Maintenance Free battery - Blew the caps off?
Sometime last week one of the house batteries (in parallel) blew its caps and deposited acid throughout the battery compartment while plugged in parked at the house. By caps I mean the covers over the...
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MEXICOWANDERER,You are right on target.
I did not do a deep enough investigation when I purchased the batteries. They are definitely the batteries you describe. The batteries Winnebago put in original equipment were also Marine/RV Deep cycle, so I just replaced the same type with a different brand. I was told by the dealer they were maintenance free. I never checked fluid levels in the 6 years before I replaced with the Costco batteries. (I didn't think the caps came off.) The only difference is that I replaced the original converter/charger with the 4 stage Progressive Dynamics 6 months ago and always had the rig plugged in since then. I had never left it plugged in between trips before with the old converter. I made the change because of the claim that it would not damage the battery if left plugged in full time.
Today I pried the tops off the second battery and all cells are full. No way to check the damaged battery. Not only did the caps blow off, but the case split as well. It certainly had fluid in it when it blew, it was everywhere in the battery compartment. So, I don't know if it was fluid level or not that caused the damage.
I got the battery compartment neutralized, stripped, and re-painted over the last two days. Chassis battery and non-damaged battery put in so I have power to winterize, change engine and generator oil and prepare for winter. Monitored voltage at the Progressive Dynamics output periodically all day and it is operating normally.
No room for 6V so I will decide over winter on AGM or a set of Trojan Deep Cycle in the spring.
And yes, I will now be adding battery fluid level checks to my periodic maintenance list.
This has been very educational to me. Thanks to all that participated.
Wayne
I did not do a deep enough investigation when I purchased the batteries. They are definitely the batteries you describe. The batteries Winnebago put in original equipment were also Marine/RV Deep cycle, so I just replaced the same type with a different brand. I was told by the dealer they were maintenance free. I never checked fluid levels in the 6 years before I replaced with the Costco batteries. (I didn't think the caps came off.) The only difference is that I replaced the original converter/charger with the 4 stage Progressive Dynamics 6 months ago and always had the rig plugged in since then. I had never left it plugged in between trips before with the old converter. I made the change because of the claim that it would not damage the battery if left plugged in full time.
Today I pried the tops off the second battery and all cells are full. No way to check the damaged battery. Not only did the caps blow off, but the case split as well. It certainly had fluid in it when it blew, it was everywhere in the battery compartment. So, I don't know if it was fluid level or not that caused the damage.
I got the battery compartment neutralized, stripped, and re-painted over the last two days. Chassis battery and non-damaged battery put in so I have power to winterize, change engine and generator oil and prepare for winter. Monitored voltage at the Progressive Dynamics output periodically all day and it is operating normally.
No room for 6V so I will decide over winter on AGM or a set of Trojan Deep Cycle in the spring.
And yes, I will now be adding battery fluid level checks to my periodic maintenance list.
This has been very educational to me. Thanks to all that participated.
Wayne
