Oh No Batteries!

[cobassman]

Well I bought 2 brand new 27 group marine batteries today and my son probably ruined them.

Herstarted with:
+ bat 1 -> bat 2 -
- bat 1 -> bat 2 +

and sparks flew I'm like oh no and told him you can only use 1 wire like I said earlier and the terminals that are not used are for the troller.

Next he goes and hooks it up to the battery charger and puts the + on charger to the neg on the battery and it burned a big chunk out of the battery. I'm like your done! err!

Anyways they still work but who knows what he did to them internally a couple post got some nice burns in them so I'm sure it did the same or something to the plates.

$190 down the toilet I guess. Luckily they didn't explode or anything.

 

[GTS225]

Well I bought 2 brand new 27 group marine batteries today and my son probably ruined them.

Herstarted with:
+ bat 1 -> bat 2 -
- bat 1 -> bat 2 +

and sparks flew I'm like oh no and told him you can only use 1 wire like I said earlier and the terminals that are not used are for the troller.

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I take it you're using a 24VDC setup. Yeah, he hooked them up in a closed circuit, with no load except each other.
If 12VDC, then BAT1- to BAT2-, BAT1+ to BAT2+ This gives you 12VDC, but with lots of available amperage. Use the + and - on either battery for your 12VDC loads.
If 24VDC, then BAT1- to BAT2+ Use BAT1+ and BAT2- for your "loads". This gives you 24VDC, but only the available amperage rating of a single battery. You can use a + and - on BAT1 for a 12VDC load, but you discharge it a bit faster than BAT2.

Next he goes and hooks it up to the battery charger and puts the + on charger to the neg on the battery and it burned a big chunk out of the battery. I'm like your done! err!

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Do you mean a big chunk out of the battery case, or a terminal post?

Anyways they still work but who knows what he did to them internally a couple post got some nice burns in them so I'm sure it did the same or something to the plates.

$190 down the toilet I guess. Luckily they didn't explode or anything.

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I think what I'd do, at this point, is to correctly hook them up to a trickle charger and let them simmer for 12 hours. Many batteries can actually be charged in reverse polarity, especially if done from flat dead. By trickle-charging them, you should be able to get them back to peak. I wouldn't worry too much about the burns in the post, unless they're huge. Anytime there's an electrical arc, some metal is going to get melted away. Lead just happens to have a melting point of about 600*F, so it goes away easily.

(You might also want to give the lad a bit of rudimentary training, and hope he listens this time.)

Roger

 

[Driftingrz]

good luck with your batteries.. they are not a cheap replacement.. ive seen the same thing happend when jump starting a car. one person hooks up one side and the other person... just doesnt know what there doing.. bad things happen hahaha.. and it took some time before being able to pull them off the batts because of all the smoke and sparks.. melted cables but batteries survived

 

[cobassman]

yeah I hope the batteries are still good.

 

[Coach d]

Good luck! Hope they work.

Just be glad that he was trying to help. Most kids do not want to be bothered anymore. You can always replace (maybe not right now).

 

[earl60446]

Don't assume they are bad. As the one poster said, hook them up to a good charger / maintainer and charge as normal / then use as normal. Bet ya get many years out of them still.
Tim