Battery Electrolyte

Probably no terminal corrosion to deal with either. Just gives more time for other projects ;)

Ron3rd wrote:
I rarely add water to my batteries too, maybe once a year. We're plugged in 24/7 at home.

Same here when they are new.. As they age they get a bit more thirsty.

Converters come in several flavors.. Older low end rigs and trailers often had a Magnetek 6300.

These were serious battery boilers.. The unit was very poorly regulated and designed for input voltages in the 110-115 range not the 120 of today so it overcharged,, very slowly, but it overcharged.

The Parallex 7300 which is the modern version of that has much better regulation but it is still a single stage so its a real trick to fully charge without over charging

The 7300T (T for Two Stage or T for Timer) is a 2 stage unit, recharges faster but, in the end, you are back to being right on the edge of under and over charge.

3-stage converters such as a whole lot of them including but by no means limited to the Progressie Dynamics WIZARD controlled (9200, 4600, or in my case 9180 with optional wizard) are true 3 stage converters, they sense battery needs and change their output voltages, I see this on my monitors very clearly. Others are WFCO, IOTA with IQ-4, and most inverter/chargers like my Prosine.

Frankly there are too many to list.

Another factor is how much battery you recharge v/s the size of the converter.. Just now my converter is "Undersize" that is I have about 500 amp hours (Bit over in fact) of batteries so I can easily suck 150 amps... the converter is only 80 (OK, so the prosine can push 100 but if it does the Progressive Dyanmics will take a vacation)

And I've pushed 100 with the prosine.

The slower recharge means it will not be as likely to boil as well.

Water is seldom lost through evaporation; it is lost through electrolysis, when the charging current breaks down the water into hydrogen and oxygen.

When charging, the hydrogen escapes to the atmosphere and the oxygen combines with the lead plates to form lead-oxide.

During discharge, the oxygen is liberated from the lead and escapes into the atmosphere.

See: Battery Basics

Even without the smart charger and full time use I seldom need to add any water and my batteries and they last a very long time before needing replaced (last set of Trogens 14 years in 3 different trailers)…
I would like to change to a smart charger but so far I haven’t been able to justify the time or cost just to say I have a smart charger even though they are admittedly the way to go…
still I check them every month or so…

I rarely add water to my batteries too, maybe once a year. We're plugged in 24/7 at home.

My older converter setup only put out 13.6VDC which is right on the edge of heating up the battery enough to boil out the battery fluids over time. After I replaced the older converter/charger setup to a smart mode charging setup I have not had to add battery fluids anymore. Out of habit I still check the batteries but always seem to find them OK fluid level wise. The smart mode converter/charges uses DC OUTPUT voltages at 14.4VDC - 13.6VDC depending on the charge state. When the Batteries are completely charged the smart mode converter/charger will drop down to the 13.2VDC MODE which is a very safe DC VOLTAGE to keep the battery charge maintained and not boil out battery fluids.

Your 2010 Model trailer is most likely using a smart mode converter/charger unit or the DC VOLTAGE OUTPUT from the converter is lower than 13.6VDC.

Roy Ken

I think by keeping your battery charged, just using the float charge, it does not get the fluid hot enough to evaporate.

Mine has been plugged in since June, other than towing it, and has needed no water added.

I check the fluid level every 30 days, and put the meter on it, while still plugged in. It always shows 13.2, which is just a light charge. I think you need to see 13.6 or higher before much evap occurs.

Jerry