A 12v battery is considered flat when its open circuit voltage is 11.8 volts. Since yours were at ~5 volts, it's fairly likely that you've reversed some cells. That's most definitely not good.
Still, you might get lucky, and it can't hurt to give them a long, slow equalizing charge. Cycle them a few times, and then test their capacity. While you're at it, also test the other two for capacity. If you decide they have enough sock left to give you some use, but are definitely less healthy than the others, I recommend building a Lee Hart Batt-bridge, so you don't over-discharge and reverse them again. http://evdl.org/pages/battbridge.html If they turn out to be at death's door, this might be an ideal time to find another chore for the 2 remaining good ones, and treat yourself and your Ox to a complete new set. Some here will probalby suggest that you consider lithium, but I'll leave that discussion to them, as I'm not really qualified. Good luck! I hope it works out. David Roden, EVDL moderator & general lackey To reach me, don't reply to this message; I won't get it. Use my offlist address here : http://evdl.org/help/index.html#supt = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Most people here [in the US] don't want an abrupt reshuffling of everything. That's why we've had only one revolution. It's why we've fought off the metric system all these years, and thank heaven we have. -- Fox anchor Tucker Carlson = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = _______________________________________________ Address messages to ev@lists.evdl.org No other addresses in TO and CC fields UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub ARCHIVE: http://www.evdl.org/archive/ LIST INFO: http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org
