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Topic: Batteries boiling off water (Read 202 times) previous topic - next topic
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Batteries boiling off water
  SITUATION:
 
·      HPV 22B solar charger
·      3 – 85 w solar panels, 1 of which gets about 4 hours of morning sun
·      I always plug in to shore power at my storage unit and set the charger on “shore power” as opposed to “dry camp”
·      I picked up the LD yesterday and noticed on the LinkLite that the bats were down to 74% of charge. At home I plugged in and charging began.
·      Checking the bats, they took about 1/3 gal. of distilled water. Normally, I only have to add a small amt of water
·      Returning to storage and after plugging in I noticed there was no power. I assume the breaker was tripped and reported so to mgr. Don’t know how long power had been off, but long enough for the bats to get pretty low. I had not checked the LD for 3-4 weeks.
 
             QUESTIONS:
 
·      Could the batteries have been damaged considering how low the water got? Should I check with a hydrometer?
·      What caused so much water to “boil off” so fast over the last few weeks? This has never happened before.
 
Power is still off so I switched to “dry camp” to see if the exposed panel will charge the batteries.

Chris

Formerly: 2002 30' IB
Re: Batteries boiling off water
Reply #1 –
Chris, unfortunately that charge controller is not automatic, so determining if the batteries are properly charging up and maintaining a charge without excessive loss of electrolyte will require some one-on-one attention to the process. If you can park it at home so you can monitor it frequently over several hours and a couple of days, it will be easier to diagnose if your batteries are failing, or if it some other issue. If your Link-Lite says you have reached 100%, you should at that time switch to 'shore power' mode to see if charge holds up. Check the Link-Lite at night to see if there are any phantom loads that could be an issue.

Steve
2004 FL
2013 Honda Fit
Re: Batteries boiling off water
Reply #2 –
Quote from: Steve  - 
Chris, unfortunately that charge controller is not automatic, so determining if the batteries are properly charging up and maintaining a charge without excessive loss of electrolyte will require some one-on-one attention to the process. If you can park it at home so you can monitor it frequently over several hours and a couple of days, it will be easier to diagnose if your batteries are failing, or if it some other issue. If your Link-Lite says you have reached 100%, you should at that time switch to 'shore power' mode to see if charge holds up. Check the Link-Lite at night to see if there are any phantom loads that could be an issue.

Steve
Thanks, Steve. I just found the tripped breaker and got power going. Seems the facility's manager could not find it. It's charging and I will check levels tomorrow. I'm still curious as to what caused the battery water loss when the power was off. Any thoughts?
Chris
Formerly: 2002 30' IB