CT4ME Posted April 15, 2014 Report Posted April 15, 2014 Over the years there have been a few incidences of people reporting their PC310 batteries as mysteriously dead. I think there was one report of a bad battery, becoming good again. Here is a response from Odyssey, explaining what might be going on, and suggesting a procedure that can be used to bring the battery back to life. This was the result of an inquiry about a 4-month old battery appearing to be dead, after a master switch was accidentally left on for a couple of weeks. -------- "If the battery voltage is below 7-9V then the charger may have a safety feature so that it would recognize the battery as a 6V battery and not allow for charging on a 12V charger. You may need to put the battery in parallel with another 12V battery with a good resting voltage to “fool” the charger into attempting to charge the battery then, once the battery reaches 10+V then you could remove the other battery and allow for the charger to complete the charging process. For this sized battery, a 3A or higher amp charger would be recommended for recovery charging. If the battery begins to vent, hiss or get so hot you cannot hold your hand on it, check the voltage at the battery before disconnecting the battery from the charger then disconnect the battery. If the voltage was exceeding 15.0V then the charger may be the cause of the overheating situation. If less than 15.0V then the internal resistance of the battery may be too high or the battery may have lost one or more cells due to over discharge causing an overcharge, overheat situation in the remaining cells as the voltage is redistributed to those remaining cells. You can attempt the charging process again, once the battery has cooled for 24 hours. If the situation repeats itself and the voltage is still exceeding 15.0V then you may want to try another charger. If the voltage is not excessive, then the battery is most likely scrap. The usable energy in the OSYSSEY battery is from 11.2-12.84V or higher. At less than 10.0V OCV resting voltage internal damage can result. At less than 6.0V, cells can become reversed and once reversed, they cannot be reversed back. Recovery depends on depth of discharge and how long the battery remained in that discharged state. The longer the battery remains in a deeply or over-discharged state, the harder it will be to recover if at all. Here is the link to the (http://www.odysseybattery.com/documents/US-ODY-WS-13_0314.pdf) ODYSSEYmanufacturing defect warranty for your reference. AnyODYSSEY dealer or distributor is authorized to offer product support and warranty support however they are not required to do so as a non-point of purchase location. Not what we like to see but a fact, none the less. The warranty process requires that the ODYSSEY battery be evaluated and recovery attempted (for a discharged battery) to warranty the battery. If the battery is taken to a dealer with a voltage less than 10.0V, it is considered over discharged and the warranty is void. It does not mean that it is unrecoverable just that the battery has not been maintained properly and the ODYSSEY full replacement warranty is for manufacturing defects that cause premature failure within the warranty period. If the battery can be recovered and tests within specifications, it will be returned to you as a "good" battery. If the voltage is greater than 10.0V but the battery does not take or maintain a charge or fails load testing post charging or at a high state of charge (12.6V+), then the battery can be warranted, if not by the local dealer then by the factory with the information that the local dealer can provide. I can assist with warranty if the battery meets warranty requirements. Based on what you described, this situation is not a manufacturing defect failure and would not be covered by the warranty. " Sincerely, Kathy Mitchell ODYSSEY Sales/Support Representative
Anticept Posted April 16, 2014 Report Posted April 16, 2014 I started using the G1100 from Noco, and have been very happy with them. They have kept the battery well charged, and even in the supercold, the engines had no problem starting.
Doug G. Posted April 17, 2014 Report Posted April 17, 2014 We've been down this road before - I have two Noco chargers and am very pleased with them. They have an AGL setting. I had a larger one for a general and deep cycle charger and bought an 1100 for the plane battery.
Anticept Posted April 17, 2014 Report Posted April 17, 2014 We've been down this road before - I have two Noco chargers and am very pleased with them. They have an AGL setting. I had a larger one for a general and deep cycle charger and bought an 1100 for the plane battery. Yeah I picked up a G7500 for larger aircraft batteries because the G1100 has difficulty charging and maintaining them. However, it did charge them properly, and Gil's engineering team are researching and ordering a couple to test. So far, from the data I've sent them, NOCO's chargers are among the best bang for the buck on the market. One of the support guys decided to pick one up for his motorcycle.
opticsguy Posted June 11, 2014 Report Posted June 11, 2014 I had drained a PC310 to zero after leaving the master switch on. I charged it with a cheap Schoemaker charger, then with a CTEK 7002. I was surprised it held 12.7V for two weeks. It's been in my motorcycle ever since.
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