I recently noticed that when my solar panels are charging the
batteries that the acid/fluid inside the battery bubbles up (something
like boiling water). Is this normal? I have 4 Trojan 105 batteris
wired to produce 217 Amp at 12V. The total maximum solar output is
3.84 Amps. I also got a Morningstar regulator (max 4.5 Amp). The
charger is wired to only one battery positive pole. The installation
is working just fine but when I opened the plugs to check the fluid
level I noticed the bubbling of the battery fluid. I also noticed that
the bubbling takes place only at the battery that is wired to the
regulator. I measured the voltage of the other batteries and they
were all being equally charged. BUT I did not notice any bubbling in
the other 3 batteries. Only the battery that receive the charge
directly does. Is this normal? Is this set up about to blow up? Am I
suppose to wire the charge of the regulator to the 4 positive poles of
the 4 batteries? Any explanantion about the bubbles is mostly welcome.
Thanks, Roy

"Roy" wrote in message
m...
I recently noticed that when my solar panels are charging the
batteries that the acid/fluid inside the battery bubbles up (something
like boiling water). Is this normal? I have 4 Trojan 105 batteris
wired to produce 217 Amp at 12V. The total maximum solar output is
3.84 Amps. I also got a Morningstar regulator (max 4.5 Amp). The
charger is wired to only one battery positive pole. The installation
is working just fine but when I opened the plugs to check the fluid
level I noticed the bubbling of the battery fluid. I also noticed that
the bubbling takes place only at the battery that is wired to the
regulator. I measured the voltage of the other batteries and they
were all being equally charged. BUT I did not notice any bubbling in
the other 3 batteries. Only the battery that receive the charge
directly does. Is this normal? Is this set up about to blow up? Am I
suppose to wire the charge of the regulator to the 4 positive poles of
the 4 batteries? Any explanantion about the bubbles is mostly welcome.
Thanks, Roy

Batteries normally "bubble" when fully charged (Like at the end of the
charge), however I would say it is more like the fizzing of a soft
carbonated drink than "boiling". If it looks like the inside of a boiling
kettel then you mave have a bit of a problem :-). If the batteries are wired
in parallel (all pos posts connected together and all neg posts the same)
then it is only neccessary to connect anywhere convenient to a neg and pos
battery terminal ofm the group.
It would be a good idea to take hydrometer readings of all the batteries
after they have stood fully charged overnight to check their degree of
charge and if there is any variations between them.

--
Regards ........... Rheilly Phoull

Hi Roy,

bubbling batteries normally say, that they are overcharged!
If Charging voltage reches 13.8 V or max. 14.4 V, the cells begin to produce
oxygen and hydrogen, a very explosice mixture.

Be sure to make the next steps without a cigarette.....

Reason of overcharging could be a malfunction of that Morningstar regulator.
You should check the charging voltage of the batteries in full charge mode,
means with full battries and much sunshine. Voltage at the batteries should
not reach 13.8 V or 14.4 V (depends of kind of battry, normal or gel).
If voltage is higher , your regulator fails.

Another possibility is a malfunction of that battery, that bubbles so nice.
If one of the 6 cells of that battery is bad (maybe short cicuited by broken
lead plates), then this battery works with only 10 V and it is overcharged
by the regulator. Disconnect this battery from the other ones and measure
the voltage. If it is 10 V ore less, you found the reason for bubbling.

Last possibility: multi battery systems often have diode modules to connect
them when charging and to disconnect them when discharging. If one of that
diodes is short circuited, one battery gets too much voltage. Check this by
measuring all batteries when they are charged. All should have the same
voltage.

For measuring use a digital meter, small differences can be measured more
exactly than with analog meters.

much success

Juergen


"Roy" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
m...
I recently noticed that when my solar panels are charging the
batteries that the acid/fluid inside the battery bubbles up (something
like boiling water). Is this normal? I have 4 Trojan 105 batteris
wired to produce 217 Amp at 12V. The total maximum solar output is
3.84 Amps. I also got a Morningstar regulator (max 4.5 Amp). The
charger is wired to only one battery positive pole. The installation
is working just fine but when I opened the plugs to check the fluid
level I noticed the bubbling of the battery fluid. I also noticed that
the bubbling takes place only at the battery that is wired to the
regulator. I measured the voltage of the other batteries and they
were all being equally charged. BUT I did not notice any bubbling in
the other 3 batteries. Only the battery that receive the charge
directly does. Is this normal? Is this set up about to blow up? Am I
suppose to wire the charge of the regulator to the 4 positive poles of
the 4 batteries? Any explanantion about the bubbles is mostly welcome.
Thanks, Roy

