Re: [Liveaboard] Battery Water Re: EXT : Any other lists moreactive?
On Sat, Dec 17, 2011 at 10:53:50PM -0500, SteveW wrote: Interesting concept, Ben but the first thing which popped into what's left of my mind is that it probably would only work well if the water in all cells dropped at the same rate. I couldn't say, really, since I only saw a pic of it on a website, but it seems to me that having a small chamber at the top of it - the one that fills the octopus - would top up each cell as necessary, with anything overflowing from one pouring into another until all of them were filled (which you'd know from the fact that the chamber wasn't draining anymore.) Just seems like it would be a necesarily obvious bit of design if you were doing something like this. I've never found that to be the case in my batteries. It's probably a harbinger of a bad cell happening in the near future but I can see each cell boiling off the water at a different rate so that the octopus which fills all simultaneously would really work. Yeah, a cell using water up at a faster rate usually indicates a cell that's going bad. In my experience, they're pretty easy to diagnose with a specific gravity tester (thanks to Norm for turning me onto just how important those are in flooded lead-acids - it's like having an X-ray of your battery's innards!) Ben -- OKOPNIK CONSULTING Custom Computing Solutions For Your Business Expert-led Training | Dynamic, vital websites | Custom programming 443-250-7895 http://okopnik.com http://twitter.com/okopnik ___ Liveaboard mailing list Liveaboard@liveaboardonline.com To adjust your membership settings over the web http://liveaboardonline.com/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to liveaboard-j...@liveaboardonline.com To unsubscribe send an email to liveaboard-le...@liveaboardonline.com The archives are at http://www.liveaboardonline.com/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/liveaboard@liveaboardnow.org The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
Re: [Liveaboard] Battery Water Re: EXT : Any other lists moreactive?
Interesting concept, Ben but the first thing which popped into what's left of my mind is that it probably would only work well if the water in all cells dropped at the same rate. I've never found that to be the case in my batteries. It's probably a harbinger of a bad cell happening in the near future but I can see each cell boiling off the water at a different rate so that the octopus which fills all simultaneously would really work. I mean it probably would but you'd get a lot of spillage as different cells topped out with different quantities of water. I'm probably over thinking this but that's the first thing which popped into my mind. Steve Weinstein S/V CAPTIVA 1997 Hunter 376, Hull #376 Sailing out of Oyster Bay, NY All outgoing mail protected by VIPRE A/V -Original Message- From: Ben Okopnik Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2011 10:40 AM To: liveaboard@liveaboardonline.com Subject: Re: [Liveaboard] Battery Water Re: EXT : Any other lists moreactive? On Sat, Dec 17, 2011 at 10:00:29AM -0500, Skip Gundlach wrote: having had a few months, recently, on line with the charger, I can tell you for sure you'll want to check the water. ═I have 4xL16HC so I have gallons of distilled water aboard. ═My most recent rewatering was WAAY too late for comfort. ═It took about a gallon... I saw a neat gadget recently - an octopus that replaces the plugs on your batteries and allows you to top them all up at once. Until we all start using AGMs or LiFePo batteries, seems like it would be a big time-saver as well as good problem prevention... Ben -- OKOPNIK CONSULTING Custom Computing Solutions For Your Business Expert-led Training | Dynamic, vital websites | Custom programming 443-250-7895 http://okopnik.com http://twitter.com/okopnik ___ Liveaboard mailing list Liveaboard@liveaboardonline.com To adjust your membership settings over the web http://liveaboardonline.com/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to liveaboard-j...@liveaboardonline.com To unsubscribe send an email to liveaboard-le...@liveaboardonline.com The archives are at http://www.liveaboardonline.com/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/liveaboard@liveaboardnow.org The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html ___ Liveaboard mailing list Liveaboard@liveaboardonline.com To adjust your membership settings over the web http://liveaboardonline.com/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to liveaboard-j...@liveaboardonline.com To unsubscribe send an email to liveaboard-le...@liveaboardonline.com The archives are at http://www.liveaboardonline.com/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/liveaboard@liveaboardnow.org The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
Re: [Liveaboard] Battery Water Re: EXT : Any other lists moreactive?
Steve. If it was designed right water could only flow into a cell when the electrolyte had dropped enough to let air into the filling tube for that cell. A closed subsection for each cell using air pressure (vacuum) to hold the water in the reserve 'tank'. I've seen pet water dispensers that keep the dog's water dish filled like that. Eric Thompson San Jose, California capteri...@sbcglobal.net - Original Message - From: SteveW windso...@pipeline.com To: liveaboard@liveaboardonline.com Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2011 7:53 PM Subject: Re: [Liveaboard] Battery Water Re: EXT : Any other lists moreactive? Interesting concept, Ben but the first thing which popped into what's left of my mind is that it probably would only work well if the water in all cells dropped at the same rate. I've never found that to be the case in my batteries. It's probably a harbinger of a bad cell happening in the near future but I can see each cell boiling off the water at a different rate so that the octopus which fills all simultaneously would really work. I mean it probably would but you'd get a lot of spillage as different cells topped out with different quantities of water. I'm probably over thinking this but that's the first thing which popped into my mind. Steve Weinstein S/V CAPTIVA 1997 Hunter 376, Hull #376 Sailing out of Oyster Bay, NY All outgoing mail protected by VIPRE A/V -Original Message- From: Ben Okopnik Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2011 10:40 AM To: liveaboard@liveaboardonline.com Subject: Re: [Liveaboard] Battery Water Re: EXT : Any other lists moreactive? On Sat, Dec 17, 2011 at 10:00:29AM -0500, Skip Gundlach wrote: having had a few months, recently, on line with the charger, I can tell you for sure you'll want to check the water. �I have 4xL16HC so I have gallons of distilled water aboard. �My most recent rewatering was WAAY too late for comfort. �It took about a gallon... I saw a neat gadget recently - an octopus that replaces the plugs on your batteries and allows you to top them all up at once. Until we all start using AGMs or LiFePo batteries, seems like it would be a big time-saver as well as good problem prevention... Ben -- OKOPNIK CONSULTING Custom Computing Solutions For Your Business Expert-led Training | Dynamic, vital websites | Custom programming 443-250-7895 http://okopnik.com http://twitter.com/okopnik ___ Liveaboard mailing list Liveaboard@liveaboardonline.com To adjust your membership settings over the web http://liveaboardonline.com/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to liveaboard-j...@liveaboardonline.com To unsubscribe send an email to liveaboard-le...@liveaboardonline.com The archives are at http://www.liveaboardonline.com/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/liveaboard@liveaboardnow.org The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html ___ Liveaboard mailing list Liveaboard@liveaboardonline.com To adjust your membership settings over the web http://liveaboardonline.com/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to liveaboard-j...@liveaboardonline.com To unsubscribe send an email to liveaboard-le...@liveaboardonline.com The archives are at http://www.liveaboardonline.com/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/liveaboard@liveaboardnow.org The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html ___ Liveaboard mailing list Liveaboard@liveaboardonline.com To adjust your membership settings over the web http://liveaboardonline.com/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to liveaboard-j...@liveaboardonline.com To unsubscribe send an email to liveaboard-le...@liveaboardonline.com The archives are at http://www.liveaboardonline.com/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/liveaboard@liveaboardnow.org The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
