Author Topic: A 6pac of Trojan 105s  (Read 12792 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Frank S

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1901
  • Country: us
  • Home with a view of Double mountain
A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« on: August 08, 2014, 09:36:09 PM »
the other day I bought a few things for scrap at an auction. nestled in one of these items was a 6pac of Trojan 105s .
 it was a power floor scrubber but now is so much scrap metal, almost that is
 the 36v drive motor is probably in good shape the pump works there is quite a bit of othere items I'll scavenge before it is relegated to the scrap pile.
 
  When I opened the lid I found 6 batteries the cables were all in good shape so I pulled them then lifted the batteries out and pulled the tray out
 The batteries are Dead, dead , dead, sowed less than 4 v on any of them and 2 showed a negative 3 v
  I am hoping to salve them to make a small 12 v bank out of them
 My Schumacher charger is hard wired into the regular bank so I can't use it to recharge these  all I had handy is an old Wanco 12V charger
 






 My biggest problem is I am known as a BK (battery killer)
I live so far outside of the box, when I die they will stretch my carcass over the coffin

thirteen

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 980
  • Country: us
  • Single going totally off grid 1,1, 2013
Re: A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« Reply #1 on: August 10, 2014, 12:23:40 AM »
Got a small solar panel 12v and just let them cook for a couipple of days. Is there a charging system on the floor scrubber that could be used? 13
MntMnROY 13

Frank S

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1901
  • Country: us
  • Home with a view of Double mountain
Re: A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« Reply #2 on: August 10, 2014, 07:04:24 PM »
No extra solar panel but have 3 chargers hooked up now
 3 sets of 2 for 12 v each
 First I connected 1 of the reversed batteries to a charger for a few minutes  then let it set while doing another one
 then I drug out 2 more chargers
 I now have 2 wanco's and a 10 amp schauler hooked up to them

 the SG for the first 8 hr charge period was pretty much nonexistent
 since I'm off grid my charg periods are limited to full sun during the day or if it is hot enough to need air conditioning then I am on generator
 Having 3 battery charger hooked up to the bus while on the inverter places a pretty heavy load but workable as long as my bank is 80% SOC or better 
 right now pair #1 is showing

Pair #2

Pair #3

after each 3 hrs I switch the chargers around to compensate for them not charging at the same rate tomorrow I will re pair the 6 pac
 currently I have  #1 with #2 #3 with #4 #5 with #6
 I will pair them to #1 &3   #2 &5  #4 &6  the next pair up will be #1 &4  #2&5 #3 &6 swapping pairs until all combinations have been used  the same with the chargers
 the SG pretty much across the board is now between 1130 & 1160  far too early to tell  if there are going to be large variations
I live so far outside of the box, when I die they will stretch my carcass over the coffin

madlabs

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 686
  • Country: us
Re: A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« Reply #3 on: August 10, 2014, 10:29:23 PM »
Do ya have a way to hit 'em with an equalizing charge? I have done a "sort of" eq charge by setting a 6V battery to a 12V charger. Thing is you have to watch and make sure you don't fry the battery. Watch the voltage rise, and when it hits 7.5-7.75V pull off the charger. And it's not the same as a real eq charge where it keeps it at the higher voltage and tapers off the current. So really it is a bad idea. :-)

Jonathan

Frank S

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1901
  • Country: us
  • Home with a view of Double mountain
Re: A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« Reply #4 on: August 10, 2014, 11:36:44 PM »
Do ya have a way to hit 'em with an equalizing charge? I have done a "sort of" eq charge by setting a 6V battery to a 12V charger. Thing is you have to watch and make sure you don't fry the battery. Watch the voltage rise, and when it hits 7.5-7.75V pull off the charger. And it's not the same as a real eq charge where it keeps it at the higher voltage and tapers off the current. So really it is a bad idea. :-)

