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n744bh(at)bellsouth.net
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 Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 5:50 pm Post subject: Drowned battery |
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Here's one that I could use some opinion/advice on. I use a B&C 25 AH in my Glasair and tend to change them out every year or so. I've got the one that I changed out this year in my hangar and I use it for testing/powering up things that are out of the airplane and maybe not even aviation related, like when I'm working on a motorcycle that I don't want to buy a battery for until I get it restored. As some of you may know we had a bit of high water down here in the Memphis area couple of months ago and my hangar at M01 ended up with about 6 feet of water in it and the battery was one of the things that I didn't put in the POD when I emptied out the hangar in preparation for the flood. So, the battery ended up sitting under water for about a week. I was sure that it was a "goner" but when I put the voltmeter on it I read 12.7 volts. Now, what I'm wondering is what will happen when I put the battery charger on the battery. I asked the folks at B&C and they weren't quite sure so I thought that maybe Bob or someone else might have an idea. Any thoughts?
Bill
Glasair SIIS-FT
[quote][b]
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Mike Welch
Joined: 13 Feb 2011
Posts: 272
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| Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 6:56 pm Post subject: Drowned battery |
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Bill,
A quick check of the specific gravity of typical battery acid says;
In one of its most familiar applications, it serves as the electrolyte in the lead-acid storage battery commonly used in motor vehicles (acid for this use, containing about 33% H2SO4 and with specific gravity about 1.25, is often called battery acid).
Water, on the other hand, is 1.0 ( (at) 4 deg C). Temps above 4C will be a minute amount less.
What all these means is....battery acid weighs more than flood water. Assuming no one shook
you battery around while it was under water, the heavier battery acid just stayed "put"!!
Your battery was unaffected by rising flood water. For the same reasons why oil floats on top
of water, because oil weighs less than water, "water" weighs less than your battery acid, and
therefore will NOT seep into and displace the heavier acid.
Mike Welch
From: n744bh(at)bellsouth.net
To: aeroelectric-list(at)matronics.com
Subject: AeroElectric-List: Drowned battery
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2011 20:47:07 -0500
Here's one that I could use some opinion/advice on. I use a B&C 25 AH in my Glasair and tend to change them out every year or so. I've got the one that I changed out this year in my hangar and I use it for testing/powering up things that are out of the airplane and maybe not even aviation related, like when I'm working on a motorcycle that I don't want to buy a battery for until I get it restored. As some of you may know we had a bit of high water down here in the Memphis area couple of months ago and my hangar at M01 ended up with about 6 feet of water in it and the battery was one of the things that I didn't put in the POD when I emptied out the hangar in preparation for the flood. So, the battery ended up sitting under water for about a week. I was sure that it was a "goner" but when I put the voltmeter on it I read 12.7 volts. Now, what I'm wondering is what will happen when I put the battery charger on the battery. I asked the folks at B&C and they weren't quite sure so I thought that maybe Bob or someone else might have an idea. Any thoughts?
Bill
Glasair SIIS-FT
[quote]
-List" target="_blank">http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?AeroElectric-List
http://forums.matronics.com
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nuckolls.bob(at)aeroelect
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| Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 8:07 pm Post subject: Drowned battery |
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At 08:47 PM 7/13/2011, you wrote:
| Quote: | | Here's one that I could use some opinion/advice on. I use a B&C 25 AH in my Glasair and tend to change them out every year or so. I've got the one that I changed out this year in my hangar and I use it for testing/powering up things that are out of the airplane and maybe not even aviation related, like when I'm working on a motorcycle that I don't want to buy a battery for until I get it restored. As some of you may know we had a bit of high water down here in the Memphis area couple of months ago and my hangar at M01 ended up with about 6 feet of water in it and the battery was one of the things that I didn't put in the POD when I emptied out the hangar in preparation for the flood. So, the battery ended up sitting under water for about a week. I was sure that it was a "goner" but when I put the voltmeter on it I read 12.7 volts. Now, what I'm wondering is what will happen when I put the battery charger on the battery. I asked the folks at B&C and they weren't quite sure so I thought that maybe Bob or someone else might have an idea. Any thoughts? |
Sure, this is a sealed battery . . . so there's no
risk for water getting inside. The terminals were
immersed in water but were so far apart in the fluid
that no significant discharge current flowed.
