Overwatered Batteries

[Croqezgo]

I bought a set of year old Trojan batteries from a friend. They have been taken care of fairly well. He had them out of a cart he sold. I charged the pack last night without checking water first. I came out this morning and they had liquid on top. I opened the tops and all of the cells are filled to the very top.

What should I do? Also this is a 48 volt set, I am showing 50V on the pack after a charge. Any guidance is appreciated. Can I take some water out of each cell and get them down to an inch or so above the plates? Should I add anything back in? Lost acid? Not sure on this at all.

[Sergio]

There is not much You can do other then keep cleaning the top of the batteries.

Do not remove anything from the cells or add anything, the water will slowly get used and the volume will go down in time.

Make sure the caps and the battery surface is clean so the cap seats and seals properly.

The caps are designed to allow over pressure gases to escape while keeping the acid inside the battery.

[Croqezgo]

Ok thank you! Just to recap, I will leave them full and just run it and charge it to try to let the water reduce over time?

Should I use a baking soda solution to clean them after every charge cycle until they are not spilling over any longer?

I will state one more time that they are full to the top. Apparently, he had added water after a charge (distilled) because he thought they were low. They test ok on specific gravity (fair, not great). The charger seemed to think they were fine... They run well.

[Sergio]

The issue now is if You try to remove any of the electrolyte from the cells You will also remove some of the acid.

Since the concentration of the electrolyte varies depending on the specific charge level of each cell and properly storing the sulfuric acid mixture without contaminating will be difficult, just wait until the level goes down due to electrolysis, probably in a month of use.

If the water on the top has acid, just use a mixture of 1/4 cup baking soda to 1 gallon of water.

Either fill milk jugs with water to rinse or a garden hose without pressure.

Clean it before removing the caps and make sure the cap seals and seat area is clean from debris.

Do not rinse the batteries over a concrete driveway as the acid will stain the concrete.

[Croqezgo]

Thank you Sergio!

[EvilSpirit1]

Originally Posted by Sergio

If the water on the top has acid, just use a mixture of 1/4 cup baking soda to 1 gallon of water.

Either fill milk jugs with water to rinse or a garden hose without pressure.

Do not rinse the batteries over a concrete driveway as the acid will stain the concrete.

A garden pump sprayer also works well for flushing batteries off - either with clean water or the baking soda solution. They can also be filled with distilled water for topping off batteries.

[Croqezgo]

Thanks for the tip. I am going to wash the batteries off today and see if I can get some run time on the cart. I took a bit of solution out of one battery yesterday before I got an answer. I will add it back in today, I saved it in a jar in case I needed it.

[cgtech]

Here's an idea. Get a plastic catsup bottle (like food service style), use it to remove fluid for top-off use later as the water levels decline. It could also be made with a bottle with Rigid sides, like a Gatorade bottle.using a aerosol can straw poked through the lid. Store the fluid in another Gatorade bottle (clearly mark the bottle if you decide to store acid).

It sucks, but it's better than just losing the acid (which is supposed to be there for the life of the battery). Also, just buying more acid later also is bad, the manufacturers use their own specific blend.