Jonathan
  Jonathan; they are all very heavily sulfated the tops of all the plates are almost chalk white none of the fluid levels were low enough to expose the plates. so I felt there just may be a chance of recovering them as long as I take it very slow to start off with.
 Fortunately the wanco chargers will not put out high amperage while the battery voltage is extremely low. Neither one of them showed more than 3 amps.
 I did connect 1 charger to  the reversed batteries for a few minutes each then to the other 4 batteries a few minutes each to make sure they would start charging in the right direction.
  they are in an overnight rest mode now because we are back on the inverter
 I Know a continuous charge until either fully charged or determined to be junk would be better but I don't have a large enough bank to  make it through the night with the additional drain of 3 battery chargers drawing from it.
 I loaned out my Fluke meter so have been using my old Bell & Howell analog meter that my youngest daughter assembled back in the 80s  I can't attest to the accuracy of it because when I hit the internal battery test mode it shows very weak  I am afraid to see the condition of the 4 "C" cell batteries in side of it but tomorrow I plan on replacing them and will be getting my digital meter back as well
 I did one last SG test of all cells when I shut down for the night, each cell shows a very slight improvement but not enough to write home about yet
  For checking the SG I have a wet bulb hydrometer I wish I had my glycol & Sg refractometer but it is forever gone .
 Maybe one day I might buy one of those new digital  SG testers  But until then it is slog away the way I am doing
I live so far outside of the box, when I die they will stretch my carcass over the coffin

Frank S

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1901
  • Country: us
  • Home with a view of Double mountain
Re: A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« Reply #5 on: August 12, 2014, 03:15:56 AM »
Today is either day 3 or day 4 depending on how I count the charge cycles
 Anyway this morning after my bus was showing a 50 amp input I flipped on the battery charges to the 6 pac  I didn't start the generator until after 2 PM when the outside temp hit 102 with the inside @ 96
 First readings taken @ 10:30 Am
 showed
  B1 cell a 1200 b 1190 c1200
 B2 a1190 b 1190 c 1200
 B3 a1175 b1175  c1175
 B4 a 1160 b 1170 c 1160
 B5 a1140 b 1150 c 1140
 B6 a 1135 b 1145 c 1140
 A 8:30 PM the end of the charge day
 B1 a1225 b1225 c 1225
B2 a1225 b1225 c 1225
 It struck me as ODD that all 6 cells would be so well matched at this stage in the recovery process.
 I will see what they are tomorrow morning before I start the next charge day
 B3 a 1180 b 1180 c1180
 B4 a1170 b 1175 c 1170
 B 3&4 were charged all day on the 10 amp Schauler
 B 1&2 on the Wanco charger I marked as w1
 B5 a 1205 b 1200 c 1205
 B6 a 1210 b 1205 c 1205
 B 5&6 on W2
 I will switch chargers around tomorrow
 The weather is not supposed to get above the low 90s tomorrow so probably will not get hot enough for the wife to want the AC
  I bought a 7000w Honda clone generator at auction last week that wasn't running I got it started up this afternoon so may plug the chargers into it to give it a small load test for several hours tomorrow I'll probably hook up a few electric heaters to it as well to make the load enough to test the generator Killing 2 birds with the same petro
 
I live so far outside of the box, when I die they will stretch my carcass over the coffin

Frank S

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1901
  • Country: us
  • Home with a view of Double mountain
Re: A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« Reply #6 on: August 12, 2014, 03:28:50 AM »
I haven't done any further voltage tests as the old Bell & Howell meter has proven unreliable  But haven't worried much about voltage at this point;
 if the Sg continues to increase as level across the board as it has, and reaches at least 1260 I will try to come up with a way to do a charge load test on each battery
 Maybe use a stop watch & a 1000 watt heater coil then check the sg again and recharge
 I have a battery load tester but the switch & meter are damaged. I need to repair that one day.
I live so far outside of the box, when I die they will stretch my carcass over the coffin

Frank S

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1901
  • Country: us
  • Home with a view of Double mountain
Re: A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« Reply #7 on: August 13, 2014, 01:12:09 AM »
Today's charge cycle only shows minuscule improvement
 Start cycle                                    end cycle
  Schauler charger                                     1 hr rest
  B1                                                B1 6.4v   6.28
a 1225                                           a 1225
b 1225                                           b  1225
c 1220                                            c 1225
 
 B2                                                 B2 6.39 v  6.26
 a 1205                                          a 1220
 b 1205                                          b 1215
 c 1205                                           c 1220

