Forum Discussion

Nomad

Oct 20, 2016

Dang! Ran my 6v batteries dead............

Twice now I have managed to kill my Interstate 6v batteries twice flat. I am charging them back up now. What kind of damage do you think I may have done to the life span of these dudes? I purchased them new in August of 2015. The first time I killed them I left a cargo light on in the cross over storage.....my bad. Second time........not to sure why the second time. I took the batteries out with a full charge and they sat for about a month while I worked on moving the battery mount forward on the tongue. When I mounted it back up the solar controller said there was a low voltage alarm. I figured the solar(300w) would bring it up over a few days. Next thing I know...all flat. I searched the trailer and there were no lights on, just the default lights that come on with all the little goodies the trailer has.

Thoughts?

33 Replies

SoundGuy
Explorer
Oct 20, 2016
Vintage465 wrote:
Twice now I have managed to kill my Interstate 6v batteries twice flat. I am charging them back up now. What kind of damage do you think I may have done to the life span of these dudes?

Depends on what you mean by "flat". Any flooded battery shouldn't be drawn down any more than ~ 50% on any regular basis, say roughly 12 volts for a 12 volt battery and 6 volts for a 6 volt battery. Occasionally a draw down to ~ 30% is acceptable if it can't be avoided but you sure wouldn't want to do that on any regular basis nor draw down any further than that at all. If by "flat" you mean you've drawn down your 6 volt batteries any more than ~ 5.9 volts then chances pretty good they're toast. That apparent recharge you "thought" you did was just phantom, as evidenced by the fact they're "dead" again. Time for new "dudes". :W
pianotuna
Nomad III
Oct 20, 2016
Hi,

There is clearly something wrong. I kept 875 amp-hours of batteries charged in storage with only 256 watts of solar.
RJsfishin
Explorer
Oct 20, 2016
I keep mine on float all the time. If I could not do that, I would disconnect them. Either way they will never go dead. What can we say ??