Exide tubular battery started leaking acid from +ve terminal

6

6pack

Level L
See picture.
terminal.jpg

What should I do now? I searched google and I'm confused. Some sites say, its because of filling in too much water into the battery. Other sites say battery may be dying. I haven't seen backup time loss in this battery. Maybe it has lost some backup time from since it was new, but it runs for 6-8hrs easily. I think i may have filled in too much water though. I always keep the battery level to top. Not full top but 3/4th of the way.

I hope i don't have to change the battery. These tubular batteries cost 14-16k in my area even when the battery companies advertise it for around 12-14k with taxes for 160AH.
 
Its mostly filling too much and when the water boils during high charge, it comes out.
Check the charge current(amps) and also the charge voltage of the inverter/ups.

I also see insufficient petroleum jelly applied, so apply more vaseline, so that it covers all of the terminal,including the nut/bolt.
 
I had applied petroleum jelly at first. Then I read somewhere in some electrical forum that the jelly melts at hot temps and leaks into the battery reducing life and making way for gases to come out. Gases bring water or acidic water along with them too. Temsp in my home are always >29 C even in Winter. In summer it touches 34-35C.

I have WD40 spray that removes rust. It has mineral oil and kerosence in it i think so not using it. Maybe I should get some baking soda and clean the terminals with a toothbrush.

This battery was bought in 2011 and most of the rubber seals have gone bad on the filling levels. Most probably the seals on the terminals have gone bad too. I tried to buy new seals but Exide has changed the diameter of the holes and caps etc. They seem to do such small changes every year or two so no possibility of getting any spare parts that will fit now.

Edit: I bought this battery grease from Amazon,
 
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2011 seems time to replace with exchange offers... what is normal expected battery lifetime? 4-5 years? Maybe WD40 is a good interim thing to try in the mean time.
 
Just an update. The battery grease works quite well. It's like a red gel toothpaste. So after cleaning the battery terminals with baking soda about half a dozen times to get it look like new, I put some toothpaste quantity on a clean toothbrush and brushed the terminals with the grease liberally. This was done a month and half back.

More than 80% of the grease is still left in the packet.

Result: The battery is nice and clean. The terminals have stopped leaking acid. I waited so long to see if the terminals leak again. They haven't yet.

@vishalrao, normal SMF batteries last for just 2 years. Tubular battery lasts for 7 I'm told. My uncle bought a tubular battery in 2009-10. I think it's still working now. It's capacity has decreased a bit though. My battery was bought in 2011 I think.
 
These battery companies deliberately change vent hole thread diameter and pitch, I have broken 2 vent caps and couldn't find replacement caps. The other design details of the new battery (same model number) such as dry and empty weight and overall dimmensions, charge characteristics all remain same compared to new battery from Exide, yet they change the cap design, So you are forced to buy new batteries.
 
adder said:
These battery companies deliberately change vent hole thread diameter and pitch, I have broken 2 vent caps and couldn't find replacement caps. The other design details of the new battery (same model number) such as dry and empty weight and overall dimmensions, charge characteristics all remain same compared to new battery from Exide, yet they change the cap design, So you are forced to buy new batteries.
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What you say is true. One of the caps in my battery is not floating. I went to every battery shop in my locality and in another nearby suburb too. Just like you said, the cap thread and diameter is different even though the capacity is the same. I was thinking of buying a rubber washer but all the hardware stores don't carry that size. Buying rubber sheet of a foot online is too costly. I think another thing we can use is that imported putty thing amazon is selling for 1.5k but its too costly for this purpose.
 