 Wanco #2
 
 B3                                                 B3  6.22v  6.15
 a 1175                                          a 1205
 b 1175                                          b 1205
 c1170                                            c 1200

 B4                                                 B4  6.24v 6.19
 a 1175                                          a 1210
 b 1175                                          b 1210
 c 1175                                           c 1200
 Wanco #1
 
 B5                                                  B5 6.32v  6.21
 a 1205                                            a 1215
 b 2105                                            b 1215
 c 1205                                             c 2110

 B6                                                   B6  6.41  6.27
 a 1210                                              a 1230
 b 1210                                              b 1225
 c 1205                                              c  1215
 the only  improvement worth noting is  B3 &B4 these batteries were on the schauler charger yesterday
 Today the batteries on the Schauler showed virtually no change after a 9 hr charge period
 All 6 batteries are very close in all cells . My Fluke meter was returned today so an end of charge reading was taken
 then a second reading after a 1 hr rest
  At this stage I am wondering if I should do a Hot shot to each of the batteries by using probably the Schauler in its 12 v setting on a single battery the Schauler is a 10 amp maximum charger   so there is less chance of over cooking even with the higher voltage
 The Wanco chargers are 50 amp chargers but as of yet the highest reading I have noticed on either ammeter was 10 amp. THis is not to say that the meters are anywhere near correct though.
 None of the batteries have shown any sign of high temperatures during any of the charge cycles.

 Bubbles have been  slow, small and even across all cells
 What do you guys think or suggest at this point
I live so far outside of the box, when I die they will stretch my carcass over the coffin

Simen

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 479
  • Country: no
  • Grimstad, Norway
Re: A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« Reply #8 on: August 13, 2014, 01:45:08 AM »
I would have given them one day more with charging, then a 3-5 hour equalize charge with the 10A charger - if the charger manages to hold 10A without blowing a fuse, that is. :) It should really boil during eq., but keep an eye/ hand on the temp. and water level... Measure gravity each half hour, and if/when there is no change, it probably won't be better than that.
« Last Edit: August 13, 2014, 01:50:02 AM by Simen »
I will accept the rules that you feel necessary to your freedom. I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. - (R. A. Heinlein)

joestue

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1759
  • Country: 00
Re: A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« Reply #9 on: August 13, 2014, 03:04:00 AM »
i wonder if these old mostly sulphated batteries can be returned to life by adding acid, sufficient to put the "fully charged" battery back up to standard gravities.

you will not regain capacity, but you might regain voltage, which will make them usable.
electrically the lead sulphate which has been lost should be electrically neutral, so this added acid will raise the fully charged voltage back up to 12.65  volts. discharge curves should be pretty interesting, might be significantly flatter during discharge with a quicker drop off at the end.
also i suspect you will have to be more careful not to discharge them completely because the high acid content towards the end of the discharge will probably attack the grid supports quicker than they were designed to be.. but at this point its a bit of a wash anyways.
« Last Edit: August 13, 2014, 03:08:17 AM by joestue »
My wife says I'm not just a different colored rubik's cube, i am a rubik's knot in a cage.

Frank S

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1901
  • Country: us
  • Home with a view of Double mountain
Re: A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« Reply #10 on: August 13, 2014, 09:31:43 AM »
I think I might give them one or 2 more days charging them as I have been doing
 My first plan was to mix and match the pairs if they had a wide spread their charge status.
 There is nothing that would prevent me from letting them charge for several days like this
 What I would like to have would be a half dozen Schumacher 60/30 chargers  that way after the batteries are as fully charged as my current chargers can get them I could place each one on the 6 volt 30 amp setting and let them cook until topped off
 But my only 60/30 is hard wired into my main bank
 These batteries seem to be slowly de-sulfating I began the tops of the plates were nearly chalk white now they are a more natural darker gray
 They have not yet started to show any signs of heating while charging nor have they produced any gas other than a fairly steady stream of tiny bubbles at the rate of about 1 to 3 per second 
 After I get them charged as high as they will go I plan to connect them as a 36 v pack then connect a resistance load of 1500 w to them and discharge them to about 1175 SG   then start this routine all over again.
I live so far outside of the box, when I die they will stretch my carcass over the coffin

