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Battery Page
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A 12 year old cranking battery discharging internally
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We discuss the Automotive, Marine, RV Cranking and Deep Cycle Battery life and failure. Cranking (rated in CCA) is more for cars needing a 30 second massive discharge to turn the starter motor long enough to start the engine. Deep Cycle or Deep discharge, is constructed with thicker material designed to provide a long supply of current for RV or marine application. Both technologies are basically the same.
Battery Failure is attributed to one of the following causes.
1. Column Failure - The battery consisting of 6 cells, one dies catastrophically then the rest, although OK produce about 10.8 volts insufficient to start an otherwise already warmed car.
2. Weak Cell - Place battery on the stress tester and as current is pulled the voltage falls below the nominal 12 V. On the Tester this will appear as going into the yellow area
3. Internal Discharge - An otherwise OK battery discharges in days as opposed to months. It can right away after being charged hold the stress test but over time discharges more quickly than it should.
4. External Discharge - A dirty battery discharges through conductive build-up on it's case. Cleaning the case with detergent and water removes the conductive build up and restores the battery's capacity.
5. Terminal Crud. Batteries live in a "dirty" environment. Oil and chemicals off the road combine with sand and dust to create semi-conductive "grime" that gets on battery studs and connected terminals. Crud prevents good contact to your electrical system. A pocket knife cleans off the post and terminal crud.
Cold Cranking Amps
Not usually seen in sub-automotive style cases, here we have a pair of Yuasa batteries, one rated in CCA (cold cranking amps) and the other without.
Typically what happens is a company builds and moves into a new better facility and another company takes over at the old facility continuing to turn out product. In this case it looks like Yuasa is either operating both plants or the unmarked battery is older.
Replacement Battery & Useful Tips
Here we are looking at at the original and replacement battery for a 2018 Honda Minivan. Now Minivans are complex with a lot of electronic systems. The subject of which the source of endless debate regarding electrical problems in said vehicles. My experience on this and late and early model Chrysler Minivans gives rise to the following words:
1. Turn off all radios, fans, lights, A/C systems, etc. before turning off the motor. This one step might solve it all.
2. Replace the original battery. (Honda original was under-powered and under-sized)
3. Replace cabin light bulbs with led equivalents. Useful for active families who like to leave doors open.
4. Re-seat the fuses in your car's fuse box by opening the lid and pressing them back down. (They will back out over time thus riding on increasingly tarnished contacts.)
New Motorcycle Battery Suspecting the 2021 Yuasa not turning over the Intruder's big engine, we find a reasonable priced Lithium Ion replacement. Coming it at about 1/2 the size and less than 1/4 of the original battery's weight, I stacked it up on some spacers and installed in vehicle.
Battery Acid Fire (thank you bravabatteries.com)
Lead-acid battery fires are possible – though not because of the battery acid itself. Overall, the National Fire Protection Association says that lead-acid batteries present a low fire hazard. Furthermore, the NFPA reports that (based on limited information) flooded lead-acid batteries are less prone to thermal runaways than valve-regulated lead-acid batteries (VRLA). That’s because the liquid solution in flooded batteries can inhibit fire better than the materials inside VRLA (Sealed Lead Acid) batteries can.
Frozen Battery Explode
The freezing of battery electrolyte often occurs when the battery is undercharged and exposed to low temperatures. This is because when a battery is fully charged, the water and acid in the electrolyte are combined. And that means it has a very low freezing point. Frozen batteries can “explode” if you apply a charge to them while they’re frozen. But if the battery is not fully charged, the water and sulfuric acid will separate. And this can cause the battery to freeze. If you try to charge or jump-start the battery in a frozen state, it can explode.
Additional reading: https://www.power-sonic.com/blog/sla-thermal-runaway/
05/04/2024 Heavy Tarnish on 5 yr old deep cycle battery Camper battery increasingly difficult to start generator. The battery, though fully charged catastrophically failed (straight to 0 volts) the stress test while in place. Remove battery and re-test and now seems just fine. Discover green tarnish on contact that was preventing current flow. Cleaned up contacts, connectors and re-assembled. Generator started right up. Also installed a knife switch on the return to insure 100% battery disconnect from system while not in use.
05/21/2024 Dead Battery! I left the keys in the ignition position and when I went to go out, the Sequoia battery was clicking. In a rush to to beat the masses to the store I tried to jump off the motorcycle battery using the jumpers and could not get it to crank, then used my the small car battery with the heavy clamps and that started it! Wondering if it would start the camper engine, disconnected positive terminal (it needed cleaning anyway) and was able to start camper engine. Then tried the jumper cable from camper Pos. post to Pos. terminal, it tried but failed to turn over. Suspicions regarding capacity of jumper cords confirmed and eye out for a heavy duty set or just bring along the small car battery.
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