6pack said:
What you say is true. One of the caps in my battery is not floating. I went to every battery shop in my locality and in another nearby suburb too. Just like you said, the cap thread and diameter is different even though the capacity is the same. I was thinking of buying a rubber washer but all the hardware stores don't carry that size. Buying rubber sheet of a foot online is too costly. I think another thing we can use is that imported putty thing amazon is selling for 1.5k but its too costly for this purpose.
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Simple solution is to use wine cork to plug the hole. It is porous enough to breathe . Mine also broke but luckily i got similar ones from battery recycling shop where they just discard the caps and case
 
I think the battery life is finished. Its worked for almost 8 years now. It got fully discharged just 2-3 times.
Got only 3.5 - 4 hrs backup yesterday before the ups stopped completely, compared to 14-16 hrs when the battery was new.

What is the selling rate for old 150AH battery? On batterywale, they are giving 2900 for old 150AH tubular and on powershoppy they are giving just 2000. batterywale does not ship to my place though. They only ship within mumbai city.

Which tubular battery should I buy now? Amaron or Luminous? Exide is very costly now. Only one old 150AH Exide tubular battery was in 14k range. All other are near 17-20k. lol.
Amaron and Luminous are both 11.5 to 14k depending on capacity from 120AH to 200AH.

local shopkeepers are always trying to earn extra on everything here. even old battery price they give less than half rate.
 
6pack said:
I think the battery life is finished. Its worked for almost 8 years now. It got fully discharged just 2-3 times.
Got only 3.5 - 4 hrs backup yesterday before the ups stopped completely, compared to 14-16 hrs when the battery was new.

What is the selling rate for old 150AH battery? On batterywale, they are giving 2900 for old 150AH tubular and on powershoppy they are giving just 2000. batterywale does not ship to my place though. They only ship within mumbai city.

Which tubular battery should I buy now? Amaron or Luminous? Exide is very costly now. Only one old 150AH Exide tubular battery was in 14k range. All other are near 17-20k. lol.
Amaron and Luminous are both 11.5 to 14k depending on capacity from 120AH to 200AH.

local shopkeepers are always trying to earn extra on everything here. even old battery price they give less than half rate.
Click to expand...
No, Exide 150AH is around 10.5-11k before exchange which is around 1-1.5k. Check out on battery bhai too. These are offline quotes
 
6pack said:
Which tubular battery should I buy now? Amaron or Luminous? Exide is very costly now. Only one old 150AH Exide tubular battery was in 14k range. All other are near 17-20k. lol.
Amaron and Luminous are both 11.5 to 14k depending on capacity from 120AH to 200AH.
Click to expand...
How about a C10 luminous solar battery. C10 is supposed to last a little longer under load than C20 which is the norm

The one thing i would like to know is how to read the date codes on battery. Ideally you do not want to buy a battery that is older than 3 months. If it isn't topped up it gets sulphated and then capacity starts to drop. This is why discounts are offered. If one wants a 150AH battery then you should get a 150AH not some 100AH equivalent because it sat on a shelf..
 
Party Monger said:
No, Exide 150AH is around 10.5-11k before exchange which is around 1-1.5k. Check out on battery bhai too. These are offline quotes
Click to expand...

I see almost same prices as other sites. Plus same problem - they don't ship to my place.

blr_p said:
How about a C10 luminous solar battery. C10 is supposed to last a little longer under load than C20 which is the norm

The one thing i would like to know is how to read the date codes on battery. Ideally you do not want to buy a battery that is older than 3 months. If it isn't topped up it gets sulphated and then capacity starts to drop. This is why discounts are offered. If one wants a 150AH battery then you should get a 150AH not some 100AH equivalent because it sat on a shelf..
Click to expand...

I would prefer C20 because in peak summer months, MSEB load sheds power for 8-10 hrs every day in my place. Plus I have seen sometimes at night when there is high voltage > 260V, my UPS shuts main current and goes on battery and this lasts 4-6 hrs till morning when the voltages come back to normal levels. Only a tubular battery can withstand that type of charge discharge cycle. Normal batteries charge really fast but their shelf life is less than 2 years in such conditions.
 
