Do You Use Sealed Battery (s) To Stop Fumes In The Cabin?

[GaryMayo]

I am rehabilitating a battery that came in my boat, but I may be better off with a sealed battery to have zero chances of fumes.

Have you guys gone sealed?

I have a sealed battery I am not using anyway, purchased for another application.

[March]

I would vote against the OPTIMAS. I bought two three years ago, one as a house battery, the other one as an engine battery--lured by the "sealed" characteristic and the advertised 8 years life span. The first one went bad the following summer--and found out, to my surprise, that the warranty covers a much briefer period of time than the regular warranty offered by your regular WalMart battery--that goes at half the price, almost. The second one went bad after the second year. Needless to say, I will never invest into fancypants optimas anymore. Even if I have to change regular batteries every five years or so, I would still come ahead.
The fumes never bothered me. They are heavier than air and probably stay down in the bilge--I think. And how much such fumes would a battery produce, anyways?

[GaryMayo]

And how much such fumes would a battery produce, anyways?

Do they just fume when charging at a high rate, or do they fume also discharging? I do not know. The battery I could use is an Optima. lol

Purchased it five years ago, and never used it. Keep it charged, and last time I checked six months ago, still tested as a new battery.

The boat battery tested as bad, but I am charging it with magic liquid that brings some batteries back. Sold in some parts stores. Makes a battery better than it was as a new battery in some cases. You can also use Cadmium Sulfate if you can find it these days. "THEY" do not want "US" fixing stuff anymore, so they can sell "US" new stuff, that is half as good.

[Ixneigh]

I like sealed batteries because I forget to put water in the old style.
I watch my charge voltage from my panels, use a regulator and run the engine with the switch set to all.
I am on the boat lot.. Batteries get used constantly.

Had the optimas.. No complaints. Too expensive though.
I avoid 8-d batteries and heavy junk like that. Rather have two small ones. Easy to handle.

Ixneigh

[bartmac]

Having just put batteries in both my Mac26X and motorhome.......there's a number of different battery types which all have different and very precise charging regimes....Wet,sealed,AGM,Gel and a whole lot of other fancy ones.Charge any of these other than just the wet at too high a voltage and they'll be anchors real quick.The voltage your outboard puts out will wreck all but the wet battery sooner or later.We've gone to the trouble of installing DC to DC chargers so as to program the charger to adequately charge our "House " batteries.It's really easy to put the bulk of the charge back in...say to 85% but the last 15% takes much longer....certainly not what an outboard does....more suited to solar panel or shore based battery charger.*******Important to also know that no battery is completely sealed....even the sealed ones have vents which when overcharged and generating lots of H and O2 will eventually vent these potentially explosive gases

[GaryMayo]

I hope to get a slip with AC and then I will have access to a battery charger to keep the battery (s) up.

This is the best automotive battery I have ever found, hands down! I use em in my motorcycles, and a small battery has the power to turn over a 10:1 HP V8 with ease.

Not cheap, but worth the money! If I purchase a new battery for the boat, it will be this.

http://www.odysseybattery.com/marine.html

[Catigale]

Hydrogen gas is less dense than air, but the fumes are a mixture of hydrogen and acid which won't disperse like H2 gas. You only get significant gassing at full charge with wet cells.

[seahouse]

Hey all!

I wrestled with this issue before I bought.

As stated, sealed batteries still emit potentially explosive hydrogen (lighter than air) and oxygen (approx. air density) and sulfuric acid fumes (and mist). But only rarely, and when overcharging.

A regular lead-acid battery emits hydrogen both when charging, and discharging, and the acid concentration is greater at the end of the charging cycle, when overcharging is most likely to put the (now more concentrated) acid into the air, and will also hydrolyse the water into hydrogen and oxygen.

Some conventional lead-acid battery caps (check yours) contain a porous matrix (or a simple condensing cavity) that combines the oxygen and hydrogen (not explosively!) back into water and also captures some of the fumes, but as some of us will have seen (corroded terminals), they aren’t always effective.

The ideal is to have a tube that connects to the airspace above the plates and vents the gases overboard. The only problem is that I’ve never seen these in anything other than an automotive (including motorcycle) starting battery, where that battery is either located in the trunk (where design excellence is a priority), or back seat. Motorcraft, and maybe AC Delco, or VW(?) have such products.

After a season of use, with a shore-powered battery tender continuously connected while not sailing, I have seen zero hint of corrosion on either one of my lead-acid battery terminals (though I do have a thin film of oil on them).

I now consider the battery off-gassing to be, in normal situations in our boats, a non-issue. I have never smelled the characteristic sulfuric acid odour. The battery compartment is relatively open, and there is adequate airflow through vents in the cabin to disperse the already low concentrations of gases to the exterior.

I am, however, considering a mod that allows both batteries to be held securely, and removed easily, using a single (large) wing nut, instead of the stock stainless bracket with three bolts requiring wrenching.

-Brian.

[esc]

I now consider the battery off-gassing to be, in normal situations in our boats, a non-issue. I have never smelled the characteristic sulfuric acid odour. The battery compartment is relatively open, and there is adequate airflow through vents in the cabin to disperse the already low concentrations of gases to the exterior.

-Brian.

I share this opinion.

Eric

[raycarlson]

i've found the easiest way to stop fumes in the cabin from off gassing is to stop eatting mexican food the night before.works great on my boat.