battery boiling

[bkmiami]

Came home from camping vacation and next day had a strong smell of sulfur coming from camper. checked battery compartment and found battery swollen and boiling over. Took out old battery and replaced with new one. Connected back and next day smell was back. Checked battery and it was really warm. I took leads off battery and wondering what to do. What's the cause of this? any suggestions would be appreciated.

[idtrout1]

Like many have said it may be the converter which can be tested. I know the smell because i had it in my trailer and when i figured it out was kinda embarassed and felt pretty stupid. When i hooked up my batteries i became distracted and hooked up the cables wrong. I hooked positive to negative and negative to positive. Eventually it did boil the batteries, smelled terrible when it was plugged into 110 and caused the battereies to cook dry and bulge the side. I'm not proud of what i did but very thankful something worse didn't happen.

[taken]

Probably right behind the basement rear storage wall on the door side of the trailer. There should be 4-6 screws holding the wall panel on. The converter is likely right behind it plugged into a standard 120V outlet. You can't miss it as it will say the make and model number right on it, have large DC leads coming from the battery, and be plugged into an outlet.

[bkmiami]

next question, where is the converter located on my 2011 Bighorn 2985 fifth wheel?

[Gale_Hawkins]

Any PD would be nice but kind of leaning to this one to keep it simple.

[taken]

Replace. Good price here. Clicky...

I'd get the pendant too so you can see the charge level remotely. It's only another $11 and it plugs right in to the new converter. Clicky again...

[bkmiami]

how can I fix this without replacing converter, or do I have to replace converter?

[lanerd]

Yep.

[taken]

Based on those readings, it sounds like the converter is stuck in bulk mode and not dropping back into float once the battery is fully charged.

[bkmiami]

when unhooked from land line,voltage from battery is 13.4 volts dc. When plugged in to land line , voltage is 14.6 on the terminals of the battery.

[RoyB]

Most often 13.6VDC charge voltage from any battery charge setup will boil out battery fluids over time. When this charge voltage is reduced to 13.2VDC then the boiling out of fluids is much reduced (if any)...

When you leave the battery connected to a charge source of 13.6VDC you should be checking the fluid levels. I check mine every couple of weeks.

Once the battery fluids get below the cores inside the batteries then the battery may short out internally. This will make the battery start getting hotter and hotter and really start boiling out more fluids.

It is hard to re-cover a battery from these problems.

This is why a SMART MODE CHARGING setup is so important for us. These system will use all of the necessary charging voltages to keep your battery re-charged. More importantly these units will drop back to a 13.2 VDC mode when currents are not being demanded by your system. This charging 13.2 VDC mode is just below the boiling out of fluids level and really saves your long term connected batteries.

I check my batteries on a regular basis using my MULTIMETER and watch the charging voltages coming from my on-board converter/charger unit or connected to the truck charging system when pulling my trailer very close to make sure all is doing what it is suppose to be doing...

ALot of us RV'ers can't afford to keep replacing dead deep cycle batteries where just a few simple measurements on a good maintenance schedule would prevent the batteries from going dead.

Just some of my thoughts
Roy ken

[lanerd]

Then you should have a 3-stage charger on that thing. However, that does mean you have a problem with the converter as it's not going into float mode.

You still need to get a multimeter and provide us with some voltage measurements. You do have a multimeter...right?

Ron

[bkmiami]

The 5th wheel is a Bighorn model #2985. It has a Intelli Power 9260 coverter. Also it is a 2011 year 5th wheeler

[Allworth]

Plugged in all the time with a PSI converter.

Checked every month if I remember. Every other month if I forget.

[partsman01]

I bought a used 2004 wilderness lite in 2010, I have kept it plugged in all the time, always seem to have to add water before leaving for a trip, I have been real bad on checking them, and it always seems I check only when going on a trip, and this year no difference, last time we had fifth wheel insured was 2012, and I only just topped up batteries, the electrolyte was still over the plates, but they did take a bit of water in each cell, so I guess my converter is doing a good job still.
But would not recomend leaving them too long really without checking them.