6pack said:
I would prefer C20 because in peak summer months, MSEB load sheds power for 8-10 hrs every day in my place. Plus I have seen sometimes at night when there is high voltage > 260V, my UPS shuts main current and goes on battery and this lasts 4-6 hrs till morning when the voltages come back to normal levels. Only a tubular battery can withstand that type of charge discharge cycle. Normal batteries charge really fast but their shelf life is less than 2 years in such conditions.
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You get C10 tubulars from luminous

Suggestion was to go with C10 over C20 as my thinking is it will last longer. Thing is warranty is only 3 years instead of 5 if using solar batteries in an inverter

So i'm not sure why you want C20 over C10
 
6pack said:
http://solarhomestead.com/battery-amp-hour-ratings/
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http://kstarr.in/products_tech.html

for a given load, a battery rated with lower Hrs will give more backup time i.e. to say that

150 AH C10 battery will give more backup than 150 AH C20 battery for same load or

150 AH C5 battery will give more backup than 150 AH C10 battery.

This difference varies as per the amount of discharge current and is usually between 35 to 40 %.
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http://upsinverterinfo.com/exide-solar-tubular-battery-pros-and-cons.html

When it comes to manufacturing date only thing i find is exide info, there is nothing for luminous. This question never comes up in discussions either. People want the cheapest well guess what if you can't tell reliably when the battery was made then you ain't getting what it says on the label

https://www.vishwakarmabatteries.com/products/check-exide-battery-manufacturing-date.php

A battery that is less than three months old will be the most expensive. You want this
 
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Check the dry weight of the new batteries, I bet none can match the dry weight of exide Tubular battery C10 ,C20,same warranty of comparable models from other make.
 
6pack said:
I think the battery life is finished. Its worked for almost 8 years now. It got fully discharged just 2-3 times.
Got only 3.5 - 4 hrs backup yesterday before the ups stopped completely, compared to 14-16 hrs when the battery was new.

What is the selling rate for old 150AH battery? On batterywale, they are giving 2900 for old 150AH tubular and on powershoppy they are giving just 2000. batterywale does not ship to my place though. They only ship within mumbai city.

Which tubular battery should I buy now? Amaron or Luminous? Exide is very costly now. Only one old 150AH Exide tubular battery was in 14k range. All other are near 17-20k. lol.
Amaron and Luminous are both 11.5 to 14k depending on capacity from 120AH to 200AH.

local shopkeepers are always trying to earn extra on everything here. even old battery price they give less than half rate.
Click to expand...
My battery is also finished. its been 6.5 years of hard journey for the battery. 4 cells are between 1.26 to 1.28 sp gravity and remaining 2 cells are 1.18 . I have tried with edta and desulfation charging but none makes it to hold the battery charge. These batteries are designed for 10 years usage and it seems we need to clean the batteries periodically to make them work longer. lead pieces might fall down in the base of the container and it can lead a short circuit making the cell to fail. I shall try to clean up cells with baking soda and try to revive with fresh acid. If it fails then I might consider buying 2V lead acid battery and connect in series. Its pricey than 12V pack but i have an option to do cell balancing and replace only failed 2V battery.
 
vijaycool said:
My battery is also finished. its been 6.5 years of hard journey for the battery. 4 cells are between 1.26 to 1.28 sp gravity and remaining 2 cells are 1.18 . I have tried with edta and desulfation charging but none makes it to hold the battery charge. These batteries are designed for 10 years usage and it seems we need to clean the batteries periodically to make them work longer. lead pieces might fall down in the base of the container and it can lead a short circuit making the cell to fail. I shall try to clean up cells with baking soda and try to revive with fresh acid. If it fails then I might consider buying 2V lead acid battery and connect in series. Its pricey than 12V pack but i have an option to do cell balancing and replace only failed 2V battery.
Click to expand...

How are you going to clean the cells? Aren't the tops sealed with melted plastic? And all that sulphuric acid.

Edit: Do they put wax paper or something between the cells?

I was pouring a little bit of battery water in one of the cells and found some black sediment like rusted pieces. Is that lead or something has broken inside?
 
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