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mtrumpet's avatar
mtrumpet
Explorer
Jun 09, 2014

DRAT! Rotten egg smell = Installing new batteries today!

Yesterday morning, DW had to step out to the MH to grab a couple of things from the fridge. Upon her return she said, "the inside of the motor home smells like rotten eggs!". Uh oh. I immediately suspected what that probably was! Went out and pulled the battery tray and sure enough one of my chassis batteries bit-the-dust. I kind of figured something was up when the last couple of times we were on the road the engine took just a couple more turns than normal to start. So, going to be replacing batteries tonight.

I was just saying to DW a couple of weeks ago that it's getting to be about time to change out those batteries as they're all pretty old. Fortunately, there's a huge Interstate battery distributor/dealer only one mile from my house. He has all of my batteries in stock. (all of the batteries currently in the coach are Interstate.) While I'm at it, I'm going to replace all (4) of the house batteries as well in addition to the two chassis batteries. Might as well since they're about due to go.

Oh well, it'll give a me chance to give a good cleaning and lube to the battery tray.

(2) Interstate Workaholic 12v chassis batteries ... 2 @ $ 108.00 each
(4) Interstate Workaholic 6v Deep cell house batteries ... 4 @ $ 114.00 each

:R
Class A
  • StevenMarla's avatar
    StevenMarla
    Explorer
    Jun 27, 2014
    Humm, I'm not familiar with the rotten egg smell related to batteries.

    We just had our 2008 FW Hurricane out at a full hook up rv park for 6 nights. Our RV is stored with out power. As soon as we parked I noticed the egg smell. I thought it was a dirty rv site or something. We were plugged into shore power the 6 nights. We finished camping. I went to retract the three slides and levelers (individually) and clearly we were out or about out of battery juice. I could start and run the gen. That appeared to help get everything tucked back in. The gen. shut off many times while retracting slides. Never had this happen before. Wasn't really sure what to do. Either way we got it handled.

    Now I know to check the house batteries. I'm sure they are the originals.

    On a related note. I'd like to put a little 2 watt solar charger on the dash plugged into the cig lighter. I think that when I turn the coach and house battery master switches off at the door the cig lighter plug won't take the charge. Am I correct?
  • darbyjudy's avatar
    darbyjudy
    Explorer
    Jun 10, 2014
    I had a similar experience with rotten egg smell. We were woke up with the gas detector screaming. I smelled something but not sure what it was. We opened the door and reset the gas detector but in a short time it once again screamed at us. At first I thought it was sewer gas but ruled that out by dumping the tanks and flushing them. I then though maybe it was the ammonia leaking from the frig. Ruled that out and finally went to the front of the motor home and found the house batteries boiling. I had just put new batteries in the MH about 6 months ago. Took the batteries out and went and had them tested, all were OK. Went back to the motor home and hooked the batteries up and ran a voltage test on the converter, was putting 17.5 volts into the batteries. So ended up having to replace the converter.
  • mtrumpet's avatar
    mtrumpet
    Explorer
    Jun 10, 2014
    Well, installed the new batteries and cleaned up and lubed the battery tray and all of the cables and connections. With the exception of my wallet being a lot lighter, all is good. Never had the engine turn over so quickly!
  • mtrumpet's avatar
    mtrumpet
    Explorer
    Jun 09, 2014
    2oldman wrote:
    If you're made of money, AGM batteries will not make a mess or ever stink.


    Yeah, I know. Unfortunately, way over my pay grade!
  • mtrumpet's avatar
    mtrumpet
    Explorer
    Jun 09, 2014
    tommy g wrote:
    mtrumpet wrote:
    tommy g wrote:
    When I needed to replace my house batteries, I wasn't in a situation or place to get Interstate Workaholic(my original equipment). I hope the Duracells I have now will do a 30 percentile as well. That was 2 years ago. They had lasted 14 years! Now THAT'S a good battery!


    14 years!? I'd say that they don't owe you anything at this point!
    I agree! I was trying to pay them more when I replaced them by buying their product again. I was unfortunately in a State Park in New England on a Sunday when one of them bit the dust. For 6v deep cycle at that time Sam's was my only option. I was HIGHLY recommending Interstate Workaholics.


    Tommy, I was lucky in that we were home this weekend and this happened in my driveway rather than out on the road where I would be hostage to "whatever I could find at whatever price". (Although at that point, I just would've replaced the chassis batteries and waited on the house batteries.) Fortunately, this was the first weekend that we were actually home in the last five weekends. Certainly, always easier to do a "fix" in the comfort of your own driveway as opposed to the side of the road.
  • blw2's avatar
    blw2
    Explorer
    Jun 09, 2014
    I feel your pain.
    Father in law just gave us his golf cart. I bought 6ea 8v batteries for it over the weekend @ $110 each. Ouch.
  • tommy_g's avatar
    tommy_g
    Explorer
    Jun 09, 2014
    mtrumpet wrote:
    tommy g wrote:
    When I needed to replace my house batteries, I wasn't in a situation or place to get Interstate Workaholic(my original equipment). I hope the Duracells I have now will do a 30 percentile as well. That was 2 years ago. They had lasted 14 years! Now THAT'S a good battery!


    14 years!? I'd say that they don't owe you anything at this point!
    I agree! I was trying to pay them more when I replaced them by buying their product again. I was unfortunately in a State Park in New England on a Sunday when one of them bit the dust. For 6v deep cycle at that time Sam's was my only option. I was HIGHLY recommending Interstate Workaholics.
  • 2oldman's avatar
    2oldman
    Explorer II
    Jun 09, 2014
    If you're made of money, AGM batteries will not make a mess or ever stink.
  • mtrumpet's avatar
    mtrumpet
    Explorer
    Jun 09, 2014
    tommy g wrote:
    When I needed to replace my house batteries, I wasn't in a situation or place to get Interstate Workaholic(my original equipment). I hope the Duracells I have now will do a 30 percentile as well. That was 2 years ago. They had lasted 14 years! Now THAT'S a good battery!


    14 years!? I'd say that they don't owe you anything at this point!
  • mtrumpet's avatar
    mtrumpet
    Explorer
    Jun 09, 2014
    Alfred622 wrote:
    How old were your old batteries? Had you used them a lot?


    Well, they were in the coach when I bought it, and that was four years ago. They were nowhere near new back then. From what I can tell of the date label on one of the batteries, it seems that they might have been installed back in 2007. They're pretty old. Then again, I can't clearly read the date code. For all that I know, they could even be the originals, but I highly doubt it.

    Although we both still work during the week, we use our coach a LOT for weekenders. Practically every weekend. In fact our neighbors think something is wrong when we're actually at home on a weekend during the warm months.

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