Thursday, November 6, 2008

Out of balance (still)

My new Fluke came in the mail yesterday. Now I can see what's really going on with my batteries and it aint pretty.
Last time I ran the charger I noticed two batteries where hissing. This is bad news for AGM batteries as it means the valve is open and they are off gassing. Since they are sealed, there is no way to refill them. I did some checking on line and some people seem to think that it doesn't necessarily mean the battery is bad.
We'll have to see.
Here is the last set of reading I did:
#1 12.38
#2 12.59
#3 12.36
#4 12.41
#5 13.13 (hissing)
#6 12.63
#7 12.50 (hissing)
#8 12.67
#9 12.60
#10 12.45
#11 12.66
#12 12.44
#13 12.45

I've been emailing Ken at HotJuiceElectric (the makers of the BEQ1) who has been real helpful.
He's telling me the BEQ1s won't balance the pack, but keep it balanced. His suggestion is to charge them all up one at a time until they show 13.2 volts each. I was hoping to avoid this since it may take me DAYS to get them to this point, but it looks like I won't have much choice in the matter.
Ugh.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Dang! Can't you just drive it a bit?