Starboard and house batteries overcharging?

[hardshell46]

Say guys and gals,

I think I have an overcharging issue with the starboard and house 8D's on my 79 Hatt. Everytime I run her out to the Bay and back I seem to have a lot of battery fluid on the surface of each batttery. Should the battery charger be on while cruising? Tired of all the acid here---Tom

 

[SKYCHENEY]

First of all, it sounds like the batteries are overfilled. Is the water level below the indicators in each cell. Second, the alternators will charge while running so no need for the charger, but that shouldn't cause a problem even if it is running.

 

[mr hatt]

Sounds like they were over filled. When the engine room heats up and they are being charged the fluid level will come up some. Also, when batteries start to get too much age on them, they will boil the fluid off. I had a set that I thought for sure was being over charged, but turns out they just wouldn't come up to the expected voltage. I kept adding water and going through it way too fast. Mine were 8 volt rolls so I was trying to get all of the life I could out of them.

 

[jim rosenthal]

What charger does Hard Shell have? If it is one of the older non-smart chargers, it may indeed be overcharging them. If that's the case you may need to put it on a timer, or replace it with a smart high-frequency unit which senses the battery state more accurately.

I'd start as mentioned above- don't overfill them, check the charge state with a hydrometer, etc.