What is a shelf life for wet Trojan batteries?

[BorisM]

I ran into a guy who is willing to sell me a set of T890 for $300 for all six. They are supposedly band new, never used, and, probably, fell off the truck. Am I wasting $300 or can I just put them on a dpi charger in my garage and assume they will stay as new?

[Sir Nuke]

I would inspect them thoroughly (dents/cracks). then they have a date code on the NEGITIVE post. Its an ALPHA/NUMARIC (like A2). the Alpha is the month A=Jan, B=Feb.... then the Number is the last digit of the year. this will tell you how old they really are.

THIS IS THE DATE THEY LEFT THE FACTORY. the code on the POSITIVE post is the assembly date but electrolyte isn't put in the battery at that point.

[BorisM]

Does anyone have any experience storing batteries?

[teecro]

Originally Posted by BorisM

Does anyone have any experience storing batteries?

Once a battery is wet it is active (alive) if it is not tended to via a charger of some sorts it begin to die off. How much they are allowed to die off will have a factor on their overall life. For this reason most battery shops to not keep a large amount of wet batteries on hand. How long I really don't know but I'd be leery of purchase if more than 3 months on date stamp. If over 6 months on the shelf untouched I'd be unlikely to touch them unless the seller made considerable consessions....

Now in a cart in for winter storage as long as they are kept plugged into a properly sized and functioning charger I'd have no reservations with 3, 6 or even 9 months so as long as the water level was checked beforehand a trickle charger will not boil out the water....

[BorisM]

Originally Posted by teecro

Once a battery is wet it is active (alive) if it is not tended to via a charger of some sorts it begin to die off. How much they are allowed to die off will have a factor on their overall life. For this reason most battery shops to not keep a large amount of wet batteries on hand. How long I really don't know but I'd be leery of purchase if more than 3 months on date stamp. If over 6 months on the shelf untouched I'd be unlikely to touch them unless the seller made considerable consessions....

Now in a cart in for winter storage as long as they are kept plugged into a properly sized and functioning charger I'd have no reservations with 3, 6 or even 9 months so as long as the water level was checked beforehand a trickle charger will not boil out the water....

So is it safe to say that shelf life of plugged in batteries is under one year before they start declining?

[cgtech]

A "float" charger will boil-off minimal water, as the voltage is held below the battery "gassing" voltage. A "trickle" charger is much more likely to consume more battery water, as it is current limited, not specifically voltage regulated. If applying a specific amperage over time causes the voltage to go above the "gassing" voltage, water use will go up A Lot. The terms "trickle charge" and "float charge" are often interchanged as the same thing, when they are quite different.

[BorisM]

Originally Posted by cgtech

A "float" charger will boil-off minimal water, as the voltage is held below the battery "gassing" voltage. A "trickle" charger is much more likely to consume more battery water, as it is current limited, not specifically voltage regulated. If applying a specific amperage over time causes the voltage to go above the "gassing" voltage, water use will go up A Lot. The terms "trickle charge" and "float charge" are often interchanged as the same thing, when they are quite different.

Is DPI a float or trickle charger?

[kernal]

Float. Here is a link to the manual if you care to read it: http://www.dpipower.com/store/MNUL/General_Chargers.pdf

[teecro]

Originally Posted by cgtech

A "float" charger will boil-off minimal water, as the voltage is held below the battery "gassing" voltage. A "trickle" charger is much more likely to consume more battery water, as it is current limited, not specifically voltage regulated. If applying a specific amperage over time causes the voltage to go above the "gassing" voltage, water use will go up A Lot. The terms "trickle charge" and "float charge" are often interchanged as the same thing, when they are quite different.

Thank you for that correction... You are very correct in that the two terms get mixed up and that's exactly what I did....