4 of 8 house batteries not charging

[Tom Cherry]

35 minutes ago, Garry Donohue said:

The top photo is what all the bad batteries showed, and the bottom was the 4 good batteries. But I have not charged them yet. This is my baseline 

Yes, but not quite.  The top picture is close to being correct.  See the top line in the clear plastic housing.  That is very close to where the line should be, but you need to level it (the electrolyte is parallel to the line...maybe a smidge more).  Squeeze or suck in a little more electrolyte.  IT looks like you posted 4 instead of 2.  I’ll delete the two bottom ones which are duplicates.

 You also hold the clear plastic housing so the top line is level with the liquid level.  Sort of a built in “bubble level”.  In order to use the scale, the electrolyte level must be almost dead on…OK, 1/32 above or below is OK.  Then holding it dead level….you take the reading.

OK…top….bad.  Yes….surprise…surprise…surprise…..they are dead.  NOW, following all your cleaning….and our suggestion, for this recharging….so you can get on with it and later finish the cleanup….put on a pair of jumper cables and you will get good charging.

OK..Bottom.  Retest them.  Be careful and get the level higher (more electrolyte).  Bingo….good news….that WILL then float or make the needle rise higher.  Higher is better….much closer to being GREAT.  

NOW…you DO need for this charge and recharge session record the SG reading (being meticulous when filling the hydrometer).  Usually, after 2 or 3 drain downs and recharges, the cells will have only very minor variations…probably within one of the spaces.  That means it is s healthy battery. YES....you need to write down the cell data for each cell so you can compare.  I still do....

BUT, if you get a battery that shows “mid range good” in two cells and mid range medium or worse in the other one.  NOT GOOD.  That cell is failing and eventually, more quickly, than the other good batteries….it is gonna DIE or all the cells will show poor.  You can NOT salvage a bad battery with a bad cell.  That cell acts like a resistor and steals power.  If you have a good battery hooked up to it….it will eventually harm or take it down.

I had one cell shorted out in a battery….the voltage was 4.X.  Easy call.  I checked the SG in the other three.  Two were good and the cells were consistent.  But ONE had a high/medium in 2 cells and a LOW in the other.  So, i kicked them out and only ran 2 batteries until I needed a full bank and bought 4 new.  The fairly good ones would not have fared well with two new batteries.  Better to start off with all the same.

You are making great progress.  Thanks for the feedback…