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Shwthomas1975's avatar
Shwthomas1975
Explorer
Apr 25, 2018

Battery toast?

Good morning!!!!
Just finished unwinterizing my little hybrid camper yesterday and plugged it in to charge up the battery. But...... won’t hold a charge. The inverter/charger is working as everything works when plugged in and if I put a meter on battery terminals when plugged in it reads over 14. But unplugged it reads .1 or so. Can a battery not take any charge? I can see maybe a faster discharge, but none at all? I have been reading and I guess from now on I’ll disconnect the battery and bring inside for winter.
Is there a way to verify the battery is junk before dropping cash on a new one?
Thank you so much for your time. :)
  • donn0128's avatar
    donn0128
    Explorer II
    Apr 25, 2018
    If you have 120VAC available close to where you park, why not leave it plugged in? A decent converter will maintain the battery in a fully charged state.
    Also, if you have a stand alone battery charger, you might take the battery out and try charging it with that. Most converters are not capable of bringing a totally flat battery back to life.
  • RJsfishin's avatar
    RJsfishin
    Explorer
    Apr 25, 2018
    Or make sure the battery itself is getting 14 volts,....by putting the meter probes on the lead posts of the battery, not just the cables connected to the battery.
    But otherwise, the battery sounds like toast :))
  • Shwthomas1975's avatar
    Shwthomas1975
    Explorer
    Apr 25, 2018
    Thank you. I didn’t know they could test that. I’ll call the local advanced auto.
    Lesson learned. :)
    Appreciate the advice
  • All_I_could_aff's avatar
    All_I_could_aff
    Explorer
    Apr 25, 2018
    It probably went dead over the winter and then froze. Discharge battery will freeze just like regular water, and then damage to the plates may occur. Take the battery to an auto parts store most to free testing but it sounds like it’s ruined

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