Battery half full but water level is 100%

Nila

Hi Team

The place I bought these batteries from Tubular c10/flood acid type filled the water to maximum before delivering to us

but these lamers didnt know they shouldnt fill it to max when battery is only at like 60%.

Now I have connected the inverter to find out it is starting to leak the water .. what should I do? 

Just clean up the overflows for now? or disconnect the batteries and ask the seller to fix this crap?

littleharbor2

 They sold you batteries at 60% SOC? I'd get a refund and go somewhere else for batteries.

mcgivor

Once there is electrolyte loss the specific gravity, SG, would be altered affecting the future life of the battery, if returning is an option, that is the path I would recommend. Generally when a new battery is installed there needs to be a commissioning charge performed, only mentioned this because you didn't, a dry charged, add the electrolyte battery will never be fully charged, many manufacturers recommend an equalization cycle to ensure cell ballance across the battery as a whole, before putting it into service. Sounds like they may have over filled as opposed to filling to the upper level, hope you resolve the issue with the vendor successfully.

Nila

These batteries do have a long warranty period so I would try to call the customer service center tomorrow to review the options
Not sure it is possible for me to make these people understand the importance of delivering the batteries fully charged lol.

So it would be a hard battle for me to go for a refund/return.


Batteries are now only floating right now because I have asked my inverter to not charge them(as long as batteries are at 52+v) for now.

I do not have a 12v charger now to do a commissioning charge should I buy one? 

Lets say these guys topped the water to max for most of the cells and now I run a full charge and these may leak like 10% of water ( not sure how much electrolytic loss it would be as a whole and how bad it is, if the damage is minimal I would just go ahead and if not I will fight to the death for them to admit their fault.

Estragon

If they added electrolye to a dry battery and overfilled it, just cleaning up the excess should work okay.

OTOH, if they added too much water to an already filled with acid, it will be diluted and the battery will not have the rated capacity.

What I would do is:
1 check and record the specific gravity of each cell.
2. Remove enough electrolyte to get the level in between full and minimum levels.
3. Run the bank through a full charging cycle.
4. Check and record SG in all cells again and add electrolyte back if any cells are too low.
5. Run an EQ and any recommended commissioning. Add electrolyte back if needed.

Continue equalising until all cells are close in SG and voltage stops rising. At this point you should be able to tell if the acid is diluted. If SG is at spec, no problem.

solarking

Nila said:

These batteries do have a long warranty period so I would try to call the customer service center tomorrow to review the options
Not sure it is possible for me to make these people understand the importance of delivering the batteries fully charged lol.

So it would be a hard battle for me to go for a refund/return.


Batteries are now only floating right now because I have asked my inverter to not charge them(as long as batteries are at 52+v) for now.

I do not have a 12v charger now to do a commissioning charge should I buy one? 

Lets say these guys topped the water to max for most of the cells and now I run a full charge and these may leak like 10% of water ( not sure how much electrolytic loss it would be as a whole and how bad it is, if the damage is minimal I would just go ahead and if not I will fight to the death for them to admit their fault.

Mostly the seller will convince you to keep it and you will be left with no other option except to keep it. I have faced similar issue but they convinced me pointing out the warranty. In my case battery acid spilled when they dropped it while carrying it and they poured distilled water and I was not happy about it. When the battery is charged the electrolyte will be mostly acid when it completely discharged it will be mostly distilled water. When receiving the delivery you should have asked them to replace it now there is no other option except to keep it.

Nila

solarking said:

Nila said:

These batteries do have a long warranty period so I would try to call the customer service center tomorrow to review the options
Not sure it is possible for me to make these people understand the importance of delivering the batteries fully charged lol.

So it would be a hard battle for me to go for a refund/return.


Batteries are now only floating right now because I have asked my inverter to not charge them(as long as batteries are at 52+v) for now.

I do not have a 12v charger now to do a commissioning charge should I buy one? 

Lets say these guys topped the water to max for most of the cells and now I run a full charge and these may leak like 10% of water ( not sure how much electrolytic loss it would be as a whole and how bad it is, if the damage is minimal I would just go ahead and if not I will fight to the death for them to admit their fault.

Mostly the seller will convince you to keep it and you will be left with no other option except to keep it. I have faced similar issue but they convinced me pointing out the warranty. In my case battery acid spilled when they dropped it while carrying it and they poured distilled water and I was not happy about it. When the battery is charged the electrolyte will be mostly acid when it completely discharged it will be mostly distilled water. When receiving the delivery you should have asked them to replace it now there is no other option except to keep it.

Yeah thats the most likely option for us in India once you buy you keep it lol.

but I will complain regardless and see what they will do to fix it.

Estragon

If you're likely to have to keep them in any case, you might as well do what you can to get them working properly. I wouldn't leave them sitting 1/2 charged at float voltage while arguing with the seller.

Nila

I will do what you have asked me,

Is it safe to leave the battery at floating for like 12 hours because I cannot do it right away

What I would do is:
1 check and record the specific gravity of each cell.
2. Remove enough electrolyte to get the level in between full and minimum levels.
3. Run the bank through a full charging cycle.
4. Check and record SG in all cells again and add electrolyte back if any cells are too low.
5. Run an EQ and any recommended commissioning. Add electrolyte back if needed.

Nila

I can reduce the floating voltage now if needed
 so what would you recommend setting that to for the 48v bank?

Nila

Estragon said:

If you're likely to have to keep them in any case, you might as well do what you can to get them working properly. I wouldn't leave them sitting 1/2 charged at float voltage while arguing with the seller.

There is a minor chance they filled the electrolyte and not water so I will confirm that tomorrow and then will work on other option.

Estragon

12 hours should be fine. 12 days might be a problem. I wouldn't reduce floating voltage. The reason to get on this sooner rather than later is to avoid the possibility of sulfation while the batteries sit partly charged, especially in warm conditions. Floating will help stop the state of charge from getting worse from self-discharge, but won't do much to get them charged properly.

You could ask the seller if it was electrolyte, but at this stage I'd be reluctant to just take their word for it either way. Measuring specific gravity and going through the charge/commissioning/EQ process will tell the tale.

solarking

Nila said:

Estragon said:

If you're likely to have to keep them in any case, you might as well do what you can to get them working properly. I wouldn't leave them sitting 1/2 charged at float voltage while arguing with the seller.

There is a minor chance they filled the electrolyte and not water so I will confirm that tomorrow and then will work on other option.

Exide solar are factory charged so it is highly unlikely they used electrolyte instead of distilled water. If it is other exide battery like EL series  the  electrolyte is filled by the seller.

Nila

Thanks for all the help guys, It seems like the batteries were 90%+ when they delivered it to me so the 60% claim by me was a mistake ( i believe I misread the reading ), the leak was minor and when the dealer insisted me to try a full charge I did and I did not see any further leaks so I think I am all set here.

@Estragon

Worst case one or two cells of a battery may have lost touch of electrolyte, I will follow your guidance to get these up to the mark bit later when I setup PV

These batteries have 5 years warranty so I am going to wait for their service personnel to visit & handle the balancing/etc as I am not very good at handling batteries myself.