I have two 6v flooded lead acid golf cart batteries run in series, about 1 year old with moderate use. After charging 24 hours with less than .5amps of current coming from the controller, I get an immediate voltage of about 13v that settles to around 12.68v within 12 hours so seems fully charged. Upon use however, the voltage drops prematurely based on amp hours used. By the time the testing voltage is 12.4-12.5v (no load) my Dometic cooler starts pulling 6-7amps as opposed to its usual 1-2amps, which I would assume means the batteries are depleted.
I just checked the specific gravity and it’s low—around 1.225 across all 6 cells. Does this mean the batteries are bad?
I’ve never equalized. Is that worth trying even know the cells are all balanced? My charger/converter won’t do it but my MPPT will, however I only have a 100w panel so concerned it won’t get enough voltage for long enough to do the job.
Or, should I try to get Sam’s club to replace? Or bite the bullet and shell out $1k on a battleborn, lol?