thirteen

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 980
  • Country: us
  • Single going totally off grid 1,1, 2013
Re: A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« Reply #11 on: August 13, 2014, 03:26:29 PM »
Good luck with yours. My nieghbor said he will give me 4 trogen batteries 6 v  ea. Thery have been sitting for 4+ years and read about 0 - 0 -1- 2- volts each. He thinks they are 8 years old. He had a bigger bank that shorted out and these were the best ones but he has not touched them for 4 + years. One is bone dry the other 3 have some liquid visable but only one has the plates covered.
Did you just add water to yours?  The cases are ok but there is alot of lovely multi colored junk covering 2 of them. Thiose have nothing covering the plates. They were not hooked to anything just taken off line and put in a shed. I'll get them next week. I have a couple of small solar panels that will be used to charge them up if possible. They might be scrap. So I'm following your progress with yours. 13
MntMnROY 13

Frank S

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1901
  • Country: us
  • Home with a view of Double mountain
Re: A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« Reply #12 on: August 13, 2014, 08:49:16 PM »
13; mine all had fluid covering the plates it only took about 3 quarts of triple distilled water to fill all 18 cells  about 5 ounces average per cell
 I have a regular battery fill jug the kind you used to see the Texaco guy with at the full service gas stations back in the 60s

I would suggest on yours though that you do not fill them all the way up leave the levels down about 1/4 to 3/8 inch
 only do a very short shock charge on each one to set the charge to positive.
 then let them slowly charge.
 I don't know for 100% certain that my method is the correct one but I do kow that a very dead battery will short out extremely easy
I don 't think it would be a good idea to add sulfuric acid on dead batteries This is somethign i remember from when I was a teenager, My dad would take an old battery and charge it up for a while until it would go no higher then drain out the acid and refill with distilled water then drain them again he would do this several times before he would add new sulfuric acid. this was a trick that used car dealers liked to do to make an old battery show full voltage it wouldn't add much if any extra cranking cap but they would start even a cantankerous engine enough times to sell the car .
 I won't do a flush and fill on almost any battery of today because of the plate construction . too easy to short out the plates with loose sediment.
  After I am satisfied that the 6 pack is charged up as high as the batteries can be I plan to discharge them then recharge. Depending on their performance (IF ANY HA,HA) and after one final charge cycle I might draw off the fluid down almost to the plates then refill with Sulfuric acid I'm not sure if there will be much advantage to doing this though
  Good luck on your's I would invite someone who has successfully done this to post their criticisms on how I am doing mine 
I live so far outside of the box, when I die they will stretch my carcass over the coffin

Frank S

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1901
  • Country: us
  • Home with a view of Double mountain
Re: A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« Reply #13 on: August 13, 2014, 10:01:34 PM »

Charge day 5 Wed. Aug 13 2014 Start 11:30 Am Stop 8;30 PM
Begin Volt                      End volt                              Begin volt   end volt                         

B1 6.18v                   B1 6.15v                                    B2 6.17v       B2 6.13
A1215                      A1235                                         A1220           A1230
B1215                      B1230                                         B1225           B1230
C1215                      C1225                                        C1225           C1225

B3 6.12v                 B3 6.36                                       B4 6.14v        B4 6.25v
A1210                     A1225                                         A1205            A1225
B1210                     B1225                                         B1200            B1210
C1200                    C1205                                         C1200            C1210

B5 6.16v               B5 6.27                                         B6 6.17        B6 6.31
A1215                  A1225                                            A1225          A1230
B1215                  B1225                                            B1225          B1235
C1220                  C1225                                           C1220          C1225
 Just now there are the beginning of irregularities in the daily readings
the overnight rest Sg & V  are about as expected but after a day's charge cycle the final readings are
 not always in balance will have to keep close check on the charge cycle tomorrow I think as long as there is a 5 to 10 improvement in the Sg across the board each day I will continue with this routine When there is no longer any improvement then I will change what I am doing.
I live so far outside of the box, when I die they will stretch my carcass over the coffin

