Stock 8D Battery Woes

[Mike]

So I took on this crazy job myself.  Removing old "cooked" 8D flooded lead acid batteries.  What a messy job.

Navigator typically provided three 8D FLA batteries in their 'typical' production line as follows:

1. Battery 1 - Engine Start Battery - Engine 1 & 2 switch + crossover to battery 2
2. Battery 2 - Generator Start Battery - Generator & Engine crossover
3. Battery 3 - House Battery - Typically fed directly to the panel

All three of these batteries could also be combined in case one of them failed.

Here's what a typical setup looked like (some may vary of course):

Battery 1 on the left.  Switches organized as I mentioned above.

In my situation, a previous owner also added a Victron 12/3000/120 inverter forward of the starboard engine.  Inverter has 6x (6vdc) batteries wired in series and parallel (3 total banks).  Great setup, but installed very sloppy.

I'm finding that most boat owners are adding inverters to older boats, thus overriding the need for a stock house battery.

So, one day I decided to take a look at my old stock batteries.  There wasn't any real concern because the engines were starting fine.  However, there was a distinct chemical smell coming from the engine room every time I cracked open the access hatch.  What did I find?  Battery 3 was getting HOT!!  ...  This was a very concerning issue for me as I know what can happen in this situation.

I immediately cracked open the battery boxes and found battery 3 heating up and labels that were slowly burning off.  Yikes!

Battery 1 was fine (engine start).

Battery 2 was completely BONE DRY.

Battery 3 the hot culprit.

After tracing all the wires, I decided to do some testing.  So, I started flipping those three switches around.  And, I discovered every time I flipped battery 3, the new Inverter would start making sounds like it was working overtime.  Fans were kicking on and I noticed some of my 12vdc circuits were either dimming or pumps slowing down.  From what I could tell, the installers for the inverter had managed to cross connect the inverter to the generator, which then affected the house circuit.  After all this, I did some measurements and found out the inverter was cooking battery 3 to death.  This was not good for inverter, batteries, or the house panel, so I decided to take battery 3 completely offline.  I think it took about 2 days to fully cool down.  lol

Anyway, knowing that I probably saved myself from a boat fire I decided to also top off the battery water and do some voltage testing.

1. Battery 1 - 12.9vdc
2. Battery 2 - 1.8vdc
3. Battery 3 - 4.6vdc

Yep, the batteries were shot (except for B1 of course).  I then turned on the battery charger, and looks like the charger was doing its job.  I started to see voltages climbing back up.  But they did not hold.  At least 2 dead batteries.

So yeah I decided to remove all three batteries.  I don't want any more flooded lead acid in my boat.  Too dangerous and that battery acid burns the skin.  Not to mention off-gassing risks.  I am just done.  Read next post for my battery removal technique.

[Mike]

I started asking around in the Victron and Navigator clubs.  Most people suggested that I hire someone on the dock to remove the batteries.  Problem with that is my marina doesn't really have anyone around to do that kind of work.  It's a private marina with some local liveaboards and most of the boats are owned by retirees or something.  So, I was on my own.

One of the best pieces of advice I got was to use wood 2x4's.    In fact, I had a total of one 2x4 and brought it to the boat.  I also brought along my wrecking crowbar and some grubby clothes.  Amazingly enough, the wood technique was all I needed.  Lift up one side of the 8D battery, slip in the 2x4, wrestle things around a bit, and pull the battery out of the box (using the 2x4 as a slide).  It worked very well!

I managed to get all three batteries out of their protective boxes without issue.  No broken fingers or battery acid burns.  A little tingling and itching along the way, but it wasn't bad.  I also have to mention I used eye protection and gloves just in case.  Oh, that battery acid smell just never leaves.  Yuck.

I then used the same piece of wood and slid the batteries along the floor to the aft section of the engine room.  Not too bad.

 

I lined up all three batteries for the next day when I attempt to remove the batteries through the top hatch.  That is going to be fun!

I also want to mention that my battery boxes were doing their job.  You can see noticable puddles of battery acid at the bottom of the box.  I'm not sure what Navigator was thinking, but they decided to drill holes in the bottoms of the box and screwed them into the wood support below.  Dumb design because these boxes would likely leak acid into the bilge if they cracked or broke at their mount points.  But I guess in the early 2000's this was allowed.

I used several old rags to soak up the battery acid and cleaned up the boxes.  Then I removed the screws, ripped out the boxes, and scraped the floor.

Before installing new batteries, I do plan on filling the holes and sealing the floor again with bilge paint.

[Mike]

Battery lift day!  

Unfortunately I didn't take any photos but this also turned out to be easier than I expected.

I brought my teenage son and wife along for this adventure.  All we did was use some dock line, fed the end through both battery handles, and pulled them up and out.  Easy peasy!  We then loaded the batteries into the dock carts, put them into my truck, and drove to our local transfer station.  Battery recycling is free here in Seattle, so I paid nothing to get these things out of my hair.

Now all I have left to do is play around with new cables, crimps, and I do plan on installing some additional Victron gear.  Bust out another thousand.

Cheers!

[Mike]

Today I removed the stock battery switching layout.  Turns out someone installed a mainline from my inverter directly to this switch wall.  I believe this is what caused my stock 8D battery to cook.

The new line comes up from the bottom (see attached photo) and then continues up to the main panel.  Funny thing is, this line comes directly from the Inverter batteries directly below the main panel and then loops back up through the ceiling of the engine room.  I'll be remedying that soon.  😉

[Mike]

Following up, interestingly, this mainline house cable ran across the engine room floor (next to the starboard engine) and underneath the switch wall.  This was then connected to the switch you see in the above photo.  The line then runs across the ceiling back to the front starboard side and up to the panel.  I've removed this entire line because my entire house battery bank is located near the washer/dryer in the front starboard side of the engine room.