UPDATE: I placed the battery on the manual charger at the 12V/2A setting for about 45 minutes. Amperage slowly crept up to about 18A, according to the analog ammeter on the charger, while my DMM showed a voltage of 9.3V between the alligator clamps. I had the caps off, and only two cells were visibly bubbling, but I could smell the acid. The battery was getting warm, and I noticed it was very warm on the sides of the battery near the positive terminal around the top of the battery. I am trying to learn about batteries, so I'd appreciate your analysis of the situation:
Questions:
1. Why 9.3V/18A? Why isn't the current limited to 2A, as per the manual charger setting? How would you expect or hope amperage and voltage to behave in this situation?
2. Why bubbling in only 2 cells? Is any bubbling bad during normal charging? Would a healthy battery avoid all bubbling except while being equalized at high voltage?
3. Is the amount of heating normal for charging a battery starting from the 0.7V initial state?
4. Shall I proceed with charging at the 12V/2A setting while monitoring heat level, and only stop if it gets quite hot (rather than very warm, as it already did)?
Questions:
1. Why 9.3V/18A? Why isn't the current limited to 2A, as per the manual charger setting? How would you expect or hope amperage and voltage to behave in this situation?
2. Why bubbling in only 2 cells? Is any bubbling bad during normal charging? Would a healthy battery avoid all bubbling except while being equalized at high voltage?
3. Is the amount of heating normal for charging a battery starting from the 0.7V initial state?
4. Shall I proceed with charging at the 12V/2A setting while monitoring heat level, and only stop if it gets quite hot (rather than very warm, as it already did)?