fifth wheel battery

[md4142]

The 12 volt battery in our fifth wheel has been leaking water from the cells. The battery cell water is coming from the cell water cover. The fifth wheel has been parked for the past six months and is connected to our 110v house electrical outlet to keep the battery charged. The battery on/off switch is turned to off. I have kept the cell water level at the correct level. Do not know why the battery is pushing the battery water out. The coach battery level indicator shows the battery is fully charged. Is this a sign of a defective battery or might it be indicative of malfunctioning converter charging?
Thank you for your thoughts.

[full_mosey]

Coach-man wrote:
Oh, one more thing, if you go with AGM batteries you will need a charger designed for them, sounds like your old charger is toast anyway, but you will have to make it a package deal.

AGMs do not need any special charger. In fact, AGMs actually SOLVE many of the problems with flooded batteries like water below the plates and stratification which kill flooded batteries.

I have been 100% AGM since 2009.

HTH;
John

[Coach-man]

Oh, one more thing, if you go with AGM batteries you will need a charger designed for them, sounds like your old charger is toast anyway, but you will have to make it a package deal.

[Coach-man]

md4142 wrote:
Thank you all for your comments. The converter/charger is a Paralax LLC
brand. At this point, I need to clean up the acid/water mess, bite the bullet and purchase a new battery. Thinking about a AGM battery replacement; they are expensive but will not have the electrolyte water level maintenance to worry about.. Recomendations for a reliable 12 V deep cycle battery?
Thanks again for your input.

There are several good AGM batteries out there, I like Optima, but there are those who do not like them! Remember one thing, if the battery advertises "cold cranking amps", or CCA it is not a true deep cycle battery! If you do any dry camping, look for two 6 volt AGM batteries hooked up in series which should give you the extra amps for dry camping!

[ScottG]

It's not the batterys fault, it's your Paralax converter and it's overcharging the battery. However it may have ruined the battery already.
You can disconnect the battery after it has charged for a little while or better yet, replace that terrible converter with a three stage unit like a Progressive Dynamics.

[md4142]

Thank you all for your comments. The converter/charger is a Paralax LLC
brand. At this point, I need to clean up the acid/water mess, bite the bullet and purchase a new battery. Thinking about a AGM battery replacement; they are expensive but will not have the electrolyte water level maintenance to worry about.. Recomendations for a reliable 12 V deep cycle battery?
Thanks again for your input.

[korbe]

Yes, It sounds like it is over charging but you stated that "The battery on/off switch is turned to off." Sounds like your switch didn't really disconnect your battery and your converter is still charging.

[MFL]

Good info from kaydeejay!

You need to check the battery charge rate, with a multimeter. If you don't have one, they are inexpensive, and you should get one.

You can set the meter to VDC 200, and it should show 13.2 - 13.6 while charging, with the lower being best. If more than 13.6, you likely have a charging problem, or the battery is toast.

Jerry

[kaydeejay]

md4142 wrote:
The 12 volt battery in our fifth wheel has been leaking water from the cells. The battery cell water is coming from the cell water cover. The fifth wheel has been parked for the past six months and is connected to our 110v house electrical outlet to keep the battery charged. The battery on/off switch is turned to off. I have kept the cell water level at the correct level. Do not know why the battery is pushing the battery water out. The coach battery level indicator shows the battery is fully charged. Is this a sign of a defective battery or might it be indicative of malfunctioning converter charging?
Thank you for your thoughts.

That's not "water", it's sulfuric acid and will corrode lots of stuff.
You need to wash down the area with a strong solution of baking soda and rinse it well.

As for the battery, sounds like it is being overcharged to me. Maybe disconnect it for awhile. Have you checked the voltages? (On and off charge).
Unfortunately it may be too late and it's toast!
The problem now is if you add water to top it up you will dilute the acid. To do it right needs the acid itself replenishing.
You could get it checked out at Auto-Zone (or similar) and they should be able to top up the acid if it is otherwise OK.
Good luck.

[edbehnke]

could be a couple of things....the charger, the conveter or the battery.

I suspect it is being overcharged, stop charging it and see what happens. you don't have to keep charging the battery all the time.

[the_bear_II]

Is the battery warm to the touch ?

I have two batteries in the 5th wheel. I've had this happen twice and each time it was due to a bad battery. Because of the bad battery, my charger/converter kept charging and boiled over the two batteries.

If your battery is more than 3 years old I would suspect it has gone bad. Have your battery tested and replaced if bad. This should solve your problem.

Keep in mind it is possible the charging feature of the converter has gone bad and isn't switching to a trickle charge when the battery is near full charge.

[2oldman]

What brand/model converter?