it was holding at 12V. I am going to leave it off charge for about 10 hours then charge it 8 more hours tonight.

It is a 115amp battery so I figured on about 19 hours of charging is what is needed.

If any of this sounds off, please let me know.

Thank you!

Will

Fast charging a battery (6 amp) for anything over an hour will do more more damage to it. Boiling is not good. When a battery is low you should always recharge at 2 amp. More chargers reccommend 24 hours at 2 amps in that condition. If not at about 12.6v after sitting a while may have bad cell. By the way it's OK to let a battery sit right on concrete during and after this. Today it's an old wifes tale about it draining them. They fixed that problem in the 40's.