Charge/maintain it per your regular processes. It's
probably no worse a battery after the bath than
it was before the bath.
A flooded battery with vent-caps would be another
matter entirely. I've heard of flooded batteries
being externally flooded getting the water/acid dumped,
replaced with a temporary mix of new water/acid,
being charged, and then having the electrolyte
replaced again with SG equal to full charge.
Of course, you'd have to be working with a very
expensive battery to make it practical to spend
that much $time$ recovering it. But your SVLA battery
would be pretty much immune to the effects of temporare
immersion in water.
Bob . . . [quote][b]
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raymondj(at)frontiernet.n
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| Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 8:42 pm Post subject: Drowned battery |
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FWIW
The depth of the water might be a factor. 6ft of water would create
approximately 2.5 psi of pressure trying to force the water into any gas
spaces in the battery. I don't know if the battery design results in any
gas spaces within the battery and I don't know if the release valve or
any other part of the battery would be vulnerable to water infiltration
at that pressure. Just another factor to consider.
Raymond Julian
Kettle River, MN
"And you know that I could have me a million more friends,
and all I'd have to lose is my point of view." - John Prine
On 07/13/2011 11:03 PM, Robert L. Nuckolls, III wrote:
| Quote: | At 08:47 PM 7/13/2011, you wrote:
> Here's one that I could use some opinion/advice on. I use a B&C 25 AH
> in my Glasair and tend to change them out every year or so. I've got
> the one that I changed out this year in my hangar and I use it for
> testing/powering up things that are out of the airplane and maybe not
> even aviation related, like when I'm working on a motorcycle that I
> don't want to buy a battery for until I get it restored. As some of
> you may know we had a bit of high water down here in the Memphis area
> couple of months ago and my hangar at M01 ended up with about 6 feet
> of water in it and the battery was one of the things that I didn't put
> in the POD when I emptied out the hangar in preparation for the flood.
> So, the battery ended up sitting under water for about a week. I was
> sure that it was a "goner" but when I put the voltmeter on it I read
> 12.7 volts. Now, what I'm wondering is what will happen when I put the
> battery charger on the battery. I asked the folks at B&C and they
> weren't quite sure so I thought that maybe Bob or someone else might
> have an idea. Any thoughts?
Sure, this is a sealed battery . . . so there's no
risk for water getting inside. The terminals were
immersed in water but were so far apart in the fluid
that no significant discharge current flowed.
Charge/maintain it per your regular processes. It's
probably no worse a battery after the bath than
it was before the bath.
A flooded battery with vent-caps would be another
matter entirely. I've heard of flooded batteries
being externally flooded getting the water/acid dumped,
replaced with a temporary mix of new water/acid,
being charged, and then having the electrolyte
replaced again with SG equal to full charge.
Of course, you'd have to be working with a very
expensive battery to make it practical to spend
that much $time$ recovering it. But your SVLA battery
would be pretty much immune to the effects of temporare
immersion in water.
Bob . . .
*
*
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nuckolls.bob(at)aeroelect
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| Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 5:30 am Post subject: Drowned battery |
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At 11:39 PM 7/13/2011, you wrote:
| Quote: |
FWIW
The depth of the water might be a factor. 6ft of water would create
approximately 2.5 psi of pressure trying to force the water into any
gas spaces in the battery. I don't know if the battery design
results in any gas spaces within the battery and I don't know if the
release valve or any other part of the battery would be vulnerable
to water infiltration at that pressure. Just another factor to consider.
|
Good point. I can't speak to all SLVA batteries
but I believe most of them feature vent valves that
release on over-pressure from inside the case but
remain tight for over-pressure from outside.
One of the reasons given is to reduce the amount of
dissolved oxygen in the electrolyte. SVLA batteries
have a very low self-discharge rate because they are
not subject to outside atmospheric changes that tend
to boost dissolved oxygen in the electrolyte.
Bob . . .
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