Frank S

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1901
  • Country: us
  • Home with a view of Double mountain
Re: A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« Reply #14 on: August 14, 2014, 10:34:47 PM »
Today's charge cycle is beginning to show some problems some of the cells are going down as is the voltage
I bought a digital thermometer to check cell heat maybe this can help me determine what is happening
 Since this is not something I do regularly I'm kind of flying blind here.
  I fear that a couple of the cells are stating to short out as the sulfate slowly breaks up
  I don't know if I should try to really hammer charge the batteries a few minutes at a time or continue with what I am doing

 Charge day 6  Thur. Aug 14 2014   12:45 PM
Begin                        3PM temperature   end 8:30PM
 B1 6.19                                                        B1 6.35     
A 1225                    a 1235  100.5°           A 1230   96°
B 1225                    b 1225  100.5°           B 1225   95°
C 1225                    c 1225   101°              C 1225   93.5°
B2 6,19                                                        B2 6.33
A 1225                    a 1210    103°            A 1225    95.5°
B 1215                    b 1225    101.5°        B 1225     94°
C 1210                    c 1225     98.5°         C 1225      94.5°
B3 6.14                                                     B 3 6.16
A 1220                    a 1225     107°         A 1225     96.5°
B 1220                    b 1215     110°         B 1225     107°
C 1200                   c 1190      113°         C 1195      108°
 B4 4.83                                                    B4 6.30
A 1215                  a 1215    108°           A 1215     109°
B 1210                  b 1205   111°            B 1210     112°
C 1200                  c 1190    113°           C 1175      113°
 B5 5,76                                                   B5 6.34     
A 1175                 a 1205    102.5°        A 1210     92.5°
B 1175                 b 1200     102.5°       B 1205     100°
C 1175                 c 1200      100.5°      C 1210     100°
B6 5.83                                                    B6   6.59
A 1190                 a 1210     97.5°         A 1230     94°
B 1190                 b 1210      96°           B 1230      94°
C 1180                 c 1205      98°           C 1210       92°
I live so far outside of the box, when I die they will stretch my carcass over the coffin

Simen

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 479
  • Country: no
  • Grimstad, Norway
Re: A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« Reply #15 on: August 15, 2014, 12:28:58 AM »
Do remember to compensate SG readings for temperature! :)
http://www.thermcoproducts.com/documents/Correction%20Table%20for%20Specific%20Gravity%20Hydrometers.pdf

If i'm reading that chart correctly, you're already close to 1.265 on several cells already, which it should be at 77 deg. F. ;)
« Last Edit: August 15, 2014, 12:35:50 AM by Simen »
I will accept the rules that you feel necessary to your freedom. I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. - (R. A. Heinlein)

joestue

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1759
  • Country: 00
Re: A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« Reply #16 on: August 15, 2014, 05:09:57 AM »
Frank, the reason you aren't supposed to add acid, is because you will probably end up higher than 1.3 S.G in the future, because the battery wasn't really toast.. you just didn't let it soak in a charge for 20 hours.

supposing if you won't ever end up higher than 1.2 S.G; if the acid is cheaper than buying new batteries, you might as well add it, because the cost of higher than industry standard acid concentrations, is higher than average grid corrosion rates, reducing the average lifetime.

get this... sealed, maintenance free... (you can't add water unless you inject it with a hpodermic needle).. they only last 3 years floating the cells at 13.8 volts before the battery explodes due to positive plate expansion.
and yes, they run a higher acid concentration than flooded cells.

chemical activity doubles for every 10C increase in temperature.. it is sort of the same thing.
a lot of this bs is voodoo, not real science.
« Last Edit: August 15, 2014, 05:14:56 AM by joestue »
My wife says I'm not just a different colored rubik's cube, i am a rubik's knot in a cage.

