Exile Posted November 13, 2019 Report Share Posted November 13, 2019 (edited) Bit the lead bullets, and sprung for 4 new batteries. Local Volvo dealer had two year warranty Exides for 64$ ish ea. Charged them up, and battery charger gave me some warning lights before it was willing to charge them. tested with cheapo battery tester and it said 3 of 4 were bad. Wtf? took to local chain auto parts store, and they said two were bad. Took to Volvo, and they told me they couldn’t test them, and I would have to buy two more, and they could ship my two to Exide for testing. Took them back home. Do lead acid batteries need to be conditioned? They were made only a month before I bought them. Update: went to dealer with my cheapo battery tester and all 12 in their rack tested bad. Turned two in and took two more anyway. Will warranty claim the two i turned in. my tester now shows my two other new batteries to be good, so one of them got better? do these batteries need conditioning? I don’t understand this, from chemistry class, seems like they should only degrade with time. Will charge two newest ones and see what happens. Said 91% charged when i got them home. 12.9 volts Edited November 22, 2019 by Exile Update title and post with new info Quote 98 379 with 12.7 DD LG Dodge w/5.9 CTD Chrome habit I’m trying to kick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeverEasy Posted November 13, 2019 Report Share Posted November 13, 2019 (edited) Maybe you should put them in the truck and let the alternator put a charge on them. Might help. The batteries in my Volvo were 11 years old. Tested in spring and they were good. Tested this fall and three showed bad. Bought 4 new ones at Volvo and tested before putting in the rig or charging. Two tested iffy. Put them in the truck and charged for 24 hours with a built-in converter/charger. All showed good. When not in use, I run a Progressive Dynamics PD9240C converter/charger on them to keep them at full charge. I have had super success with PD units. I run a 60-amp in my RV. The PD's fourth stage is a equalization mode. After coming to full charge, every 21 hours it hits the batteries with 14.4 volts for 15 minutes. The last time I had to add water was about 3 years ago. Also, lost an alternator heading to Sioux Falls. Fired up the generator and continued on, running on the PD. Could not get a new alternator in Sioux Falls so drove 6 daylight hours back to my brother's house. I tried the lights but the voltage started dropping so the 40 amp charger was not enough to run everything. Edited November 13, 2019 by NeverEasy Quote Chet & Deb '01 Volvo 660 w/ Smart '19 Forest River Columbus 320RS 5th wheel 2022 Chev 2500HD Long Bed Retired CWO4, USN and federal service Electronics Tech/Network Engineer/Welder/Machinist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenandjon Posted November 13, 2019 Report Share Posted November 13, 2019 That's pretty cheap for batteries. Its a bunch of bull they cant check the batteries. He just don't want to. Quote Farmer, Trucker, Equipment operator, Mechanic Quando omni flunkus moritati-When all else fails, play dead I'm a man, but I can change, if I have to, I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sehc Posted November 13, 2019 Report Share Posted November 13, 2019 Lead acid chemistry, if the battery goes dead it is now a bad battery. You need new ones. Most chargers will not start a charge on a completely dead battery. I often used a charge maintainer with its very small current to bring such a battery up to where it could be charged. But, don't trust that battery. Get new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Star Dreamer Posted November 14, 2019 Report Share Posted November 14, 2019 Try contacting Exide customer support or claims center and see what they say. Quote 2005 Freightliner Century S/T, Singled, Air ride ET Jr. hitch 2019 46'+ Dune Sport Man Cave custom 5th wheel toy hauler Owner of the 1978 Custom Van "Star Dreamer" which might be seen at a local car show near you! Check out http://www.hhrvresource.com/ for much more info on HDT's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exile Posted November 23, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2019 Figured out that my tester will also give a % of life, and it declared one of my new batteries to be at 25% and the other at 45%. Dammit. Checked the two batteries it said were good, and they were both 89%. i’m not real impressed with Exide at this point, I don’t see how they could have released this many batteries without testing them with something more sophisticated than my cheapo meter. I will try to find somewhere with a more sophisticated and proven meter that can provide more information, since i’m not sure mine is accurate. And send this info back to them too. Quote 98 379 with 12.7 DD LG Dodge w/5.9 CTD Chrome habit I’m trying to kick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rpsinc Posted November 23, 2019 Report Share Posted November 23, 2019 OP-perhaps you have discovered why the batteries where on SALE! Quote Marcel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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