Rheilly, Thanks for your answer. Yes, it looks more like the fizzing
of a soft drink than a boiling kettel. The batteries are not wired in
parallel. They are Trojan 105 Golf cart 6V batteries. Negative pole is
wired to positive pole in both pairs. Alternator charges them at 14.1
volts. The manual of the regulator states also to charge at 14.1. So I
thought I was doing the right thing. I am going to the boat only on
Saturday. Is this something I should go there immediately before a
major explotion occurs? Once again, thanks for your attention. Roy

Batteries normally "bubble" when fully charged (Like at the end of the
charge), however I would say it is more like the fizzing of a soft
carbonated drink than "boiling". If it looks like the inside of a boiling
kettel then you mave have a bit of a problem :-). If the batteries are wired
in parallel (all pos posts connected together and all neg posts the same)
then it is only neccessary to connect anywhere convenient to a neg and pos
battery terminal ofm the group.
It would be a good idea to take hydrometer readings of all the batteries
after they have stood fully charged overnight to check their degree of
charge and if there is any variations between them.

Jürgen, Thanks for your reply. The batteries are Trojan-105 golf cart
6V. Wired in series to produce 12V and 217 amp. The regulator charges
at 14.1 and so does the alternator (so they say in the manuals). No
diodes are installed and the max output of the solar panels is 3.8 amp
(6 small panels of 0.64 amp each). I never thought that the regulator
may be damaged. But even if it is the max output of the panels, 3.8
amp, (which is not realistic since there is always one panel under
shade) is not capable to overcharge the batteries by much. Should I go
immediately to the boat and disconnet everything till I perform all
the measurements or can it wait till Saturday? We got a lot of sun
around here already (I am in Texas). Once again thanks for your
attention. Roy

"Jürgen Spelter" wrote in message ...
Hi Roy,

bubbling batteries normally say, that they are overcharged!
If Charging voltage reches 13.8 V or max. 14.4 V, the cells begin to produce
oxygen and hydrogen, a very explosice mixture.

Be sure to make the next steps without a cigarette.....

Reason of overcharging could be a malfunction of that Morningstar regulator.
You should check the charging voltage of the batteries in full charge mode,
means with full battries and much sunshine. Voltage at the batteries should
not reach 13.8 V or 14.4 V (depends of kind of battry, normal or gel).
If voltage is higher , your regulator fails.

Another possibility is a malfunction of that battery, that bubbles so nice.
If one of the 6 cells of that battery is bad (maybe short cicuited by broken
lead plates), then this battery works with only 10 V and it is overcharged
by the regulator. Disconnect this battery from the other ones and measure
the voltage. If it is 10 V ore less, you found the reason for bubbling.

Last possibility: multi battery systems often have diode modules to connect
them when charging and to disconnect them when discharging. If one of that
diodes is short circuited, one battery gets too much voltage. Check this by
measuring all batteries when they are charged. All should have the same
voltage.

For measuring use a digital meter, small differences can be measured more
exactly than with analog meters.

much success

Juergen


"Roy" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
m...
I recently noticed that when my solar panels are charging the
batteries that the acid/fluid inside the battery bubbles up (something
like boiling water). Is this normal? I have 4 Trojan 105 batteris
wired to produce 217 Amp at 12V. The total maximum solar output is
3.84 Amps. I also got a Morningstar regulator (max 4.5 Amp). The
charger is wired to only one battery positive pole. The installation
is working just fine but when I opened the plugs to check the fluid
level I noticed the bubbling of the battery fluid. I also noticed that
the bubbling takes place only at the battery that is wired to the
regulator. I measured the voltage of the other batteries and they
were all being equally charged. BUT I did not notice any bubbling in
the other 3 batteries. Only the battery that receive the charge
directly does. Is this normal? Is this set up about to blow up? Am I
suppose to wire the charge of the regulator to the 4 positive poles of
the 4 batteries? Any explanantion about the bubbles is mostly welcome.
Thanks, Roy

Some fizzing is normal during charging. But when the
battery is charged and the charger goes into float, the
fizzing should stop. That would be around 13.6 volts or
so. If it is staying at 14+ volts for more than a few
hours then something is wrong.

