New DMM, New Hydro, First results...Questions...

[Brushpup]

Well, I meant to do this sooner, but our little mishap hastened things a bit, so I picked up some new tools at lunch today. Just enough of a nerd that I couldn't wait to get home and see what was going on beneath the seat.

My batteries are three YO Trojan T105's, and the cart is new to me, so I know nothing about their history. These readings are well after 24 hours of refill on two cells of #5 batt following the tip over and a recharge of the pack. As I discussed in my other thread, I may make up some acid solution for one cell as it was reading a little below 1.275

Pack V-38.5

All singles read 6.5V and most cells read above 1.233 on the hydro. The only ones that didn't read above were the ones replenished with DI water after being spilled this weekend. One of those was below 1.275, and the other was between there and 1.233. All the ones above that nearly "pegged out" the pointer and I was wondering if this was common. Or...did I get a crummy hydro? Auto Zone only had one kind here, but perhaps I need a better one? In any event, this was kinda fun finding out, and I'm off to read up on load testing and see about that.

This has spawned something though...I think I MUST have a digital VM readout. Otherwise, I'm gonna be stopping all the time to lift the seat and go probing around.

I wanna say thanks to you guys who've been following and helping me out on the other threads. Much appreciated...

[shadowman]

all good cells should read between 1.25 and 1.75 but as close to each other per battery as possible.......the 1.23 you have are a tad low and if you have say 1 battery with a cell reading 1.23 and 1.50 that indicates a problem with that battery.......how much of a problem i don,t know i,m no expert on batteries..........the idea battery i hear you want to read 1.50 or as close to that per cell as possible..........so even though your batteries arn,t that old they may not of been maintained well at all......question is can you bring them back at all now?? don,t know.......................................

[Brushpup]

Yea, I read somewhere here that big differences are indicative of problems, I think maybe from you Shadowman. I am certain the batteries weren't maintained well, but I have been very pleased with how they perform and last. It all relative though, may last cart was terrible and set up wrong to begin with. I'll be able to tell more with my new tools, but I have had no trouble getting what I need and will normally do with these batteries.

Thanks for the input Sman.

[shadowman]

by all means , i,m not saying they need replaced cause that i don,t know......and with proper maintence you may be able to bring them up......that i don,t know also but what i can say is i have seen lots of sets of trojen batteries that when i 1st laid eyes on them i put over a gallon of distilled water in them ( thats how well they were maintained ) charged them had the customer keep close eye on things and carts ran ok with good power and runtime..........one thing about trogens that i have wittnessed 1st hand where other brands were just done was taking abuse as in no maintence.............the things i could get away with on a set of T,s was unthinkable with other brands........don,t get me wrong other brand batteries are fine as long as you maintain them but go ahead and abuse them and try and bring them back..........won,t work but on the other hand T,s brushed it off like it never happened.................even a cart fully submerged in a pond for 3 hours had no ill effect on the batteries............that sold me........................

[simple man]

Originally Posted by shadowman

by all means , i,m not saying they need replaced cause that i don,t know......and with proper maintence you may be able to bring them up......that i don,t know also but what i can say is i have seen lots of sets of trojen batteries that when i 1st laid eyes on them i put over a gallon of distilled water in them ( thats how well they were maintained ) charged them had the customer keep close eye on things and carts ran ok with good power and runtime..........one thing about trogens that i have wittnessed 1st hand where other brands were just done was taking abuse as in no maintence.............the things i could get away with on a set of T,s was unthinkable with other brands........don,t get me wrong other brand batteries are fine as long as you maintain them but go ahead and abuse them and try and bring them back..........won,t work but on the other hand T,s brushed it off like it never happened.................even a cart fully submerged in a pond for 3 hours had no ill effect on the batteries............that sold me........................

They're sealed pretty well so if the water can't get in to dilute the electrolyte, it doesn't bother the batteries! Of course, the rest of the electronics kinda frowns on taking a swim!

[shadowman]

Originally Posted by simple man

They're sealed pretty well so if the water can't get in to dilute the electrolyte, it doesn't bother the batteries! Of course, the rest of the electronics kinda frowns on taking a swim!

yes they do but i was dumbfounded that 3 hours underwater didn,t hurt the batteries.........and this cart was up to the roof in the pond......................

[scottyb]

The caps are vented, they should have filled to the top with pond water diluting the electrolyte solution???
Unless the vent hole is so small it prevented water from entering as air escaped? And pressures equalized in and outside of the batteries in such shallow water. ~ How clever of Trojan!

[shadowman]

Originally Posted by scottyb

The caps are vented, they should have filled to the top with pond water diluting the electrolyte solution???
Unless the vent hole is so small it prevented water from entering as air escaped? And pressures equalized in and outside of the batteries in such shallow water. ~ How clever of Trojan!

scotty my thoughts exactly, i even told the guy i,m gonna start pricing batteries i was so sure about them being crap............i almost want to take some batteries of different brands and go sit them in the pond and try a few experiments..........everytime i see the guy driving the cart at camp i can,t help but shake my head............................