Battery Question??

[abc40kids]

I keep my 5th wheel at my house hooked up to 50 amp whenever it’s not in use which unfortunately is more than not. I just got back off vacation, not in my camper and noticed white residue under the battery box and the top off the battery was little wet like the water leaked out.

First question is .... Do I have a bad battery?

Second question is there any need to have the battery hooked up when not in use? I do leave the frig on all the time and slides out. It stays parked under an RV garage. Thanks!

Just pulled the battery out looks like white powder I found under camper from vent hole came from the positive cable connection.

Sorry keep editing this but the water levels look gold, not to the top but normal and it has been crazy HOT!!!

[abc40kids]

pianotuna wrote:
abc40kids if you are going to upgrade to a seriously better method of charging it needs to include temperature compensation and the ability to adjust the voltage set points.

The PD is better than the WFCO, but light years behind what I'm suggesting.

Do you have an inverter? Do you want to acquire one?

I'm actually good right now, just trying to figure out why my battery was leaking. I've never had any charging issues at all. I'm gonna use an Odyssey Extreme PC-680 AGM battery. Thanks

[pianotuna]

abc40kids if you are going to upgrade to a seriously better method of charging it needs to include temperature compensation and the ability to adjust the voltage set points.

The PD is better than the WFCO, but light years behind what I'm suggesting.

Do you have an inverter? Do you want to acquire one?

[abc40kids]

pianotuna wrote:
No.

abc40kids wrote:
I think that is what I'm gonna do (un-hook when not in use) just was concerned with the leakage on top?? Never had any charging issues and while my WFCO converter isn't the best I'm told it's not the worst. I'm guessing when it leaks on top it's possibly a bit over-heated or over-charging. If I was to go with a Progressive Dynamics converter would this possibly eliminate the possible over-charging??

I spoke to WFCO and they told me a few things to check to see if the converter is the issue. Everything I checked came back good.... I've been told by two manufactures that my leak issue is probably not an overflow issue but possibly a problem at the positive terminal, maybe a small crack?? Either way I have read the Progressive converter is better and I can get that one thru one of my suppliers so it will be with me next trip if there is an issue. I don't think my converter is bad but I've been camping many times with someone near me with a bad one so maybe I can help someone out if their's goes bad and it will be there if I need it.

[pianotuna]

No.

abc40kids wrote:
I think that is what I'm gonna do (un-hook when not in use) just was concerned with the leakage on top?? Never had any charging issues and while my WFCO converter isn't the best I'm told it's not the worst. I'm guessing when it leaks on top it's possibly a bit over-heated or over-charging. If I was to go with a Progressive Dynamics converter would this possibly eliminate the possible over-charging??

[bpounds]

abc40kids wrote:
I think that is what I'm gonna do (un-hook when not in use)...

Just to be clear about what others wrote above, you need to disconnect the batteries if you're going to do that. Isolate the battery bank. If you don't, parasitic draw will ruin your battery in a few weeks. Personally I'm in the camp that says stay connected to shore power all the time, if an outlet is convenient to your storage site. If not, install and use a disconnect, and be sure it disconnects all loads.

abc40kids wrote:
...Never had any charging issues and while my WFCO converter isn't the best I'm told it's not the worst. I'm guessing when it leaks on top it's possibly a bit over-heated or over-charging. If I was to go with a Progressive Dynamics converter would this possibly eliminate the possible over-charging??

My experience with WFCO converters is that it is very unlikely one is over-charging your battery. Just the opposite, they rarely will go into boost mode at all, even though they supposedly have that mode. Far more likely that you overfilled, or spilled.

Progressive Dynamics makes a far better converter, no question about that, and it will give you a proper boost mode and a better charge. But if the WFCO is working for you, and especially if you don't camp off-grid much, it might not be worth it to you to upgrade.

[abc40kids]

I think that is what I'm gonna do (un-hook when not in use) just was concerned with the leakage on top?? Never had any charging issues and while my WFCO converter isn't the best I'm told it's not the worst. I'm guessing when it leaks on top it's possibly a bit over-heated or over-charging. If I was to go with a Progressive Dynamics converter would this possibly eliminate the possible over-charging??

[pianotuna]

Hi,

Electrolyte expands as it reaches 100% state of charge. So if the battery was filled to the bottom of the ring, then as it charged the levels rose. Best practise is to make sure the plates are covered, then charge, then top up and charge before next use.

abc40kids wrote:
My camper is always hooked to shore power and it's possible that I did put a little more distilled water in than I should have last time I filled it. I have noticed it wet before but never any issues with the battery.

[Veebyes]

If not using it for extended periods why leave it connected to anything at all? Disconnect battery at posts & give it a once a month top up with a charger at most. With no loads the battery will lose no more than 10 % power per month.

[abc40kids]

My camper is always hooked to shore power and it's possible that I did put a little more distilled water in than I should have last time I filled it. I have noticed it wet before but never any issues with the battery.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

Did you by any chance, top up the electrolyte before charging the battery bank?

[abc40kids]

So I posted this yesterday.... I came home from vacation (Camper stayed home) I noticed white residue on the ground under the battery box and around the positive terminal on the battery. I also noyiced that on the top of the battery it was wet, not like overflowing but just wet around both covers and water levels were good.

I un-hooked the battery and cleaned it all up, checked the battery with meter and got like 13.4 then checked the camper ground and positive that goes to camper and got a little over 13.

my converter is a WFCO 75 amp 3 stage output by Cheng.

I haven't had any issues other than the battery wet on top??

Thanks for any input....

[abc40kids]

I’m gonna find out what converter I have but just checked the battery and it’s reading 13.12 and the battery cables coming from the charging system are reading 13.4. I seem to notice this more when it’s very hot??

[lenr]

WFCO converters are almost universally installed in trailers, and almost universally problematic. They can fail in many ways but my most frequent experience on 3 trailers in the family is that they don't go into a period high voltage to equalize the cells. My last one ruined some expensive T105 batteries causing them to boil out eating away a bunch of metal in the front of the fifth wheel. The weirdest one was noisy voltage being put out by the WFCO that caused a Norcold fridge in my son's trailer to malfunction. Replace the WFCO--fixed the fridge--nothing done to the fridge. Do to that experience I wouldn't run a WFCO converter without a battery attached. Suggest replacement with a Progressive Dynamics or BoonDocker converter and a new battery.

[Lwiddis]

Panic isn’t pretty! You need an hour...reading the basics of RV batteries.

For instance, what would having your slides out have to do with your batteries?