Doug
s/v Callista

"Roy" wrote in message
om...
Rheilly, Thanks for your answer. Yes, it looks more like the fizzing
of a soft drink than a boiling kettel. The batteries are not wired in
parallel. They are Trojan 105 Golf cart 6V batteries. Negative pole is
wired to positive pole in both pairs. Alternator charges them at 14.1
volts. The manual of the regulator states also to charge at 14.1. So I
thought I was doing the right thing. I am going to the boat only on
Saturday. Is this something I should go there immediately before a
major explotion occurs? Once again, thanks for your attention. Roy

Batteries normally "bubble" when fully charged (Like at the end of the
charge), however I would say it is more like the fizzing of a soft
carbonated drink than "boiling". If it looks like the inside of a
boiling
kettel then you mave have a bit of a problem :-). If the batteries are
wired
in parallel (all pos posts connected together and all neg posts the
same)
then it is only neccessary to connect anywhere convenient to a neg and
pos
battery terminal ofm the group.
It would be a good idea to take hydrometer readings of all the batteries
after they have stood fully charged overnight to check their degree of
charge and if there is any variations between them.

Hi Roy,

the gas that bubbles is hydrogen and oxigen, an explosive mixture.
If you wait until saturday, don`t forget to ventilate the area around your
batteries. Don`t switch any electrical circuit and don`t light any
heater....

Take a look at the fluid level in your batteries. If they or one of them is
contantly overcharged, liquid will disappear and you have to fill it with
destillated water.
If liquid level is OK, nothing will be really wrong. A little bit of gas is
normal during normal charging. Sometimes gas omes up, when battery is
pushed.

juergen

"Roy" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
om...
Jürgen, Thanks for your reply. The batteries are Trojan-105 golf cart
6V. Wired in series to produce 12V and 217 amp. The regulator charges
at 14.1 and so does the alternator (so they say in the manuals). No
diodes are installed and the max output of the solar panels is 3.8 amp
(6 small panels of 0.64 amp each). I never thought that the regulator
may be damaged. But even if it is the max output of the panels, 3.8
amp, (which is not realistic since there is always one panel under
shade) is not capable to overcharge the batteries by much. Should I go
immediately to the boat and disconnet everything till I perform all
the measurements or can it wait till Saturday? We got a lot of sun
around here already (I am in Texas). Once again thanks for your
attention. Roy

"Jürgen Spelter" wrote in message
...
Hi Roy,

bubbling batteries normally say, that they are overcharged!
If Charging voltage reches 13.8 V or max. 14.4 V, the cells begin to
produce
oxygen and hydrogen, a very explosice mixture.

Be sure to make the next steps without a cigarette.....

Reason of overcharging could be a malfunction of that Morningstar
regulator.
You should check the charging voltage of the batteries in full charge
mode,
means with full battries and much sunshine. Voltage at the batteries
should
not reach 13.8 V or 14.4 V (depends of kind of battry, normal or gel).
If voltage is higher , your regulator fails.

Another possibility is a malfunction of that battery, that bubbles so
nice.
If one of the 6 cells of that battery is bad (maybe short cicuited by
broken
lead plates), then this battery works with only 10 V and it is
overcharged
by the regulator. Disconnect this battery from the other ones and
measure
the voltage. If it is 10 V ore less, you found the reason for bubbling.

Last possibility: multi battery systems often have diode modules to
connect
them when charging and to disconnect them when discharging. If one of
that
diodes is short circuited, one battery gets too much voltage. Check this
by
measuring all batteries when they are charged. All should have the same
voltage.

