[Elecraft] K3/100 - Battery - A&A Engineering 5 Amp Smart Charger

[Bruce Bowman]

Wet (flooded) cell charging in an enclosed space is certainly a concern, 
what with the vented hydrogen & oxygen gases. The HydroCap Corp. in 
Miami developed a solution many years ago which has been used in marine, 
solar & industrial installations where charging gases might accumulate. 
HydroCap builds an unvented cap for flooded cell batteries which 
contains a catalyst that recombines the hydrogen & oxygen to produce 
water. The water then drips back into the cell replenishing at least 
some of that lost during charging.

By no means does this make an SLA out of a flooded cell battery. Nor is 
the seal perfect, so water has to be replenished (infrequently). And the 
cap can get warm or even hot during charging, depending on the charge 
rate... I would hit the batteries with over 100 A during initial charge 
and the caps were hot enough to burn my finger. I doubt that's a problem 
here.

They don't last forever (I think the catalyst must become contaminated 
by battery acid over a period of years) and need to be either rebuilt by 
HydroCap (I never tried that) or the whole cap assembly replaced. I used 
them on 3 different boats over a 25 year period and was very pleased.

Bruce, NM5B
Santa Fe, NM

ps- no financial association with HydroCap... just a happy customer. And 
as always, YMMV.


> A word of caution about batteries - while the gel cells can be safely 
> used in an unvented area, a deep discharge battery (or any other 'wet 
> cell' SLA) will outgas hydrogen during charging, which can create an 
> explosion hazard.  Please put the battery in it own separate area 
> isolated from your operating, working and living area and adequately 
> vented to the outside air.  RV stores sell battery boxes that are 
> sealed and have a vent tube if you need to keep the battery in the 
> shack/living area.  Be Safe!
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR