Batteries

[nowoolies]

i have just got my 4th deep cycle battery in 1 year ......yesterday , the nissan is 1 year old now.
the first one ruptured cost the battery mob $5000.00 acid all over the place vehilce had 85 klms on the clock.................... wasnt happy.
next one split around the top seal , caught it just in time.
next one leaking ot the top
lord only knows whats gunna happen with n/o 4
any one else have battery problems like this
all batteries are from the same mob just differant styles all deep cycle, just for the fridge ect.
the battery rack is up from the turbo as usual
the system is a redarc and been replaced just in case, and tested half a dozen times no problems with over voltage ect,
the battery mob say its the car but keep replacing under warrenty
any ideas please
nowoolies
Paul

[Sir Roofy]

Havnt got a clue mate
ive had my deepcycle battery for nearly 2yrs now
have a redarc as well no problems with it
just running fridge and lights

[Sir Roofy]

Better change your supplier

[RustyNails]

Are they getting too hot?
Is there some form of heat sheild?
After a good drive pop the bonnet and carefully feel the side of the battery, see if it is really hot.

[the evil twin]

What brand of deep cycle, Cobber?

If it is one of the better brands I find it very unusual that you have had 3 failures and extremely unusual that they would blame the car but still happily replace batteries (if it is the car that is).

If you are doing limited off road IE no bumps, bangs and corrugations then I would get my money back rather than a new battery and run a mile to another brand if the cases are letting go like that.

Deep cycles do like a slightly different charging regime than a standard cranker BUT the differences are so small that it is almost immaterial

[Cuppa]

What type of deep cycle batteries? Wet or AGM/Gel? If wet, is there a possibility you have been overfilling them? It's the only thing I can think of in addition to the possibility of them getting too hot. I've had deep cycle AGM's (Fullrivers 2 x DC150 & 2 x DC90) in our bus for 5 years now, & hope to get another 5 years before they need replacing.

Cuppa

[nowoolies]

none of the above guys
i have been 4x4ing once in 12 months and that was in gnagarra pines last week end ,and then only need 4x4 when i got bogged 500 mtrs from the road, hahahahahaha havent been able to drive since i ran into a cow 14 months ago
so the 4x4 has only been playing toorack tractor for the last year , with the cook driving 95% of the time
i have never put fluid in any of the batteries , they have all been wet cells , the first one 650 cca was supposed to be totally sealed, second one 620 cca and capped, 3rd one 575 cca and capped ,all deep cycle , dont know if too ethical to mention the brand,
and as far as my memory goes the Engel has only been run a few times when the cook goes and does a large shop.
no off road work bumps ect,
getting slightly peved with the situation jut wondered if any one else with a late model Nissan was having the same problem.

[YNOT]

The most common reason for batteries spilling out the top is overcharging. Batteries don't like too much heat either so being close to the turbo is probably not helping.
It's a bit unusual that your batteries are rated by CCA, cold cranking amps is a starting battery rating. Deep cycle batteries are normally rated in A/H (amp hours)
We use Trojan batteries (wet and gel) in the machines we sell/service and get a good run out of them, but they are not subject to the same amount of heat as what yours are.

Tony

[the evil twin]

I'm with Tony in that something doesn't gel. (excuse the pun).

Feel free to mention the brand and type of battery... we can't help you if you don't.

I don't quite see how you can be overcooking them with charging if they are wets as it should be taking out the cranker at least a couple of times as well and you mention that you checked the Voltage... what Voltage are you seeing across the Aux terminals with the engine running and Redarc connected ?

If it was temp related you should be loosing a heap of electrolyte rather than the cases letting go. What battery tray are you using ARB, in the standard position, Turbo heatshield in place?

We use our Engel a few times a week and again no issues nor should there be.

Just about every Nissan has their Aux in the same spot as it's just about the only place to put it. I am running Supercharge Allrounders thru a Redarc which aren't the Rolls Royce of batteries but also are not crap and have had not one iota of problems.

