battery

[project62]

Brand new optima battery. What would cause the acid to boil inside the battery and leak?

 

[JimKueneman]

Overcharging? What is the voltage at the stud on the back of the alternator?

 

[project62]

Overcharging? What is the voltage at the stud on the back of the alternator?

Not sure. If I start it and check now the wife and the neighbors migh lynch me. Lol. I will check this afternoon when I get home from work.

 

[JimKueneman]

Not sure. If I start it and check now the wife and the neighbors migh lynch me. Lol. I will check this afternoon when I get home from work.

And notice I said at the back of the alternator. I had a head scratcher over the last few days that took me too long to understand. I have a new Deka battery that I discharged a fair amount will working on my AC controls. That battery has such a low charging impedance that the alternator (or even my battery charger) could not raise the voltage on it while charging even at a high rate. That battery can sink a LOT of current than any car battery I have ever seen. The voltage would only rise as the battery took the charge. The only way I understood what was going on was:

1) The ammeter was pegged in the charging state while there was no electrical load on the car (like AC, Fan, headlights). This is not good in my opinion as the wires in the car were not designed for this. They were getting very hot....
2) The battery read 12.2V while the alternator showed 13.8V and the voltage drop was across the ammeter (again not good).

A modern quality battery can really put a huge stress on these old charging systems if they are not fully charged and in tip top shape. I charged the battery with my charger for 2 hours until it read 13.8V and then everything looked correct (14.4V on the battery while charging, normal ammeter reading at less than half scale, etc).

 

[project62]

And notice I said at the back of the alternator. I had a head scratcher over the last few days that took me too long to understand. I have a new Deka battery that I discharged a fair amount will working on my AC controls. That battery has such a low charging impedance that the alternator (or even my battery charger) could not raise the voltage on it while charging even at a high rate. That battery can sink a LOT of current than any car battery I have ever seen. The voltage would only rise as the battery took the charge. The only way I understood what was going on was:

1) The ammeter was pegged in the charging state while there was no electrical load on the car (like AC, Fan, headlights). This is not good in my opinion as the wires in the car were not designed for this. They were getting very hot....
2) The battery read 12.2V while the alternator showed 13.8V and the voltage drop was across the ammeter (again not good).

A modern quality battery can really put a huge stress on these old charging systems if they are not fully charged and in tip top shape. I charged the battery with my charger for 2 hours until it read 13.8V and then everything looked correct (14.4V on the battery while charging, normal ammeter reading at less than half scale, etc).

Maybe I should've went more in depth. Alternator was just rebuilt and upgraded from 60 amps to 100 amps. New Voltage regulator to go with it. Not using factory wiring harness. New harness from ez wiring. Pertronics distributor, flamethrower 2 coil and second strike ignition box.

 

[JimKueneman]

Maybe I should've went more in depth. Alternator was just rebuilt and upgraded from 60 amps to 100 amps. New Voltage regulator to go with it. Not using factory wiring harness. New harness from ez wiring. Pertronics distributor, flamethrower 2 coil and second strike ignition box.

Makes me more suspicious to overcharging ;)

 

[67 coronet]

http://www.allpar.com/history/mopar/electrical.html
take a read on this. look at the section that refers to changing from mechanical to electronic regulators.has a wiring diagram.does sound like an overcharge problem.