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Re: grey water in battery Posted by Ari [Email] (#2847) [Profile/Gallery] (more from Ari) on Tue, 21 Oct 2003 12:27:14 In Reply to: grey water in battery, By, Tue, 21 Oct 2003 07:49:12 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
Everything is pointing to an old, tired, battery. The 13.8, as others have pointed out, is a sign of a good charging system. You can 'charge' a bad battery all you want, but it has no capacity - it'll show a good voltage, but that voltage vanishes like the morning dew once you put an electrical load on it.
One way a battery dies is the plates sulfate - basically, the sulphur in the battery acid bonds with the lead in the plates and won't let go. Then this stuff flakes off the plates and drifts down to the bottom of the battery. Again, as others have suggested, what you're probably seeing is particles of lead sulfate in the electrolyte.
If the battery is old - three years or more, no matter WHAT the warranty claims, or if it has been completely discharged a few times, think about replacing it. Car batteries aren't designed to be fully discharged -they're designed to give a large slug of current to start the car, and then have that charge replenished as you run. Completely discharging a battery removes life, by sulfating the plates. Of course, as a battery loses life, the chances of completely discharging it increase, so it dies that much faster.
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