Are these deep cycle batteries? Why can't I check the electrolyte levels?

[Whiteoil]

Recently purchased this boat. The battery charger is louder every time it runs now, so something is up. Went to check the electrolyte levels but wasn't able to see the water levels on these batteries. Any suggestions?

[Orion Jim]

Those are AGM sealed batteries.

[GordMay]

The HX500 is a Sealed Lead Acid Battery, intended for use in Uninterruptible Power Systems (UPS). You don't add water to these.
https://www.farnell.com/datasheets/1863879.pdf

[Lake-Effect]

What kind of charger? If it's loud, it's probably an older charger and the noise is from its AC transformer.

[Whiteoil]

How do you check that AGM batteries are still good? How many amp hours is each of these 506w batteries?

[Whiteoil]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

What kind of charger? If it's loud, it's probably an older charger and the noise is from its AC transformer.

It's the original Bavaria charger from 2007, I've been living on the boat all summer this year so it's constantly recharging the batteries. The fridge and lights run off the battery and the battery charger recharges.

It's a 12v 25amp SBC quick charge. Should I pull it out tomorrow and work on it? Anything I could fix on it? This nose will keep me up at night!

[PippaB]

The HX500 is rated at 119Ah. I would call it the opposite of deep cycle, it is designed to be fully discharged in 15 minutes, allowing lots of power for a short time to allows orderly shutdown or transfer to generator in data centers.

[Sailmonkey]

When your charger is making noise, what is the battery voltage?

I’ve a hunch that the charger has cooked the batteries by staying at absorption voltage anytime there is a load on the batteries while they’re being charged.

[Whiteoil]

Originally Posted by PippaB

The HX500 is rated at 119Ah. I would call it the opposite of deep cycle, it is designed to be fully discharged in 15 minutes, allowing lots of power for a short time to allows orderly shutdown or transfer to generator in data centers.

Yeah the bow thruster is connected to these batteries. I think the previous owners concern was having enough supply to the thruster but also utilizing them as the house batteries.

[Whiteoil]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

When your charger is making noise, what is the battery voltage?

I’ve a hunch that the charger has cooked the batteries by staying at absorption voltage anytime there is a load on the batteries while they’re being charged.

Well with a couple lights on it's charging at 1.0a, and the voltage says 13.6 on one panel and the other panel reads 13.5. The charger only makes noise when I put a load, when the fridge cycles on or the water pump runs.

When I turn on the water pump, the charger instantly kicks on pushing the voltage to 14.1 and 14.2.

[Whiteoil]

Originally Posted by PippaB

The HX500 is rated at 119Ah. I would call it the opposite of deep cycle, it is designed to be fully discharged in 15 minutes, allowing lots of power for a short time to allows orderly shutdown or transfer to generator in data centers.

Isn't this an odd choice for boat batteries?

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Whiteoil

Recently purchased this boat. The battery charger is louder every time it runs now, so something is up. Went to check the electrolyte levels but wasn't able to see the water levels on these batteries. Any suggestions?

Attachment 259690Attachment 259691Attachment 259692Attachment 259693Attachment 259694

These are UPS batteries. Not good for typical boat uses.

[StuM]

Instead of asking anonymous sources on a forum and getting a bunch of different answers, why did you not just go to the URL on the label and look it up for yourself?
https://www.enersys.com/en-gb/produc...e/datasafe-hx/


It took me a few seconds to find the documentation for them at :
https://www.enersys.com/493bb4/globa...rs-aa_0318.pdf


As OrionJim says, they are AGM - there is no "water level" to check

As Gord says, they are designed for use in large scale uninterruptible power supply systems. That's a totally different use case to a boat's house loads and they are not really appropriate. They are designed to sit for months on end and occassionally deliver high amperage for a short period of time.



(All the specs in the referenced document give figures for depletion over 5 to 60 minutes - there is no mention fo the usual C20 etc capacity for more common deep cycle use)

[SteveSails]

If the charger has a speed controlled cooling fan it will run faster as the charger heats up under load and make considerable noise. If your loads have increased recently that could explain the increased noise. Victron has a night mode on their chargers, the charger runs at reduced power so the fan doesn't keep you up all night. If the noise more like a hum or a vibration then there could be a fault in the charger. In any case I would replace the batteries. What kind of batteries? Flooded lead acid, AGM or even Lithium? That's whole other topic.
BTW, I recommend you don't get lithium until you have a better understanding of batteries and charging systems.

[Emmalina]

Not a big fan of chargers with fans LOL yep not good ups batteries as house bank