Battery issues

Never found good, long lasting group 24's. Gave up, made room for 27's. Much better, then I went to AGM's.... Never looked back. My AGM battery is now 7 years old and still has spec capacity.

Jim

If they have been run flat a time or 2 time to set them out in the pasture

owenssailor wrote:

We do some boondocking.

Like Don said - get some solar then. People run generator 3-4 hours on a long-term stay without any other sources of charging and think this is enough. It is not.

Also, measuring voltage after 1 hour isn't informative - it should be at least 12 hours after charging. Sounds like they are in bad shape anyway.

owenssailor wrote:
It is 4 stage with and equalize function at 14.4V

You can have a 32 stage charger that will claim to perform oral sex on you after magically defying the laws of physics.

But the sad truth is, you are never going to equalize batteries at 14.4v.

The 4th stage is destratification. Gassing the batteries at 14.4v every so many hours when floating, mixes up the electrolyte so the denser stuff does not sink and chew up the bottoms of the plates faster.

Marketers paid themselves to do a study, and they decided "equalization" was a much more impressive term than "destratification" and would sell more products, then wrote that into their literature, then demanded more money. They are now trying to think up more impressive terms for more "stages" of charging to catch up with gargage charger marketing geniuses Noco and Ctek, who have already upped their game to 8 stages.

A true equalization is a forced overcharge with voltages as high as 16.2v.

But even if you were able to get your batteries to this high of a voltage and hold it for several hours, until specific gravity maxed out at 1.275+, this would not mean the batteries are restored to their full as new capacity, only that they are fully charged to their maximum remaining capacity.

If you can fit the taller gc-2 batteries, but opt instead for group 24's, you are throwing away money.

if the batts are new try equalize if old replace.

http://support.rollsbattery.com/support/solutions/articles/430-corrective-equalization-instructions

http://support.rollsbattery.com/support/solutions/articles/428-state-of-charge-charging-flooded-lead-acid-batteries

programmable solar controller comes in handy to top charge and equalize, sun required.

The batteries are walmart 24DC. The converter is a Progressive Dynamics PD4000. It is 4 stage with and equalize function at 14.4V

We do some boondocking. This winter it has been 7 weeks of boondocking.

Fluid level is fine. Hydrometer shows less than 1/2 charged when voltage is at 12.6V

Thanks for the replies.

Hi,

I'd do an end run around the problem and add a modest solar system. The battery bank will love it.

SoundGuy wrote:
To the OP ...

Since you're here in Ontario you might also consider RV Care Traveler's Choice deep cycle batteries sold at any RV Care dealer, which are in fact Deka batteries manufactured by East Penn, the largest single site lead acid battery manufacturer in the world. Flooded carry a 2 yr full replacement warranty, AGMs (which are Deka Intimidator) I think are 1 yr.

And of course there is Canadian Tire with its Nautilus Ultra and "Ultra XD Pure Lead" Group 24 AGMs. Which I think are an Exide brand.

To the OP ...

Since you're here in Ontario you might also consider RV Care Traveler's Choice deep cycle batteries sold at any RV Care dealer, which are in fact Deka batteries manufactured by East Penn, the largest single site lead acid battery manufacturer in the world. Flooded carry a 2 yr full replacement warranty, AGMs (which are Deka Intimidator) I think are 1 yr.

owenssailor wrote:
Our trailer has 2 group 24 12V batteries.

can you share their age and how they preformed with your style of camping? 24's come in many varieties, your models?

Have they been satisfactory thus far?

ie, is there a need to change brands?