Water Levels In Batteries

the batteries are being over charged. batteries should never need to be re-filled after every charge. i only check mine every few months and never had to add water. boiling battery acid during charging will ruin them in short time.

my best guess would be that the batteries are connected in series [not enough information] resulting in 24v output to drive a 24v motor. check that the battery terminal are connected in series. run "plus to negative" across all eight terminals. i may be wrong. check with the manufacturer reguarding the wiring of the batteries and the correct charger. it will save you alot of money and headaches.

Are ALL batteries that are forced to work in series identical? Do they ALL need about the same water amount or some need less? Was the initial acid filling and preparation done by an expert or did you have to Google? Do you have any data about nominal capacity (Ah), initial charger applied current (when battery is at most discharged state), final voltage (at full charge) and average temperature the battery is working in? Do these data comply with battery manufacturer data that I assume you were provided with, when got the new batteries? Without some real data only astrology could help, but we would still need exact birth (or manufacturing) dates. S.M.

Additional INFO

Batteries are deep cycle US2000 XG made by US BATTERY CORP the AH rating on them is 216 AMPS

They were purchased by from a distributor filled and the specific gravity when fully charged is correct

They are wired to 4X the voltage

I has asked the manufacture about the charging rate of the on-board charger that is within the walker. Will advise when they get back to me.

The water level seems to drop consistant among the cells

Ross

Based on this information, it seems you have a charging system problem rather than an a battery problem.

I suspect the battery charger has a failed voltage regulator or cut-off and your batteries are being overcharged, which boils off your water in equal amounts on all batteries.

This is a volt problem, not an amp problem, so you can easily measure while charging.

Get the info from the truck manufacturer and you could have a simple part-exchange fix.

Most material handling equipment the chargers are spec for 6 hr charge rate. As the others have said sounds like they are being over charged. What you describe sounds like a pallet truck that has four GC4 or GC3 batteries. What they use in golf carts. So a 24 dc system. Finish dc voltage should be around 29 vdc. You should also take voltage reading across each battery to see if the have the same voltage drop. You might want to check to see if the charger has an equalizer setting and it's not used every charge. Or that the switch that turns it on and off is functioning. Also when checking the finished rate dc voltage switch the meter to ac. Ac current should be in millivolts. Some times the rectifiers can break down the ac current will over heat the batteries causing fluid lost.

Minimum time from full discharge to full charge for lead acid is ten hours. Make sure your workers put them on charge ASAP. You're gonna get maybe a year of life out of a set with full cycles like that. 300 full cycles is pretty much standard. Of course, check the voltage and current. The good chargers are three step or more. If you're running two shifts, the batteries are doomed. Eight hour charging will damage the plates and boil off the water (and probably coat everything in the area with sulfuric acid powder, for example control electronics, cables, connectors etc.

While,it is evident that you are overcharging batteries leading to electrolysis of water, with hydrogen and oxygen escaping to atmosphere. You can measure the gravity of electrolyte by a hydrometer,every hour to see when consecutive gravity readings are same.That should be end of charging. Also look at charging voltage9( should be close to 2.4Volt per cell.Check if the charger is constant current type initially and then change to constant voltage after a set time. It could be that the constant current charger is continuing charging leading to over charge. The equalizing charge is a low Ampere charge at a little higher voltage to take care of sulfates on plates. There are other inputs on it above.

The biggest danger you have is very low life of batteries due to active material in positive plates getting disengaged from the grid. due to over charging. That will be expensive and you will have to replace batteries. So move fast.

That is GROSS overcharging. 16 volts or more. SLA battery electrolyte loss starts to become noticeable at 15.2V by my tests in motor cycles.

That fast a loss, id expect 16.5 -17V.

And torched batteries.

Get a profiling charger as Schumacher sells. Batteries are too expensive to burn down like that with a cheap charger. They have a charger thats ideal for the Exide GC series, I designed a custom system for one application using their dual marine charger.

for a commercial application, get profile data from the battery mfgr and find the CORRECT charger (with charge profile that matches the battery).

AND- monitor battery TEMPERATURE WHILE IN USE.. just in case. It would be bad news to have a high drain in use and have a battery explode.

Water loss is one indication of over charging, discoloration of electrolyte (should be crystal clear), and temperature rise are other symptoms. If you enter the space where the charging is taking place, and are overwhelmed with the smell of sulfur; your batteries are cooked (toast), and may require replacement. One of the best ways to prevent over charging (until you can acquire a charger with the correct algorithm to match your batteries) is to utilize a timer to stop your charger. This will require some knowledge as to the end voltage for charging, and the depth of discharge after each usage to determine (estimate and set) your charging time.