Diehard Deep Cycle Failure

[Tom (Mich)]

A month ago I pulled both my Sears Diehard Deep Cycles (#27524)and stored them in the basement - on a plastic shelf, not concrete. One battery was new this spring, one is brand new - never been discharged at all. Both had been fully charged prior to pulling them.

Tonight I went down and checked them with a voltimeter. The brand new unit was at 40% and the other nearly dead altogether! What gives? Are Diehards junk? Should I expect that much drain in that short a time period?

[Fenwick]

I've never thought diehard was junk! Take them to sears and have them tested and if need be replace them under warranty.Good luck,Fenwick

[REW]

As one of the other posts suggest, these should be under warrenty.
Bottom line is NO.
A "good" battery should self discharge at a rate not much rater than 2-3% per month.

That is why - if you have a good battery, charge it up - store it for 6 months - it still shuold be at above the 80% level.

Does your battery have cells that might be accesssed - or is it a sealed "low maintenance" battery?
If it is a "servicable" battery - it is possible that you are low on electrolyte. Pop the caps - check the level - and top off with distilled water. Recharge -- then use a hydrometer to check the specific gravity of each cell.
All of the cells should be relatively closely balanced following a charge. If you find that all of the cells indicate a fully charged state with the hydrometer - all is good. Then let the battery sit for a month - recheck with the hydrometer before recharging. Again, if the cells all indicate fully charged all is well.

I suspect that you might find that in both of your batteries, that you have one cell that is shorted out. With a shorted cell, you get only an initial full charge of about 10 volts -- certainly adequate to run your trolling motor for a day. However, with a shorted cell, this cell begans to discharge the battery immediately following the battery charge cycle.

Again, a shorted cell shows up as a much lower specific gravity on the hydrometer - as compared to the fully charged specific gravity of the other cells.

Take care

REW

[JJ]

Sounds fishy, maybe theres a problem with your charger (blown fuse possibly)? Or did the charger boil off a bunch of water, if so try filling up and recharge.