I have an Energizer Wet 12V lead Acid car battery that I had pulled from my 93 Aerostar for the winter and has been sitting in the corner of my basement workshop on one of my work benches. It has been connected to a new CTEK 3300 US 3.3AMP plug it and forget it type desulphation maintenance chargers for the past week. I noticed last night that the CTEK was back in charging mode which usually happens when the Battery dips below 12.9volts...no big deal. Today I was in my workshop again and noticed it was still in charging mode and when I'm right next the Battery I can hear small gurgling noises and the battery casing is slightly warm to the touch. I stopped the charger and popped off one of the vent caps and there are small air bubbles coming to the surface from between the plates. There is no smell, or heat coming from the open vents caps but is this normal behavior I have never seen this before. I also checked the battery with a multimeter last night it was above 12volts and today I took a reading a few minutes after stopping the charger and its now at 11.34volts?
Car battery Gurgling on float charger.
- Thread starter Mr_Accord
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Yes,
It's normal when charging a battery to see hydrogen bubbling off the plates. It is part of the charging process. Just remember, no spark or flame near the battery at this stage.
Just make sure each cell is filled to the correct level with distilled water. The Ctek is a very good charger, you can have confidence in it. Test it once it flips back into storage mode and it should be at close to 14.4v. The Ctek should tell you if there's something wrong with the battery.
It's normal when charging a battery to see hydrogen bubbling off the plates. It is part of the charging process. Just remember, no spark or flame near the battery at this stage.
Just make sure each cell is filled to the correct level with distilled water. The Ctek is a very good charger, you can have confidence in it. Test it once it flips back into storage mode and it should be at close to 14.4v. The Ctek should tell you if there's something wrong with the battery.
Your battery has a shorted cell. Your 11.34 volts will probably level out at 10.5. 5 full charged cells, one dead one. Verify with a hydrometer if you want.
Thanks for the info Jim wasn't sure because this is actually my second CTEK this year the first one died one me. It would never go into maintenance mode on 3 different batteries so exchanged it at CT and this one seems to be doing a better job. As for a dead cell I might pick up a hydrometer and test that out as well only 5$
You may want to take it outside.
Hydrogen gas may prove to be unfriendly
Hydrogen gas may prove to be unfriendly
Sure seems like a shorted cell to me. I'd have it tested at AutoZone or somewhere else that does free testing on batteries.
Originally Posted By: tinmanSC
Sure seems like a shorted cell to me. I'd have it tested at AutoZone or somewhere else that does free testing on batteries.
Yup the #1 cell is dead. I bought a hydrometer and every cell tested perfectly except one couldn't even get a reading. Is there any hope of repairing it or is this the end and time to send it off to be recycled.
Sure seems like a shorted cell to me. I'd have it tested at AutoZone or somewhere else that does free testing on batteries.
Yup the #1 cell is dead. I bought a hydrometer and every cell tested perfectly except one couldn't even get a reading. Is there any hope of repairing it or is this the end and time to send it off to be recycled.
You could go through a lot of effort to remove the shedded plate deposits on the bottom of the cell which are shorting it out, and replace the electrolyte.
Perhaps if you were 300 miles from the nearest battery store this might be a viable, worthy, temporary fix.
Perhaps if you were 300 miles from the nearest battery store this might be a viable, worthy, temporary fix.
Originally Posted By: Mr_Accord
Originally Posted By: tinmanSC
Sure seems like a shorted cell to me. I'd have it tested at AutoZone or somewhere else that does free testing on batteries.
Yup the #1 cell is dead. I bought a hydrometer and every cell tested perfectly except one couldn't even get a reading. Is there any hope of repairing it or is this the end and time to send it off to be recycled.
Time for new battery. Time and effort to repair a dead cell is not worth the price for a new battery, the other cells will not lasted long either.
Originally Posted By: tinmanSC
Sure seems like a shorted cell to me. I'd have it tested at AutoZone or somewhere else that does free testing on batteries.
Yup the #1 cell is dead. I bought a hydrometer and every cell tested perfectly except one couldn't even get a reading. Is there any hope of repairing it or is this the end and time to send it off to be recycled.
Time for new battery. Time and effort to repair a dead cell is not worth the price for a new battery, the other cells will not lasted long either.
this post is helpful and makes me want to buy a voltmeter
How much has that battery been on a desulfating charger? In theory, the deslufation process should have prevented the shorted cell.
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JHZR2
Staff member
Sulfidation is not necessarily the only mechanism for a shorted cell.
Gurgling is normal as part of the process in some situations. You will actually electrolyze and possibly boil some during the charge.
Gurgling is normal as part of the process in some situations. You will actually electrolyze and possibly boil some during the charge.
Originally Posted By: SuperFast
this post is helpful and makes me want to buy a voltmeter
A voltmeter is probably not the best thing to test a battery with, but a DVM is handy for many things. You need a very accurate one if your going to use it to test batteries. And remove any false charge before checking the voltage.
A carbon pile load tester at HF is probably the best. You dial in the CCA and put a load on it for 15 seconds (if I remember) and read the voltage with its voltmeter (that normally has a temp compensated scale).
A hydrometer is also an excellent way assuming you can get the caps off.
this post is helpful and makes me want to buy a voltmeter
A voltmeter is probably not the best thing to test a battery with, but a DVM is handy for many things. You need a very accurate one if your going to use it to test batteries. And remove any false charge before checking the voltage.
A carbon pile load tester at HF is probably the best. You dial in the CCA and put a load on it for 15 seconds (if I remember) and read the voltage with its voltmeter (that normally has a temp compensated scale).
A hydrometer is also an excellent way assuming you can get the caps off.
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