I hadn't driven my truck for quite a while and when I went to start it there was not quite enough charge left to start the truck. I put the charger on the battery for a few minutes and the truck started. I then drove it for about 40 minutes and parked it for another couple of weeks. So then I go to start it and no dice. So I put the charger on it overnight and it still won't start the truck. Checking the voltage it is only about 11 volts right after taking off the charger. So I know there is a bad cell. So then I put the charger on the battery for about a week and looking in the battery cells with the vent caps off I see that the cell that wasn't bubbling earlier is now bubbling. So I topped off all the cells with distilled water and left the trickle charger on it for another week. Then I had a mechanic friend of mine who has one of those battery testers test the battery and it tested good! I guess the one cell had been shorted a little by sulfation and the prolonged charging was able to fix the problem. Using a hydrometer I see that the bad cell now matches the good cells. I guess I just lucked out this time. Nevertheless I'll be buying another battery soon I think. Eric
- posted
9 years ago