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Gurgling from battery while trickle charging?

72K views 27 replies 5 participants last post by  Tommy 
#1 ·
Hey, first post.

I know, I'm a bad person. I let my battery discharge over winter storage. I bought a trickle charger to recharge the battery and it seems to be working (could start the bike fine now), however I noticed the battery is making soft gurgling noises while it's charging. It's not getting hot or boiling, just making funny noises.

I've never really dealt with batteries before, so I'm not sure whether to be concerned or not. Any advice?

-L6
 
G
#9 ·
And, just like the Wiki says, don't do this without being in a well ventilated area, and certainly don't put the battery anywhere you don't want corrosive acids ruining ****.

And also make a note here of the amperage that you're using the trickle charger at. It should be pretty damn low amps.
 
#10 ·
Pogo said:
And, just like the Wiki says, don't do this without being in a well ventilated area, and certainly don't put the battery anywhere you don't want corrosive acids ruining ****.

And also make a note here of the amperage that you're using the trickle charger at. It should be pretty damn low amps.
The charger I'm using is an auto-charger by Schumacher (SEM-1562A), and it's putting out 1.5 Amps. Is this about right?
 
#11 ·
twowheels said:
That is the fluid boiling, if the fluid is boiling it is not trickle charging. It is this boiling that causes the battery acid level to drop. Make sure you top up the battery with deionized water.
Its not boiling. Its called electrolysis. Stick metal plates in water, connect an anode and a cathode viola - the water decomposses to its elements. hydrogen bubbles will form on the negative side, while oxygen bubbles will form on the positive side. The reason you want to charge in a vented area is because you are releasing hydrogen. Its perfectly normal. If its doing it A LOT, then youve got a problem, likely the charger is putting out more amps than it claims. 1.5amp is fine for recharging.
 
#15 ·
Tommy said:
Its not boiling. Its called electrolysis. Stick metal plates in water, connect an anode and a cathode viola - the water decomposses to its elements. hydrogen bubbles will form on the negative side, while oxygen bubbles will form on the positive side. The reason you want to charge in a vented area is because you are releasing hydrogen. Its perfectly normal. If its doing it A LOT, then youve got a problem, likely the charger is putting out more amps than it claims. 1.5amp is fine for recharging.
OK, so some gurgling is normal, and 1.5 amps is ok. Thanks for clarifying that bit.

So after spazzing out thinking I was boiling my battery, I looked up the boiling temp of sulfuric acid (which is like 290 deg C), and then stopped spazzing since the wasn't even getting warm and cautiously continued charging checking the temp every hour or so. Seems to have finished charging up just fine.

Thanks for everyone's help.
 
#16 ·
smith.p.sean said:
+1 make sure that you clear the gasses out with a lighter.

(Dont do this)
Actually, I was contemplating on how to collect all those sweet gases and stuff them into an airtight jar. Then I can place him on a shelf and name him "JarGoBoom". Maybe I attach some miniature speaker and electronics on him so he can whisper "open me" every now and again. And maybe give him to a smoker... "you're gonna have to quit smoking if you want to keep him, he doesn't like smokers."

Haha.... that's be weird...
 
#18 ·
Pogo said:
Did you fill the cells up to the fill line with distilled water like I (and the Wiki) said?
Actually, I'm still not quite clear on that. The wiki just says "fill line", but there's two fill lines (max and min). The level was at or slightly above MIN for most of the cells and some were at MAX. Should I fill them all up to MAX?
 
G
#19 ·
The two fill lines are only about 1-2cm apart right? Bring every cell just up to the max. Again, only use distilled water, not tap water and not filtered water. Distilled water goes for like $2 a gallon at any grocery.
 
#22 ·
do NOT exceed the MAX line. the level of the water in the battery should be between those lines. they dont have to all be exactly level, just somewhere in between them. dont fill them all to the max line as that can cause overflow. (not a big deal, but you'd be better off just keeping the fill line in between max and min.) as for the bubbling, i try to pull the caps if i feel like it when i charge the battery. helps vent it. unless its maint. free...which yours is not. btw, can we still not post ebay links? im looking at a maint free battery and it seems cheap...too cheap, but i wanted ya'lls opinion
 
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