Battery Drained

[yakas]

Hi everyone,

I have 3 panels that go to a single deepcell battery.

My roomates completely drained the battery on accident.

The inverter was left on and was beeping for the better part of the day with no one around to hear it.

The battery has also been over charged.

Its been through the ringer.

So my question would be about how much a 5 month old battery could take before it stops working right?

[Flux]

Most inverters have some form of low volt cut off so with a bit of luck you may not have drained the battery sufficiently to kill it, just get it back charged quickly.

If it is a flooded cell then a little overcharging may not have harmed it. If it is sealed then they are not tolerant of overcharge as you loose the moisture and it can't be replaced.

You will only have about 20 cycles of full discharge so don't do it too often. If the inverter didn't have a low volt cut out and you completely drained it then you may only have one or two chances and even then you will need to charge it very quickly or it will form hard sulphate in days.

Flux

[zeusmorg]

 Check the actual voltage on the battery, charge it slow if you can, but be easy with it. Do not use a load until it has fully charged, you may just save it.

[yakas]

Its been a few days out and i have used it until the cutoff kicked in. My voltmeter was misreading it saying it was at 17.78 or some scary number. But the voltmeters batteries were low and when replaced it was reading at 12.45 So we let it charge up for a few days. But it was being used before the low battery in the voltmeter was discovered. Could i charge it with my car to bring it up quicker?

Thanks for your thoughts

[wooferhound]

-Here are some links that may help you-

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2007/11/27/15439/980

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2005/4/2/63834/21217