Rotten Egg Smell/ brand new batteries.

[er9]

I just installed two brand new Trojan T-105's in series. I noticed when i was charging them at work to equalize their voltage there was a slight odor of rotten egg. I didnt pay much attention because they are brand new. it odor was not very strong just slightly noticeable when i put my nose over the battery. it seemed to dissapear after charging for a little while.

Now today i installed them in the boat. i hooked everything up and had the charger on for a few minutes so i could set the charge and float voltages. I noticed the smell in the battery compartment from the few minutes they were charging. i turned off the charger and its gone away now.

I have a brand new charger (Sterling Pro Charge Ultra) and set the charge voltage at 14.8 and float at 13.5 according to Trojans data sheet for the T-105's.

The batteries were fully charged already when i turned on the charger. water levels look good. the charger has a temperature sensor which i do have connected and is working. during the charging process, at work initially, and just now, the batteries feel cool to the touch. there is absolutely no area where the batteries get even slightly warm.

so why am i getting the hydrogen sulfide smell? from everything i read about it, its not something to be taken lightly but everything in my setup is brand new, including all the wiring and fuses etc...i didnt leave the charger on to see if it would go away because the batteries are already fully charged.

is it possible it happened because they were already full when i turned on the charger and they just got slightly over charged? is a slight amount of smell normal for these batteries when the charger is first turned on? Is it possible i have bad batteries? The Trojan company is close by to me and the distributor should be carrying pretty fresh batteries.

[Henry J Fate]

Use a second meter source to varify that the charger is charging as you have set. A good multi-meter is a good choice. Keep track of what the charger is doing and compare readings. If voltage readings look good and the batteries are connected in series properly, then suspect the batteries.

Spend some time checking smelling metering and dont leave things alone. It is not common for new batteries to be out gasing. My guess is that the charger may have not switched to the float charge and had over charged some.

[er9]

Originally Posted by Henry J Fate

Use a second meter source to varify that the charger is charging as you have set. A good multi-meter is a good choice. Keep track of what the charger is doing and compare readings. If voltage readings look good and the batteries are connected in series properly, then suspect the batteries.

Spend some time checking smelling metering and dont leave things alone. It is not common for new batteries to be out gasing. My guess is that the charger may have not switched to the float charge and had over charged some.

Thanks Henry. I do have a multi meter so i will keep a close eye on them. Im currently trying to drain them with some loads on to get the voltage down so i can see how things go when starting a charge cycle from a lower voltage.

My charger does stay in absorbtion for some time when its first turned on, even when the batteries are full charge. there is an option to manually put them in float but i didnt plan on having it on for long. The batteries were resting at 6.43 volts each when i finally connected them in series and turned the charger on for a few minutes so definately 100%

[sailorboy1]

I know Trojan says 14.8V, but I found with my last set they would always gas too much at that. It was so bad that it would set off the CO detector if the boat was shut up.

[er9]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I know Trojan says 14.8V, but I found with my last set they would always gas too much at that. It was so bad that it would set off the CO detector if the boat was shut up.

Interesting....did you reset them to a slightly lower voltage? I dont mind losing a year of service life if it means lowering voltage to prevent some off gassing. The house bank is under the settee in the main cabin.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by er9

Interesting....did you reset them to a slightly lower voltage? I dont mind losing a year of service life if it means lowering voltage to prevent some off gassing. The house bank is under the settee in the main cabin.

I did, to 14.6V. Every once in a while I would turn it back up for a day. Depending on where and what you look up the T105 voltage specs you can find 14.6-14.9V for absorption.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by er9

Interesting....did you reset them to a slightly lower voltage? I dont mind losing a year of service life if it means lowering voltage to prevent some off gassing. The house bank is under the settee in the main cabin.

You may not lose a year in life, just a longer charge time which would be immeasurable. Go with sb1's solution. Good luck.

[er9]

Great. Thanks Stu and S.B....i will try 14.6 when they are ready to charge and see how it goes. I could care less if it takes longer to charge. Thats no issue since all my charging is at the dock riggt now.

[caffel]

All of the above advice seems sound but you may want to start tracking the rate of charge in amperes as well. This will require an ammeter that is typically stronger than the normal multimeter.

[er9]

Originally Posted by caffel

All of the above advice seems sound but you may want to start tracking the rate of charge in amperes as well. This will require an ammeter that is typically stronger than the normal multimeter.

thanks...i do actually. My charger has a remote display that displays volts and amps while charging. the voltage displayed on that monitor matches what my sg-200 displays independently. I dont think its a bad charger issue because it happened using two different chargers.

im going to dial down the voltage this weekend when im at the boat. if i smell the hydrogen sulfide again im going to return the batteries for testing. contacted the company i bought them from this morning and they are covered under warranty if one or both are bad.

[Siberian Sea]

Smell is from hydrogen sulfide gas due to overcharge. Batteries will eventually loose enough electrolyte to expose internal lead plates leading to loss of battery capacity and eventual permanent damage.

[Al B]

OFF topic but if you smell rotten egg smell ,don't discount it
I smelt a faint rotten egg smell coming from engine room

A white dusting on fan belt and top portion of engine , Not knowing what it was ,

Days later water pump">raw water pump gave out , Salt water spraying all over engine
There it was , that rotten egg smell ,

Running that way hours , enough water circulating too keep temp normal but boy did it do damage ,
Took out , alternator , starter , air sensor , electronic parts , Not all at once , but over a period of time one failure after another due too water intrusion

DONT DISCOUNT STALE EGG SMELL , ITS SALT WATER COMING IN