Frank S

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1901
  • Country: us
  • Home with a view of Double mountain
Re: A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« Reply #17 on: August 15, 2014, 11:51:06 AM »
I have about a half gallon of acid left over from a bunch of  motorcycle batteries I did last year
 but the acid will be a last ditch if it comes to that
 I am more concerned with the 2 batteries that are showing the sg going down in 1 cell each
 
I live so far outside of the box, when I die they will stretch my carcass over the coffin

Frank S

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1901
  • Country: us
  • Home with a view of Double mountain
Re: A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« Reply #18 on: August 15, 2014, 11:52:39 PM »
I have decided that today would be the end of the current charge routine
  4 of the batteries IE B1, B2, B5,& B6 are nearly identical.
 Sometime tomorrow after resting overnight, I plan on connecting the 4 best batteries as a 12v bank.
    I have a 1300w AT&T/ Aims psw inverter I have been wanting to check to see if it is in working order  then assembling something that I have lying around to create an approximate load of 1000 watts Probably one of many electric heaters that I have.
  If the inverter is functional I will leave the load on the bank until the low voltage function shuts the inverter off.
   I will then recharge the bank as a bank using one of my larger chargers and log this as well
 Today's readings Mind the ambient air temp was 100°f @ 9PM with a 50% humidity 

Friday Aug 15 2014
After a full week of daily charge cycles 4 of the 6 batteries are evenly matched the remaining 2 appear to be little more than cores for replacement at this point.
Start 8AM           END 9PM

 B1 6.21                b1 6.61
A 1235                  A 12445    95°
B 1220                   B 1235      97°
C 1230                   C 1245      95°

B2 6.20                  B2 6.39
A 1225                   A 1230      97°
B 1225                   B 1230       97°
C 1225                   C 1240       98°

B3 5.30                  B3 4.12
A 1230                   A 1245      94°
B 1230                   B 1230       99°
c 1160                   C 1130        99°

B4 4.25                 B4 4.30
A 1240                  A 1235         102°
B1230                   B 1225         103°
C 1160                  C 1150          103°

B5 6.17                B5 6.31
A 1225                 A 1250          95°
B 1225                 B 1235           96°
C 1210                 C 1230            95°
       
B6 6.25                B6.39
A 1230                 A 1250            93°
B 1215                 B 1245             93°
C 1210                 C 1230             92°
I live so far outside of the box, when I die they will stretch my carcass over the coffin

Frank S

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1901
  • Country: us
  • Home with a view of Double mountain
Re: A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« Reply #19 on: August 17, 2014, 10:52:13 AM »
Well yesterday  Sat Aug 16 2014, I dug out an inverter and hooked it up it didn't work at first. After opening it up I noticed it had a couple of loose connections and what looked to me like a 94 pin computer chip was half out of its socket Pushing it back in place the inverter went to working
 the bank was only at 12.34v after resting all night
  I tried various electric heaters but the inverter would go into low input voltage warning and shut off
 So I thought of an electric hot plate with its variable heat control
 At the full setting the bank showed 11.7v then the inverter would shut off.
 I finally got the hot plate adjusted where the bank voltage showed 12.1 and left it there in just a few seconds the heat on the plate was above 700°f  after a few minutes the coil was starting to glow a dull red
 After 15 minutes the voltage dropped to 11.8 I turned the plate setting down until the voltage was back up to 12,1 . Another 5 minutes I had t adjust it again until after a toal of 30 minutes the pate was down to 600°f the  voltage was down to 11.6 .At which time the inverter shut down again
 With the inverter off the bank showed 11.9v I put both of the Wanco chargers on parallel on and after about 2 Hrs the the while charging voltage had reached 13.6 the at rest voltage was 12.6 after 10 hrs inverter on standby the voltage is still  12.2
I will charge and discharge again sometime today.
 You can just barely see the left sodium tube start to turn color a lot of my testing is using the benswag method (best educated non  scientific wild A**guess)


I live so far outside of the box, when I die they will stretch my carcass over the coffin

joestue

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1759
  • Country: 00
Re: A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« Reply #20 on: August 17, 2014, 11:33:20 AM »
i'm not sure how accurate this chart is but your open circuit voltage matches your specific gravity at about 70% charge.
http://www.sail-world.com/photos/Med_Battery%20Voltage%20and%20Specific%20Gravities%20for%20various%20rates%20of%20charge%20for%20flooded%20lead%20acid%20batteries.jpg


might be smart to stick with hard discharges, while you cycle them.
My wife says I'm not just a different colored rubik's cube, i am a rubik's knot in a cage.