[nowoolies]

thanks Tony and Evil
turbo heat sheild is in place on turbo, no battery heat sheild, voltage is 13.2-5 at terminals , not sure of battery tray, Deerings installed the second battery system.
the batteries are Exide ,
as far as loosing a heap of electrolyte via heat, only very, very, wet around the top of battery i dry it off evry day. so far havent replaced any fluid, batteries die before that happens,
i havent put the 4th battery in not game just yet lol

[MQ MAD]

4 batteries in a year
Holy sh*t !!!!!
I know theres a bitta difference between deep cycle or such
Personally never used them
The last battery we replace was a month or so ago in the GQ
The old one just died,no crank no nothin
But it was fitted 7-8 years ago,according to the sticker on it

[big_fletch]

Hey nowoolies..
I have read this thread and from the symptoms it sounds like a overcharging problem, however if has been checked several times and is charging fine its unlikely.. without seeing the vehicle its hard to say but sounds more than likely that the battery is cooking itself as shouldn't be losing any fluid if its a sealed battery..
Possibly worth putting in a heat shield and see what happens and if doesn't change anything I would even try a different brand, possibly like a amptech d70z deep cycle sold by supercharge.. we use these at work and I have put them into all model patrols and never had a problem with them..
That's my opinion, Sorry couldn't be more help mate

Fletcha

[nowoolies]

thanks guys
ill get a heat shield around the battery see if that works,
thanks again ...................nissan recon i dont need one

[the evil twin]

thanks Tony and Evil
turbo heat sheild is in place on turbo, no battery heat sheild, voltage is 13.2-5 at terminals , not sure of battery tray, Deerings installed the second battery system.
the batteries are Exide ,
as far as loosing a heap of electrolyte via heat, only very, very, wet around the top of battery i dry it off evry day. so far havent replaced any fluid, batteries die before that happens,
i havent put the 4th battery in not game just yet lol

OK, Deerings should certainly know what they are doing which only makes it more confusing. Exide should be a reliable battery especially 4 different ones... so something is really odd.

This is a very perplexing problem you have brought to the all knowing Forum... you should be very proud

If the top is "very very wet" every day then the battery must be gassing like a bitch. That is usually only from...
a shorted cell, can't be that on 3 different batteries, or
too high a charge voltage but 13.2 to 13.5 is fine as the Battery shouldn't gas until 14.5, and
that pretty much only leaves internal temperature getting too high.

Have you checked the Charging voltage with the engine at about 2200 to 2500 RPM?

You shouldn't need a heat shield unless the Battery is in a very unusual spot but maybe a Shield will cure your problem. You will know if you cure it because the wet top issue will disappear

[nowoolies]

havent checked voltage with high rpm ill do that in the morning
as far as battery position its just behind the air filter normal position
do you know if it is posible to get a battery shield like the one on the main battery with a cooling duct
for the left hand side ????
thanks again

[the evil twin]

havent checked voltage with high rpm ill do that in the morning
as far as battery position its just behind the air filter normal position
do you know if it is posible to get a battery shield like the one on the main battery with a cooling duct
for the left hand side ????
thanks again

Dunno mate. My cranker battery shield is loooong gone (PIA does more harm than good IMHO) and I have yet to see a Patrol with a shield on the Aux

[Clunk]

sorry (maybe) daft question alert!!!!!!!! But what's a deep cycle battery????

[the evil twin]

sorry (maybe) daft question alert!!!!!!!! But what's a deep cycle battery????

Not a daft Q at all...

Deep Cycle batteries have less plates so they don't deliver as much current but the plates they do have are thicker so they can handle being discharged to a lower level and recharged more often than a standard cranking battery.

So for hi current but only small discharge then a top up like starting the car then a cranker is required and for lo current but long term slow discharge then a large recharge like running a fridge overnight then recharging it the next day (or after several days) a deep cycle is better.

[Clunk]

Not a daft Q at all...

Deep Cycle batteries have less plates so they don't deliver as much current but the plates they do have are thicker so they can handle being discharged to a lower level and recharged more often than a standard cranking battery.

So for hi current but only small discharge then a top up like starting the car then a cranker is required and for lo current but long term slow discharge then a large recharge like running a fridge overnight then recharging it the next day (or after several days) a deep cycle is better.


Thanks for that ET, very much appreciated mate. Damn I love this forum

[Bigrig]

Not a daft Q at all...

Deep Cycle batteries have less plates so they don't deliver as much current but the plates they do have are thicker so they can handle being discharged to a lower level and recharged more often than a standard cranking battery.

So for hi current but only small discharge then a top up like starting the car then a cranker is required and for lo current but long term slow discharge then a large recharge like running a fridge overnight then recharging it the next day (or after several days) a deep cycle is better.

So what the hell are all those D cells doing lined up under my bonnet??? LOL!! (not a hijack!! lol)

Let us know how you go mate with the revs up for what charge you are getting - for what it's worth after all the above, I'm going heat.

[Whitewulf]

I would try another brand, could look at (yellow top optima) they cost more but I have been told they are not to bad. The yellow top are deep cycle and to can duel used as a starter

http://www.optimabatteries.com/optima_products/yellowtop/specs.php

[the evil twin]

So what the hell are all those D cells doing lined up under my bonnet??? LOL!! (not a hijack!! lol)

Let us know how you go mate with the revs up for what charge you are getting - for what it's worth after all the above, I'm going heat.

