Wet Cell Batteries

[dale farley]

Jim K. , Thanks for the encouragement. I do understand that my "honesty" is sometiems interpreted as maybe a little "stupidity" by some of the more distinugished POGGERS.

[BrianE]

Dale, Honesty is a precious commodity in this outfit where it's common to make up answers if the facts can be twisted, intentionally misunderstood, or just plain ignored.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Dale,

Given the fact you do very little dry camping, that the battery location is in fact ventilated, I would remove the 2 bad batteries and operate solely with the remaining four, and only when they start to act up would I consider replacement. Four batteries of that size will last all night long unless you really run a lot more than just the refrigerator and some lighting.

Replacing only two gives me a little concern, and in the context of how you use the coach dragging six batteries around is overkill.

[dale farley]

Jon, I agree with your rationale, but since I have already bought the two replacement batteries, I will use them until I have another problem. Hopefully, the 270 pounds extra weight will be balanced by the fact that I will have the extra capacity if ever needed, and I won't have to remove the cables for the two absent batteries. I dislike the modification of things from their original configuration unless absolutely necessary.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Dale,

Don't second guess your decisions. You gave rational thought to this whole issue and have valid reasons for your choice.

We are nothing but second guessers who do not have a dog in the fight.

[dale farley]

I just called the battery store to see if they thought the water level was okay in the new batteries I just bought. They said the batteries should be filled to the bottom of the filler tube (the same thing I have always heard and practiced). What this tells me is that I didn't overfill my batteries to begin with.

It seems reasonable to me that one of two things happened. The batteries were being overcharged because of the bad inverter or the other inverter was overcharging because it was trying to compensate for the two bad batteries that were never charging above 10.5 volts. I've put the 4 original batteries on 40 amps for an hour, and there was no boil over from them. I'm going to fill the two new ones also before I install them.

[Ray Davis]

Dale, did this boiling over happen when you were driving? Perhaps then your alternator is directly charging, and overcharging the batteries?

It would be worth checking the voltage coming from the chargers before and after starting the coach.

Ray

[Kenneth Brewer]

Dale; My unsolicited comment and advice:

"But in my mind the biggest draw back to replacing with lead acid is the fumes in the enclosed space with electrical gear sharing that space. Consider me silly but I want my hydrogen gas producing batteries out in the open and well ventilated." - Jon

Amen. I don't know how long the coach is intended to be kept, but with 19 years and counting on my '84 Bluebird, which is 'built like a tank' and came with lead cells, I can tell you a price will be paid for keeping wet lead cell batteries within the confines of a metal coach without, at the least, enclosing and venting the batteries. I would not do this for a week; the corrosion is very hard (if not impossible) to stop even after trying to neutralize the acid depostion on surrounding surfaces, once it begins. I am not making a value judgement on what was done - just please consider this advice.

As for mixing significantly older batteries with new ones on the same charging circuit; been there and done that too, with the result that (and I don't remember which one to swear on, but I think the newer one(s) get cooked because the older ones are harder to get the nominal full charged voltage value due to loss of plate material. Anyway, one lags behind the other.

In any event, in my case I did this twice in about 12 years or so. As i recall the newer battery (or was it the older) got so hot that when I attempted to bring the water level up to cover the plates, idiot that I am, the battery was so hot internally that steam was instantly and explosively generated. I couldn't add water (distilled) and wound up replacing all the batteries.

I recount this to you, short memory notwithstanding, because this is the major reason why it is not a good idea to mix old with new.

Finally, 10 amps IS too small. This is why I have a shop wheel charger, the biggest I could get for a few reasons, as I have a few different vehicles, and it (from NAPA) handles 6/12/24 volt batteries.
.

[dale farley]

The boiling over was when I was parked at Spearfish. I noticed that one of my inverters was charging when it shouldn't have been. The other inverter was in float mode.

Let me reitterate the fact that, before my inverter went bad, there was no sign whatsoever that any acid had ever boiled over in the compartment. No Rust, No Corrosion. I went a little nuts when I saw acid on the of some of the batteries. I removed all batteries, washed the compartment, wire brushed it, sprayed baking soda on it to neutralize any acid, and let it set over night. I disolved about 4 oz of soda in a spray bottle and sprayed it rather than trying to cover everything with the powder.

The water and baking soda caused surface rust to appear by the next morning, so I wire brushed those spots again and sprayed Ospho to neutralize any remaining rust. I let that set over night, then brushed it again, wiped it with an automitive general purpose adhesive cleaner, primed with Rust Olem and painted it with Rust Oleum high temperature paint. If I were to get battery acid in the compartment again, I would repeat the process.

I try to make a habit of cleaning and painting (if needed) any area when I remove a component or disassemble anything on the bus. I may not keep the bus another month, and I might keep it 5 years, but I want to maintain it as if I will have it for the next 20 years. I wish I had the time and patience to treat all my farm equipment with the same care I do the bus.

My battery compartment is "very" well ventilated.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Dale,

This may not even apply, but before you get too far verify your inverters are not set to do an equalization charge.

On our Heart Interface 2500 Freedom inverters we have to set dip switches. The #1 dipswitch for example should always be in the "off" position except when you need to do an equalization charge. If left "on" it will go into a 15.5 volt equalization charge for 8 hours before switching to bulk, absorption or float. During that equalization there is a lot of bubbling and outgassing.

As long as the coach always is on shore or generator power it will not repeat the equalization charge, but if that power is interrupted, it will reinitiate the charge as soon as power to the inverter is restored.