Dead house batteries February 12, 2008, 04:31:25 pm Yahoo Message Number: 89379Are there any reasons for the house batteries to go dead in one month if they were disconnected from the coach and had adequate water in the cells? Our batteries are 3.5 years old.Cat's Meow Fredericksburg, TX
Re: Dead house batteries Reply #1 – February 12, 2008, 04:46:52 pm Yahoo Message Number: 89381"Are there any reasons for the house batteries to go dead in one month if they were disconnected from the coach and had adequate water in the cells? Our batteries are 3.5 years old." Assuming they started out with a full charge, the answer is no--that should not happen.Andy Baird http://www.andybaird.com/travels/
Re: Dead house batteries Reply #2 – February 12, 2008, 06:06:43 pm Yahoo Message Number: 89385It should not happen. You have a short circuit (which can be a strong ground) somewhere. You can get an internal cell short - any battery vendor can test for that. Or you can get lessor shorts through dirt or electrolyte contamination on the cell tops. I would check the batteries for dirt, and if they are clean, then take them to a battery vendor for a test.Good luckGus Weber
Re: Dead house batteries Reply #3 – February 13, 2008, 01:23:36 am Yahoo Message Number: 89391As other's have answered, normally no. However, if the batteries have been previously mistreated, being deeply discharged often or being stored in a discharged condition, then maybe. Even 3 to 4 year old batteries will get plate sulphation and lose capacity if mistreated. You might fully charge the batteries and then check specific gravity of the cells. If all appears good, do a load test. Since you had the batteries disconnected, that rules out phantom loads and shorts.all the best,bumper
Re: Dead house batteries Reply #4 – February 13, 2008, 04:27:54 pm Yahoo Message Number: 89409Quote Are there any reasons for the house batteries to go dead in one month if they were disconnected from the coach and had adequate water in the cells? Our batteries are 3.5 years old.Hi "Cat's Meow", As others have said, no, your batteries should not be dead. But, have you checked each battery with a volt meter to confirm they are indeed dead? Perhaps you haven't made the connections properly? Or perhaps the fuse to the main pannel blew out? The reason I ask; there was a LD owner, let's call him Colorado Chris, that had removed his batteries. When he reconnected his batteries, he had no power. He called me for some trouble shooting and we discovered that he had connected them improperly.I would check each battery with a volt meter to see if they have 6 volts before I check anything else. If the batteries have good voltage, check each connection, especially the cable the connects the two batteries. Good luck.Steve K (in arctic Ohio)
Re: Dead house batteries Reply #5 – February 13, 2008, 05:36:18 pm Yahoo Message Number: 89411Thanks for all the suggestions. Actually, the batteries register about 7 1/2 volts now. This past weekend, we went to perform some maintenance on the LD and turned on the LD battery disconnect switch. The batteries were so low that they would not operate the electric steps. I then checked the water and connections, both being OK. We started the LD and ran it for about 10 minutes and shut her off and the charge was showing 12.6 on the solar panel display. Next, we performed some monthly maintenance and we occasionally turned on some interior lights. After about 30 minutes the charge was showing 12.5. We then drove around our area for about 60 miles. The battery was showing about 14 on the solar panel display at this time. We put the LD back into storage and disconnected the battery using the switch and made sure that nothing in the LD was indicating power. We came back three days later and the batteries were back down to the 7.5 volts on the solar panel. Any further suggestions?
Re: Dead house batteries Reply #6 – February 13, 2008, 05:41:07 pm Yahoo Message Number: 89412One of the reasons I got a battery monitor is because the reading on the solar controller is so misleading.The reading on your solar controller reads the solar power, but is only accurate on the batteries when there is no power going in or coming out (for me that was about 3am).I think you need to check the readings at the battery, not from the solar controller. Or I may be full of hooey, wouldn't be the first time, but that's how I understand it, and I'm stickin' to it!Katehttp://cholulared.blogspot.com &http://www.cholulared.comWant to find us? Click below, we're #3096 http://map.datastormusers.com/user1.cfm?user=3096
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