For measuring use a digital meter, small differences can be measured
more
exactly than with analog meters.

much success

Juergen


"Roy" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
m...
I recently noticed that when my solar panels are charging the
batteries that the acid/fluid inside the battery bubbles up (something
like boiling water). Is this normal? I have 4 Trojan 105 batteris
wired to produce 217 Amp at 12V. The total maximum solar output is
3.84 Amps. I also got a Morningstar regulator (max 4.5 Amp). The
charger is wired to only one battery positive pole. The installation
is working just fine but when I opened the plugs to check the fluid
level I noticed the bubbling of the battery fluid. I also noticed that
the bubbling takes place only at the battery that is wired to the
regulator. I measured the voltage of the other batteries and they
were all being equally charged. BUT I did not notice any bubbling in
the other 3 batteries. Only the battery that receive the charge
directly does. Is this normal? Is this set up about to blow up? Am I
suppose to wire the charge of the regulator to the 4 positive poles of
the 4 batteries? Any explanantion about the bubbles is mostly welcome.
Thanks, Roy

Well, I could not go to sleep and wait till Saturday while thinking
that the batteries were about to explode. So I went to the boat (2
hours drive each way)to check everything. First and foremost all was
normal. I arrived at about sun set and measured everything. Battery01
measured 6.58V; Battery02 6.32; together they measured 12.90.
Battery03 measured 6.48; Battery04 measured 6.50; together they
measured 12.98. All four as one bank gave me a reading of 12.91. The
second voltimeter which is less accurate gave me a reading of 13V. I
tried to measure the regulator output but the sun was setting and all
I got was a 0.5 reading. I checked the fuid level and only battery01,
the one that receives the charging wire from the regulator, was a
little below normal. I filled it up. When there was till some sun
there was a little fissing in that battery just like in an old
carbonated drink. I downsized the fuse in the wire from the regulator
to battery01 to 5 amp (just in case something goes wrong). I also
filled the fluid of all batteries to the top and concluded that all
was kosher. False alarm. Only one question. It was a very sunny day
and by sun set the 4 batteries gave a compound reading of 13V. I would
assume that if the regulator was working properly I would have a
higher reading, something like almost 14V. The max output of the
panels is 3.8amp. Max charge of the regulator is 4.1amp as per the
manual. And, this was a full Texan sunny day. There were no discharges
anywhere since the boat was closed and the switch board turned off. Am
I correct to assume that all is working properly? Should I downsized
the fuse from 5 to 4 amps? The lowest battery reading was that of
battery02, e.g., 6.32V. Is this within range? Thanks for your
attention and help. I was in panic and I am glad I could turn to this
newsgroup for a quick support. Roy

Hi Roy,

glad to hear that there was now blast in texas.....


"Roy" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
m...
Well, I could not go to sleep and wait till Saturday while thinking
that the batteries were about to explode. So I went to the boat (2
hours drive each way)to check everything. First and foremost all was
normal. I arrived at about sun set and measured everything. Battery01
measured 6.58V; Battery02 6.32; together they measured 12.90.
Battery03 measured 6.48; Battery04 measured 6.50; together they
measured 12.98. All four as one bank gave me a reading of 12.91. The

that seems to be totally normal and indicates full charged system.

second voltimeter which is less accurate gave me a reading of 13V. I
tried to measure the regulator output but the sun was setting and all
I got was a 0.5 reading. I checked the fuid level and only battery01,
the one that receives the charging wire from the regulator, was a
little below normal. I filled it up. When there was till some sun
there was a little fissing in that battery just like in an old
carbonated drink. I downsized the fuse in the wire from the regulator
to battery01 to 5 amp (just in case something goes wrong). I also
filled the fluid of all batteries to the top and concluded that all
was kosher. False alarm. Only one question. It was a very sunny day

Take a steady look at that fluid level, when overcharging takes place, level
will decrease rather fast

and by sun set the 4 batteries gave a compound reading of 13V. I would
assume that if the regulator was working properly I would have a
higher reading, something like almost 14V. The max output of the

during sunshine (means charging) voltage comes up to about 14 volts, when
sun disappeares, voltage will go down to about 13 volts, everything seems to
be OK

panels is 3.8amp. Max charge of the regulator is 4.1amp as per the
manual. And, this was a full Texan sunny day. There were no discharges
anywhere since the boat was closed and the switch board turned off. Am
I correct to assume that all is working properly? Should I downsized
the fuse from 5 to 4 amps? The lowest battery reading was that of
battery02, e.g., 6.32V. Is this within range? Thanks for your
attention and help. I was in panic and I am glad I could turn to this
newsgroup for a quick support. Roy

Fuse shoud stay at 5 amps, time of charging will be the problem. Come to
germany, and all your problems with overcharging will disappear....


juergen