Mixing Gel Cell and Lead Acid Batteries

[barcloverranch]

Hello Everyone,

I'm curious what the issues/concerns would be with mixing in a regular lead acid battery in a sequence of gel batteries?

I've got six gel batteries in my cart that were free, but one has petered out. Obviously I'd rather go the cheaper route now that I have to pay for the replacement so would this one battery cause any problems?

Thanks,

Josh

[scottyb]

They have different charging needs. If you charge the 5 separately from the 1 then you should be able to run them together.

[barcloverranch]

Thanks for the quick reply,

How do you suggest I should charge them separately?

[simple man]

I believe Scott means that you should use an automotive type charger and charge each battery separately. Gel batteries have a special charge rate so you should try and use a charger with a " gel " selection on it. I'm assuming these are 6V batteries. Honestly, you will have problems just running the cart with mismatched batteries. I would try and find another gel battery that matches your others in amp hour rating. If you are just buying time, what you want to do will work, but figure on replacing all of the batteries pretty soon! It's very easy to overcharge gel batteries and once they have been overcharged ( gas bubbles ), they do not recover as the bubbles stay in the gel and interrupt proper current flow.