| Author |
Message |
szaki
Guest
|
 Posted:
Wed Aug 03, 2005 12:15 am Post subject:
84' Toyota Van LE battery weird |
|
|
I have a 1984 Toyota Van LE 128,000 original mile. Yes, still running good.
Last few years eats batteries, cause is my wife not driving it enough,
just sits there.
I even bought a solar charger for it, to keep the battery alive.
Less than a year old battery acting up again. I charged it up few days
ago, next day car would not start, battery is dead.
Took it out yesterday, charged it up with my new B&D digital charger,
showed 14.1 V. This morning showed 13.2V, took out the acid tester,
showed all cells need charging 1.150 gr. Not even close to fair 1.210
gr. Checked the battery in my BMW, showed 1.225gr fair, so the gravity
tester works.
Why is the charger can show fully charged battery, but the acid tester not?
Thx, Julius
|
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Ray O
Guest
|
| Posted:
Wed Aug 03, 2005 12:15 am Post subject:
Re: 84' Toyota Van LE battery weird |
|
|
"szaki" <szaki10@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:DuqdncdRL54Sd3LfRVn-tQ@comcast.com...
| Quote: | I have a 1984 Toyota Van LE 128,000 original mile. Yes, still running good.
Last few years eats batteries, cause is my wife not driving it enough,
just sits there.
I even bought a solar charger for it, to keep the battery alive.
Less than a year old battery acting up again. I charged it up few days
ago, next day car would not start, battery is dead.
Took it out yesterday, charged it up with my new B&D digital charger,
showed 14.1 V. This morning showed 13.2V, took out the acid tester, showed
all cells need charging 1.150 gr. Not even close to fair 1.210 gr. Checked
the battery in my BMW, showed 1.225gr fair, so the gravity tester works.
Why is the charger can show fully charged battery, but the acid tester
not?
Thx, Julius
|
Specific gravity will go down as temperature goes up. Just lowering the
battery's temperature will increase the specific gravity.
Keep in mind that when you measure voltage, you are measuring potential
(volts) but when you measure specific gravity, you are inferring what the
voltage will be.
--
Ray O
correct the return address punctuation to reply |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
szaki
Guest
|
| Posted:
Wed Aug 03, 2005 5:48 am Post subject:
Re: 84' Toyota Van LE battery weird |
|
|
Ray O wrote:
| Quote: | "szaki" <szaki10@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:DuqdncdRL54Sd3LfRVn-tQ@comcast.com...
I have a 1984 Toyota Van LE 128,000 original mile. Yes, still running good.
Last few years eats batteries, cause is my wife not driving it enough,
just sits there.
I even bought a solar charger for it, to keep the battery alive.
Less than a year old battery acting up again. I charged it up few days
ago, next day car would not start, battery is dead.
Took it out yesterday, charged it up with my new B&D digital charger,
showed 14.1 V. This morning showed 13.2V, took out the acid tester, showed
all cells need charging 1.150 gr. Not even close to fair 1.210 gr. Checked
the battery in my BMW, showed 1.225gr fair, so the gravity tester works.
Why is the charger can show fully charged battery, but the acid tester
not?
Thx, Julius
Specific gravity will go down as temperature goes up. Just lowering the
battery's temperature will increase the specific gravity.
Keep in mind that when you measure voltage, you are measuring potential
(volts) but when you measure specific gravity,
|
<<you are inferring what the voltage will be.>>
When the battery is fully charged Sp.gr. should show it, not way low.
Any way I wouldn't care, but the battery gave me trouble the last month
or so.
| Quote: |
Thx, got the battery replaced. Kragen hooked it up to the test machine, |
it showed GOOD battery, fully charged. I showed the sales man the
specific gravity is very low, way down in the red on all cells, 1.150,
made him convinced the battery is bad. We checked the NEW battery
specific gr. needle jumped up, showing it good. Sales man smiled, was
convinced too, he said must be some thing wrong with the old battery,
not sure what.
Only had to pay $13 for the exchange.
Julius
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Gord Beaman
Guest
|
| Posted:
Wed Aug 03, 2005 4:14 pm Post subject:
Re: 84' Toyota Van LE battery weird |
|
|
szaki <szaki10@comcast.net> wrote:
| Quote: | I have a 1984 Toyota Van LE 128,000 original mile. Yes, still running good.
