Hot Battery

[tracer1]

Don't know if this is the correct forum for this but thought I would give it a try. If I need to post it elsewhere, let me know.
Just noticed the battery casing of my cranking battery is hot to the touch. It's only on the negative side of the casing itself, not the positive & the battery studs are not hot (+ or - ).
This is a Delco maintenance free, 950 cca. Terminals are clean with no corrosion on studs or cables, & stainless locking nuts are used, not wing nuts. On-board charger is a MK 460PC,
which is plugged in 24-7. My first thought was, " oh crap, need a new battery." Just thought I would ask for some opinions before I junked it.
Any opinions would be appreciated.

[pajoe329]

Well I hate to say , but I had a hot battery and I was told get it out of your boat , must have a plate inside break and touching to make it hot , and when I went for a new one the store grabbed the old one and took it outside .

[tracer1]

Thanks pajoe, those were my thoughts too.

[CatFan]

Batteries get hot when they have current flowing. That can be charging or discharging.

The important thing to know is whether your charger thinks the battery is at full charge or not. What lights are lit?

BTW, if you need a new one, the Duralast 31-950 from Autozone is the same battery at $129 which is a pretty good deal for 950CCA and 195 minute RC..

[tracer1]

For the last 2 days the 3 yellow light have been flashing. Checked the connections to the battery & felt the heat at the neg. side. Pulled the battery this morning. 4 hours later checked with meter & read 10.8V. So I think the battery is toast.
Thanks CatFan

[tracer1]

BTW, checked on the Duralast. Out of stock right now. Advance Auto has the same battery (but with the CarQuest label) for $125.99. This battery will be for my SHO so it will be plenty of power for it.
Again thanks

[CatFan]

For the last 2 days the 3 yellow light have been flashing. Checked the connections to the battery & felt the heat at the neg. side. Pulled the battery this morning. 4 hours later checked with meter & read 10.8V. So I think the battery is toast.
Thanks CatFan

Sounds like a shorted cell. Charger keeps trying to charge it but can't make 5 cells work like 6 so the charger either never shuts off or times out.

[billnorman1]

For the last 2 days the 3 yellow light have been flashing. Checked the connections to the battery & felt the heat at the neg. side. Pulled the battery this morning. 4 hours later checked with meter & read 10.8V. So I think the battery is toast.
Thanks CatFan

Good analogy.

[ncredbear]

The cops in my area are always on the lookout for hot cars. I don't know if they are as concerned about hot batteries or not but be careful....

[tracer1]

The cops in my area are always on the lookout for hot cars. I don't know if they are as concerned about hot batteries or not but be careful....

Was one of those for 22 years & never run across a hot battery, that I can remember anyway, LOL

[billnorman1]

Remember the story about the guy whose car stopped running in a suburb of New York City. He pulled to the shoulder and raised the hood. As he was looking for the trouble he felt the car move and looked back to see three guys jacking up the rear. One of which said "It's O.K. you get the battery we only want the tires".

[catdude28]

You haven't said just how old that battery is. It is possible that the battery ran dry. A so called flooded "maintenance free" battery is a misnomer, and although it may be such in a short time frame, but not over any length of time. In any flooded battery, due to evaporation with each discharge/recharge cycle, the fluid level run downs over a period of time if you don't replace it with some distilled water. I can't understand why they advertise a wet battery as maintenance free. You can often access the fill caps if you remove the label. Even my commercial crank battery which uses a calcium alloy may be able to sustain longer without refilling, but, not forever. I removed the label to expose my fill caps, and I monitor the levels. A maintenance free battery would be an AGM.

[CatFan]

You haven't said just how old that battery is. It is possible that the battery ran dry. A so called flooded "maintenance free" battery is a misnomer, and although it may be such in a short time frame, but not over any length of time. In any flooded battery, due to evaporation with each discharge/recharge cycle, the fluid level run downs over a period of time if you don't replace it with some distilled water. I can't understand why they advertise a wet battery as maintenance free. You can often access the fill caps if you remove the label. Even my commercial crank battery which uses a calcium alloy may be able to sustain longer without refilling, but, not forever. I removed the label to expose my fill caps, and I monitor the levels. A maintenance free battery would be an AGM.

OP's battery is a Johnson Controls commercial battery and has their version of "maintenance free" which isn't really maintenance free, especially if you cycle the battery in use.

[tracer1]

I removed the caps yesterday evening & they were pretty low. Will put it back in the boat just to see if it charges or gets hot again. Won't take but a few minutes to do that, thank goodness. Can't put the battery in by myself so have to get some help to do it.
The battery is maybe 2 1/2 years old & is warrantied for 18 months. But with AC Delco you HAVE to have the receipt or they won't even look at it. God only knows where that is. Yeah, it is Jonson Controls which has their hand in a lot of batteries including Everstart.
Bad thing is Wally World won't look at it since it doesn't say Everstart on it.

[tracer1]

Thanks Ncredbear, needed a smile today.

[tracer1]

Still warm, not hot but not to my satisfaction, so new battery tomorrow.
Thanks for all the input, appreciate it.