Ageing Batteries

[pandroid]

I have a pair of 5 year old Tudors on my HR36, and I got the feeling this year that they were taking longer to charge to full than they used to. I've not got (yet) empirical data, but I do monitor them with a Battery Monitor (Link 10 type) so I know how much Ah has been used, and it seems to me I have to motor longer to get back to full from a given state.

I believe this is symptomatic of batteries as they get older. Any views?

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[Talbot]

sounds like they are dying on you

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[Tekkie]

Or that the Alternator output is lower, i.e. glazed Comm or worn brushes.

Just another angle!!

Brian

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[mireland]

I gues it is not so much the age of the batteries as the number of charging cycles that counts. Also if you have discharged them below 50% this will shorten life. Any contaminants in the electrolyte will also shorten life. If you have different batteries in parallel this can also cause problems as one supports the other. Depends on your set up though.



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[Anonymous]

Indeed - or high resistance connections, etc.

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[William_H]

Me thinks you worry too much. If you have an ampmeter and if the alternator is capable of giving a reasonable charge rate when the batteries are low then that is ok. Make sure you occasionally start the engine on either battery alone to ensure they can do the job otherwise if your services battery seems to go flat easily then it may be near the end of it's life if not stop worrying. I don't think the information from your battery monitor is as usefull as you may imagine. Ultimately if the battery won't do the job it is there for it is no good otherwise carry on.. will

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[quaelgeist2]

Had the same symptoms, but could extend the lifetime at acceptable levels by another two years using a Megapulse device. It refreshes the batteries by breaking down sulfate crystals that build up if you have had long periods of partly/completely discharged conditions.

Before using it, my 2* 85Ah batteries would not survive a day under Autohelm and then allow running the Eberspaecher in the evening (even after starting with engine help). After some 2 weeks with the Megapulse that was possible again and the power stored went up further.

Over time they curve went gradually down again, though. After 7 years I replaced them with 2* 105Ah of the same dimensions, anyway. If you have space restrictions you should also get more powerful batteries into the same slot.

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