# What damage does overcharging do to a battery?



## mxmtech (Apr 21, 2009)

I've seen tons of information on sulfation and lots of warnings against overcharging, but sulfation is reversable to some degree. What are the effects of overcharging on lead acid batteries and are the damages reversable? How do you recognize a battery that has been damaged by overcharging vs a battery that is sulfated?


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## ZeroGasoline (Jul 30, 2008)

From what I understand, it's actually a good thing to overcharge flooded lead acid batteries every now and again. This will help bring all the batteries/cells into balance.

As far as the pitfalls of doing this, I believe it will bubble some of the fluid in the battery off. This happens to some degree during normal charging and discharging, but is exaggerated by overcharging.


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## Coley (Jul 26, 2007)

Over-charging can make the plates swell and can cause internal shorts.

It shortens the life in LA batteries, even if you don't get shorts.

It also causes the plates to deteriorate faster than just regular charging.

A float charge to balance, is not the bad overcharging that causes a lot of water to boil out.


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## mxmtech (Apr 21, 2009)

The battery from my motorcycle had a little over 6 volts, the battery from my ATV had a little over 9 volts, I got both of these batteries to output over 12 volts by zapping them with 24 volts for short periods of time but they won't hold a charge for long. The motorcycle battery seems pretty low just overnight while the ATV battery holds for a few days.
Both batteries are charged while disconnected from the vehicles.


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