Gurgling Battery Normal, Bad, Dangerous?

[chrisjc]

Hi there,

I have a pair of 250ah 6V lead acid traction batteries which are a couple of years old now... they have been permanently connected to a solar panel in series, but I have just brought them indoors and keep them topped up from time to time.

The batteries... im not sure if it is one or both, make gurgling noises. This gurgling sounds like a radiator with air inside, and is frequent when charging, and infrequent when standing (but persists for a long time).

It seems that significant quantities of hydrogen are building up in the battery and collecting around the plates, which I would have thought at least means that the efficiency of the battery would be poor due to less electrode surface area. I dont think overcharging and oxygen production is a problem because both the solar charge controller, and my mains charger, are 3-stage intelligent controllers that bulk charge to 14.4V then float at 13.8V.

I dont think gas should be produced when standing... so there must be a lot of gas in there for them to keep gurgling for a month after charging.

There are the usual collection of ill-informed, conflicting and useless responses to this question on yahoo answers, can someone please offer advise on this issue; is it normal, bad, or unsafe?

 

[itsmoked]

I have heard LA batteries gurgling too but your case seems rather excessive. The bubbling per se is not a problem. You've stated the charging voltages. Is that what you've actually measured recently or what the manual states. A charger can certainly fail and change those voltages. Some are adjustable and can be set wrong.

If the batteries are warm to the touch serious charging and perhaps over-charging is occurring. I hope your space is ventilated.

I've also seen loud gurgling on over-filled batteries because the gas venting is partially blocked, causing bubbling. You can keep the fill to just below the slots and that kind of gurgling will stop. Note that cold batteries filled almost to the slots will have their electrolyte expand and reach the slots when they warm up.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[chrisjc]

Hi,

Thanks for posting. It's kind of weird i dont think its charging problem... if anything, they arent gassing and fizzing as much as they should on a good bulk charge.

This is more like battery indigestion noises... like large amounts of gas trapped which suddenly moves at once but like a month after being charged! I'll check the levels because i did top them up after bringing them inside maybe I over did it.

I was speculating maybe the plates were warped and trapping gas so each gurgle is the gas moving a bit higher up in the electrolyte. Anyhow the thought of large amounts of hydrogen collecting inside my motorhome leisure batteries is not a good one!