D Cells... ROFL, you dunno how close to home that comment is... Seeing as I get any amount of 7 AH 12 Volt Gel Cells I used to use 10 or 12 (sometimes more) of them hooked in parallel in my Camper at one stage. Jeez it was a PIA finding dud ones tho

As for temp I am in agreeance, the source of the "excess" temp is perplexing. Looking forward almost as much as Nowoolies to finding out what the issue is.

[nowoolies]

sorry (maybe) daft question alert!!!!!!!! But what's a deep cycle battery????

a very low push bike with a battery rotflmao

[nowoolies]

my son took off to work with my meter ill have to wait till this arvo to test

[Bloggsy]

How did you go with this Paul?

I'm having similar issues with my 4.8 Petrol aux battery, warped battery cases etc... I'm guessing mine is temperature related due to the amount of heat the 4.8 generates under the bonnet and the location of the battery being near the exhaust manifold.

Cheers,
Darren

[TheFlyingBadger]

mine's not showing any signs of blowing yet, and it gets so bloody hot you can hardly put your hand on it (which can't be good for the battery at all)

[nowoolies]

mine's not showing any signs of blowing yet, and it gets so bloody hot you can hardly put your hand on it (which can't be good for the battery at all)

all that heat it wont last long

[Ghost]

i can relate to dead batteries, mine was killing batteries every 12 months or so. Charging system was putting out anywhere from 13-15v. The cause of the over charging was someone had chopped the sense wire leading to the alternator which tricks the alternator into charging at a higher rate. They did this to compensate for the size of the wire between the alternator and the battery being under size from new. I ran another 2 x 6mm wire from the alternator charge bolt to the battery and rejoined the cut sense wire, now it charges at 13.8v and no more dead batteries. I have a mate who used to work for Nissan and he said it was something that some mechanics did to solve low charge issues, it wasnt endorsed by Nissan but was still done.

If your battery if getting wet then the system is over charging as this is what mine did till i upgraded the charge wire and rejoined the sense wire. As for heat to a battery mine gets excessively hot under the bonnet and you cant touch the battery after 30 mins of running and the current battery is over 3 years old, the deep cycle i removed from the passenger side was over 4 years and still going strong in my camper, aprox 5 1/2 years old now. Not saying heat is any good for the battery but they shouldn't be doing what they are doing.

[Dhuck]

I can't find my batteries under the bonnet. lol

[Bigrig]

I can't find my batteries under the bonnet. lol

Only because you can't get up that high to see!!! roflmfao!!

[Dhuck]

Only because you can't get up that high to see!!! roflmfao!!

I climbed onto the bar work and had a look, I just can't find them.

[Bigrig]

I climbed onto the bar work and had a look, I just can't find them.

Lucky you didn't fall in little fella ... or else we'd be looking for you in there also!! LOL

[Dhuck]

rofl........

[Bruza]

OK, Deerings should certainly know what they are doing which only makes it more confusing. Exide should be a reliable battery especially 4 different ones... so something is really odd.

This is a very perplexing problem you have brought to the all knowing Forum... you should be very proud

If the top is "very very wet" every day then the battery must be gassing like a bitch. That is usually only from...
a shorted cell, can't be that on 3 different batteries, or
too high a charge voltage but 13.2 to 13.5 is fine as the Battery shouldn't gas until 14.5, and
that pretty much only leaves internal temperature getting too high.

Have you checked the Charging voltage with the engine at about 2200 to 2500 RPM?

You shouldn't need a heat shield unless the Battery is in a very unusual spot but maybe a Shield will cure your problem. You will know if you cure it because the wet top issue will disappear

I go with evil twin on this, especially the highlighted, have you tested yet?
You could take it back to Deerings and get them to check the whole system, as they did the work.

I know others with similar problems. When you say your batteries have CCA and are deep cycle then they must be, what they call dual purpose, and this IMHO is the problem (or part of).
We know we need CCA for a starting battery, and most folk have an auxiliary battery tray for auxiliaries, so a purpose built for each designation is the go, and a wet cell handles heat better under the bonnet.

The other problem that is servicing is sealed batteries, if they have a high heat or high charge situation they can't be maintained. Just another casualty in the 'lazy, throw away world' that it has become.

Other things to check over is the changes we make to our 4bys from OE. In this case the engine bay cooling. So a lift, spotlights, winch and other add-ons can effect this. Make sure the skirts from the inner guard to the chassis are in place and in good order. The heat is supposed to be carried away, tunnel like, under the fire-wall.

Good luck.