House batteries not up to ah rating
Bought 2 new Interstate SRM-24 group 24 RV/Marine batteries a few months ago. I have used the MH 4 times on trips lasting from 3-6 days. Never going below 40 amps before recharging. The rating is 85...
Forum Discussion
DAS26. In order for me to fully recondition my T-1275's... over an 8 day period with zero usage on the travel trailer, completely disconnected, I did the following.
I charged the batteries at 15.0V with my 30 amp Mega Watt manual power supply unit. One cell was about 20 points under the other 5. I waited a day, and then the next day, it took over 2 hours for the voltage to stop climbing. I saw 15.98V, then the voltage started dropping. I shut my old Sears 6 amp 16v manual charger off, it has to be 30 years old. Waited 24 hours... and the low cell was now at 1.265, other 5 were at 1.280 or 1.275. The following day, I put it again on the 16v 6amp charger and by about 80 to 85 minutes of baby sitting, my voltage was again dropping off. Made 16.0V this time. Waited at day. 5 cells were at 1.280, last cell was smack dab between 1.270 and 1.275.
Waited 3 days, again with no usage. Put it on the old Sears unit again, and in 40 minutes, the V stopped climbing and dropping back. Waited 2 days, and measured... 1.280 for 5 cells, and the weak sister was a solid 1.275.
So a week or more worth of massaging an abused sulfated battery, with 3 MANUAL gradual equalizations, is what it took to finally get all the sulfur back into ionic solution and off of the plates.
When all the sulfur is off the plates, the battery won't take much amps at all. My battery never got hot even once performing all three of these equalizations. Warm summer weather seems to assist in doing a better job of getting the SG up in all 6 cells. I believe temps were in the 90's in July when I did this routine.
Pretty much, this is what it takes to clean up batteries when you take them below 50% SOC and abuse them for 5 or 6 days without getting them as near to 100% charged in a day as is possible. You slack now, you'll pay later restoring them or replacing them, that's just the chemical nature of the beasts.
4 things can suck the amps on these little batteries.
Stock heater.... get an olympic Wave 6 or wave 8 catayltic heater instead, crack a window and crack a vent when using during non sleeping hours. Keep that factory pos heater fan turned off. 4 to 5 amps sucked when it's running.
Water pump and showers or washing dishes. Navy showers in 3 minutes, and use paper plates instead.
Any and all incandescent lamps, change them out to LED's if you camp off the grid. 48 smd's work great in warm white from china.
Fart fan or bathroom fan to get moisture out when showering. Another battery sucker.
TV and dish can also be power suckers.
Until you analyze usage, you won't know where to make cut backs and improvements. Keep in mind, you are camping, not living at home, electricity when camping is not carte blanche unless you get a big solar system or a big generator. Budgeting electricity if you are camping, for most of us, is required.
If you dry camp enough, you'll soon tire of the inferior batteries you just bought and break down and buy real true, industrial strength Deep cycle batteries like 6 Volt GC2 batteries, that aren't a PIA to top charge or equalize charge either. Problem is, they are tall batteries. Figure out or modify to make them fit in your RV space.
I charged the batteries at 15.0V with my 30 amp Mega Watt manual power supply unit. One cell was about 20 points under the other 5. I waited a day, and then the next day, it took over 2 hours for the voltage to stop climbing. I saw 15.98V, then the voltage started dropping. I shut my old Sears 6 amp 16v manual charger off, it has to be 30 years old. Waited 24 hours... and the low cell was now at 1.265, other 5 were at 1.280 or 1.275. The following day, I put it again on the 16v 6amp charger and by about 80 to 85 minutes of baby sitting, my voltage was again dropping off. Made 16.0V this time. Waited at day. 5 cells were at 1.280, last cell was smack dab between 1.270 and 1.275.
Waited 3 days, again with no usage. Put it on the old Sears unit again, and in 40 minutes, the V stopped climbing and dropping back. Waited 2 days, and measured... 1.280 for 5 cells, and the weak sister was a solid 1.275.
So a week or more worth of massaging an abused sulfated battery, with 3 MANUAL gradual equalizations, is what it took to finally get all the sulfur back into ionic solution and off of the plates.
When all the sulfur is off the plates, the battery won't take much amps at all. My battery never got hot even once performing all three of these equalizations. Warm summer weather seems to assist in doing a better job of getting the SG up in all 6 cells. I believe temps were in the 90's in July when I did this routine.
Pretty much, this is what it takes to clean up batteries when you take them below 50% SOC and abuse them for 5 or 6 days without getting them as near to 100% charged in a day as is possible. You slack now, you'll pay later restoring them or replacing them, that's just the chemical nature of the beasts.
4 things can suck the amps on these little batteries.
Stock heater.... get an olympic Wave 6 or wave 8 catayltic heater instead, crack a window and crack a vent when using during non sleeping hours. Keep that factory pos heater fan turned off. 4 to 5 amps sucked when it's running.
Water pump and showers or washing dishes. Navy showers in 3 minutes, and use paper plates instead.
Any and all incandescent lamps, change them out to LED's if you camp off the grid. 48 smd's work great in warm white from china.
Fart fan or bathroom fan to get moisture out when showering. Another battery sucker.
TV and dish can also be power suckers.
Until you analyze usage, you won't know where to make cut backs and improvements. Keep in mind, you are camping, not living at home, electricity when camping is not carte blanche unless you get a big solar system or a big generator. Budgeting electricity if you are camping, for most of us, is required.
If you dry camp enough, you'll soon tire of the inferior batteries you just bought and break down and buy real true, industrial strength Deep cycle batteries like 6 Volt GC2 batteries, that aren't a PIA to top charge or equalize charge either. Problem is, they are tall batteries. Figure out or modify to make them fit in your RV space.