Last few years eats batteries, cause is my wife not driving it enough,
just sits there.
I even bought a solar charger for it, to keep the battery alive.
Less than a year old battery acting up again. I charged it up few days
ago, next day car would not start, battery is dead.
Took it out yesterday, charged it up with my new B&D digital charger,
showed 14.1 V. This morning showed 13.2V, took out the acid tester, showed
all cells need charging 1.150 gr. Not even close to fair 1.210 gr. Checked
the battery in my BMW, showed 1.225gr fair, so the gravity tester works.
Why is the charger can show fully charged battery, but the acid tester
not?
Thx, Julius
That certainly sounds odd as Ray said...but just goes to show |
one that weird things can happen and that it's not smart to 'say
never'!...:)
--
-Gord.
(use gordon in email) |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
szaki
Guest
|
| Posted:
Wed Aug 03, 2005 11:12 pm Post subject:
Re: 84' Toyota Van LE battery weird |
|
|
Ray O wrote:
| Quote: | "szaki" <szaki10@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:DuqdncdRL54Sd3LfRVn-tQ@comcast.com...
I have a 1984 Toyota Van LE 128,000 original mile. Yes, still running good.
Last few years eats batteries, cause is my wife not driving it enough,
just sits there.
I even bought a solar charger for it, to keep the battery alive.
Less than a year old battery acting up again. I charged it up few days
ago, next day car would not start, battery is dead.
Took it out yesterday, charged it up with my new B&D digital charger,
showed 14.1 V. This morning showed 13.2V, took out the acid tester, showed
all cells need charging 1.150 gr. Not even close to fair 1.210 gr. Checked
the battery in my BMW, showed 1.225gr fair, so the gravity tester works.
Why is the charger can show fully charged battery, but the acid tester
not?
Thx, Julius
Specific gravity will go down as temperature goes up. Just lowering the
battery's temperature will increase the specific gravity.
Keep in mind that when you measure voltage, you are measuring potential
(volts) but when you measure specific gravity, you are inferring what the
voltage will be.
|
Found a good web site explaining battery maintanace.
http://www.nwes.com/using_batteries.htm#Specific%20Gravity:
Specific Gravity:
The term specific gravity describes the ratio of the density of
electrolyte to the density of water. Electrolyte weighing 1.2 times as
much as the same volume of water has a specific gravity of 1.200. The
full charge gravity of a cell is a matter of design and depends on
several factors. The specific gravity must be high enough to contain the
amount of sulfuric acid necessary to meet the chemical needs of a cell.
If the sulfuric acid content is too high, damage may result to the cell.
The standard full charge gravity for lead acid batteries used in an R-E
system is 1.250 to 1.285 depending on which type of battery you are
using. Since the acid content of the electrolyte decreases linearly as
the cell is discharged, the decrease in gravity is directly
proportionate to the amount in ampere-hours taken out. The specific
gravity at any point in the discharge indicates the depth of discharge,
and can be translated into amp hours taken out. A cell having a full
charge specific gravity of 1.280 and a final specific gravity of 1.130
has a gravity drop of 150 points.
Example: assume the specific gravity is 1.180 at 77°F at the end of a
discharge. That is 100 points specific gravity below the full charge
gravity, therefore, 100 ÷ 150=67% discharged of rated capacity. So if
your battery were rated at 1000 amp hours you would have taken 670 amp
hrs out of the battery. Use this formula and the readings from your
amp/hr meter to get a good idea as to the battery’s State Of Charge (SOC).
Back to Top
Specific Gravity During Recharge
The rise of specific gravity is not uniform or proportional to the
amount of charge returned in amp/hrs. During the early part of the
charge , there is no gassing action to mix the electrolyte with the
heavier acid being released from the positive plates. The heavier
sulfuric acid will lie on the bottom of the cell container. A hydrometer
reading which draws electrolyte from the top of the cell does not
indicate the true gravity or actual state of charge. During the gassing
portion of the charge the sulfuric acid mixes with the rest of the
electrolyte in the upper portion of the cell. The gassing creates a
movement upward; drawing heavy acid with it and the specific gravity
rises rapidly to full charge value. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
Memberlist
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in