On 10 Aug 2014 at 19:43, Cor van de Water via EV wrote: > I suddenly heard an agitated hissing from the baking soda on the top > of the battery, being eaten by the overflowing acid from that cell ... > I have put extra baking sode around that fill hole after closing it > carefully and I have since bought a plastic syringe with which I will > remove some fluid from that cell and store it in a plastic bottle > until enough water has evaporated from that cell to put the acid back > in without overflowing. > > The second issue is more disastrous ... I had used *plain tap water* > to fill my batteries ...
I'm not a battery expert, but this is my take on the situation. I'm more concerned about the first accident, and the possibility that some of the baking soda dissolved in dilute electrolyte may have flowed back into the cell. This might partly neutralize the remaining electrolyte, in addition to it already being more dilute. I think I would be inclined to completely drain the electrolyte from that battery, or at least that cell, and replace it immediately with fresh 1280 SG electrolyte from a good battery shop. As for other overfilled cells, depending on how dilute the electrolyte is, they may have become somewhat acid starved. Thus the electrolyte will go flat before the grids do. This will set your (now possibly lower) maximum amp hour capacity. A hydrometer will tell you how much they differ from the rest of the pack. Assuming you see a significant SG disparity, I'd suggest monitoring those batteries as you drive. That way, you can stop when they reach 80%DOD, no matter what the other batteries are doing. That will reduce the risk of reversing them. Or, you could drain the electrolyte from them too, and replace it with fresh 1280 SG electrolyte. As for your accidental use of tap water, it's very high in minerals, I personally don't think that one watering with it is going to be all that harmful to the battery. I don't recommend it as a practice, however. Especially since I'm not a chemist or engineer, other views are most welcome. David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA EVDL Administrator = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = EVDL Information: http://www.evdl.org/help/ = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Note: mail sent to "evpost" and "etpost" addresses will not reach me. To send a private message, please obtain my email address from the webpage http://www.evdl.org/help/ . = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