Frank S

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1901
  • Country: us
  • Home with a view of Double mountain
Re: A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« Reply #21 on: August 17, 2014, 08:51:48 PM »
Today I switched on the inverter the bank voltage was 12.41  I then turned one the hot plate to medium and left it until the inverter went into low battery mode then reset and adjusted the hot plate down a little I did this until the bank was low enough that the inverter would not stay on with the hot plate load.
 I then switched on one of the chargers it showed 50 amps so I switched on the other one the combined amps was still only 50 after a few minutes the charge current went down to 35 where it stayed for a couple of hours
 I did a random sg check of a few cells the sg was right around 1250 @ 82°f. Charging voltage showed 14.1
 voltages with charger off after 30 minutes 12.65 Switched on the inverter & load this time the hot plate stayed on a little longer. crrently on charge cycle again
  I believe though that even though there is some life left in these batteries they are way too far towards end of life to be incorporated into my house bank
I live so far outside of the box, when I die they will stretch my carcass over the coffin

gww

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 762
  • Country: us
Re: A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« Reply #22 on: August 27, 2014, 07:13:32 PM »
Frank
This is off subject a bit but I bought some scrap batteries for ten bucks each.  four of them are still good enough to use.  One of them exploded when I put a load through the inverter on the battery bank.  blew the top off it and was very dramatic.  peices of battery everywhere.  I am not a cautious guy and this was a learning experiance.  As I said I still use four of them but be careful and good luck.
gww

Frank S

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1901
  • Country: us
  • Home with a view of Double mountain
Re: A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« Reply #23 on: August 27, 2014, 07:47:02 PM »
GWW; My dad was Medically Retired as a Gunnery SGT from the Marines after seeing action in both the Pacific & the European theater & the entire Korean conflict, because a young marine connected a battery wrong and it blew up in my dad's face. Battery handling safety was beat into me as far back as I can remember.
 I hope you were not injured. When working around batteries I take great care not to create sparks around them, and always protect my self 
I live so far outside of the box, when I die they will stretch my carcass over the coffin

gww

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 762
  • Country: us
Re: A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« Reply #24 on: August 29, 2014, 07:47:54 AM »
I was standing out side the garage door with a circular saw in  my hand but the dog was in the garage.  took a while before she felt sare enough to go back in the garage.  good luck with the batteries.
gww

Frank S

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1901
  • Country: us
  • Home with a view of Double mountain
Re: A 6pac of Trojan 105s
« Reply #25 on: September 22, 2014, 11:58:10 PM »
An update on the 4 remaining batteries
I let them set for a couple of weeks  then checked their voltage
 B1 6.3
B2 6.4
B3 6.2
B4 6.1
 I didn't check the specific gravity though.
 but I did a 10 sec load test on each of them which showed a little weak
I decided to take a chance and incorporated them into my bank which now has over  550 discharges
 up until yesterday  we have been running the air-conditioning in the coach so have had the generator running several hours per day this would leave my bank at full charge at 9pm when I shut off the generator by morning the bank would be down to 12,1 ans sometimes as low as 11.8
 3 days ago is when I added the 4  T105s the voltage now has been 12.4 just before sunup .
 Yesterday running the generator for 4 hours the Schumacher charger showed it was putting out 50 amps while the Pwm's were showing a combined 52 amps my wife said she saw 50+ 35+ 32 amps several times when she checked the units.
  the bank size now is 6 continental  golf cart batteries + the 4 trojans + 2 4D continentals
 if all were new it should mean 1100+280 amp hours worth of storage however I figure due to the age of the entire bank I may have a more realistic figure of around 900 to 1000 Ah.
  this should allow for at least another 15 months  on the bank, plus since the depth of discharge is now about half of what it previously was it could last  longer only time will tell.
 But  I don't consider the trojans as a bad buy since I didn't even know they were in the scrap floor scrubber when I bought it for $45.00  the steel brought $30.00 I have 2 T105s for cores I still have 40 lbs of Stainless sheet metal & 2 36 volt gear motors 1 36 volt traction motor and a differential  along with the control system and not to forget the 4 marginally good batteries
  Now when is the next auction OH! yes in 3 days LOL.
I live so far outside of the box, when I die they will stretch my carcass over the coffin