T&T: Hot Battery

[Richard P Blake]

WELL  !!!  The mystery goes on.  First I would like to Thank 
everyone for all the responses.  While all the suggestions were 
great I had been their done that on most of them.  This battery 
setup has been operational for some time.  About 8 months ago 
I lost the ProSine 2.5 and after much negotiations Zantrex replaced 
my unit with a new one and all the switch settings were transferred 
from the old unit and reverified with Zantrex Tech Support.  The 
battery cabling was factory installed and size and condition of end
connectors was rechecked along with cable resistance.  All of the 6
Batteries were West Marine AGM 92's (MFG Deka) with the newest being 
16 months old and the oldest being 20 months old.  The first two 
batteries went HOT about a month before the ProSine shut down
and were replaced by WM no questions asked.  I keep the bank 
on a trickle charger until the ProSine was replaced.  As soon as the 
Prosine was replaced and it had completed its first charge cycle the 
third battery went HOT and was also replaced by WM no charge.  
I did not replace this battery back into the bank for awhile just to 
see if any other batteries acted up.  All was fine.  Next time down 
on the boat I put in that battery and within 4 hours the fourth battery
was up to 149 degrees and the sides were warping.  Took it back to WM
and got another replacement.  It seems as long as I don't have 6
batteries 
in the bank all is fine until I add the new replacement battery.  Some 
one wrote that all batteries in a bank must be replaced at the same time 
and that is probably good advise if the batteries are over 5 years old 
but I don't believe that should be the case with the age of these
batteries.     
This is the strangest thing I have every seen all 4 failures were
identical 
in symptoms and in each case the battery tests good holds a charge but 
gets extremely hot while charging.  It will be interesting to see if the 
two which are left go HOT when I replace this new battery.

Regards,  Rick Blake
"Private Reserve" Port Charlotte, Fl.
36' Nantucket Sedan Powered by Yanmar