new batteries leaking during off-season storage

[aviator41]

I pull the two batteries from the 5th wheel once it's put up for the winter. they sit in the garage on a board and are hooked to a maintainer that stays plugged in at all times.

one of the deep cycle batteries has started leaking - but I cant tell from where. the board it is sitting on is slowly getting wetter and wetter. Both of the battiers stay hooked up to each other in parallell, just like int the RV and a maintainer is hooked to them to keep them in good shape over the winter. once this leaking started, I removed the maintainer thinking that they might be getting over-charged. The maintainer is a "smart" system that stops charging when the batteries are full. This same setup worked perfectly last year with no leaking and no trouble.

What do I need to be looking for? do I potentiall have a bad battery? I plan on having them tested, but haven't done so yet. Is leaving them conntected to each other a bad idea for storage?

[aviator41]

the batteries are only a year old. they were delivered with the RV. Really, the batteries aren't used that much. Mainly just to run the leveling system during setup and tear down.

The batteries are about as cheap as the come. Just enough to qualify as a "battery" I suppose. I would imagine that most RV companies do something similar to maximize their profits. I would imagine a battery replacement sometime mid summer to 6 volt batteries.

[racer4]

I would replace both. I want max battery capacity for the space I have and no battery problems.

If the OP stays plugged in mostly, the other battery is fairly new and in good condition, and the new battery is a match to the old one, it seems like a reasonable choice. But still and increased chance of battery problems.

[jerseyjim]

Replace one...not both? Conventional wisdom here on the Forum says replace both or one will strain the other leading to another premature failure.

Comment on this anyone ?

[aviator41]

Well the liquid failed the baking soda test. I'm not sure why one would boil over and the other not, if thats what happened. I've pulled the maintainer (it's a true maintainer, not a trickle charger) and will replace the one dead battery.

really, it looks like the battery may have a crack in the case as the top is totally dry.

[Dave_H_M]

Veebys, I don't think battery maintainers and trickle chargers should be referred to as you did. they are not the same. i have never had a prob with maintainers.

[Veebyes]

You possibly cooked the batterys. In storage it really is not necessary to leave them on a maintainer/trickle charger. Look around out in the real world. Construction & farm equipment sits for months unused outside in storage. Boat owners leave boats for months out on moorings. No solar. Nothing to keep batterys topped up. Recently left my own boat 3 months untended. 2 year old wet cell battery. It spun the motor like it was last used yesterday.

Saw a boat owner lose 4 big 8D AGM batteries due to the battery maintainer going bad & cooking them. $600 each batterys only a year old. I have an AGM battery in my 5er. It sits disconnected & untended every winter Nov to April. Minimal power loss.

[jkwilson]

If this is an unheated space, it could just be condensation. Dense items stay cold a while when it warms up in the area and moisture in the air condenses on them. This is very common with batteries.

Put something that won’t absorb the liquid under the batteries and test some liquid with baking soda before condemning the battery.

[RoyB]

Sometimes I have removed my batteries and put on the work bench for winter storage and hooked for charging and see the batteries starting to boil out fluids. This has always been the result of overcharging in my case. If my maintainer charger is putting out 13.6VDC for a long period of time I will start to see the boiling out of the battery fluids... When my PD9260C smart mode charger on my OFF-ROAD Trailer does not see any DC current being pulled from the batteries it will switch down to 13.2VDC mode until something starts demanding DC Current again. Then it will switch to the 13.6VDC mode... The 13.2VDC mode seems to NOT cause the batteries to start boiling out their fluids in my setup.

My PD9260C on-board converter/charger pretty much takes care of my batteries automatically however out of habit I will still check the batteries for over heating and fluid levels etc on a scheduled basis...

My original OEM single mode battery charger only put out 13.6VDC and before I started checking the batteries in 2008 one of my four GP24 batteries boiled out all of its fluids and shorted out on me with-in a couple of months.

I usually leave my three remaining batteries sitting on my trailer tongue during the winter here being switched to OFF and just check them every couple of weeks or so. If the overall Battery charge state drops below 12.4 I will switch them back ON and allow my on-board converter/charger to take over again for a few days to bring them back up to a 100% charge state.

Most of the time I can have my main battery switch switched to OFF and the battery bank will not drop below 12.5VDC during the winter months just sitting there...

I still check them about every two weeks during the winter months...

When my battery bank is switched OFF I still have my roof raise controls and my Breakaway Switch along with my 12V Battery Monitor panel leads still directly wired to the MAIN battery cables. The 12VDC Power Distribution Panel gets switched out when the Battery Switch is switched to OFF.

My original batteries installed in late 2008 have performed great until the 2016 season and the three remaining 12VDC GP24 batteries in parallel just won't hold a standard charge for very long anymore. I am currently in the process of replacing my batteries for new ones now... Seems like everytime I get alittle ahead to replace my batteries I get another home emergency so my OFF-ROAD POPUP trailer gets put on hold again hehe...

Hopefully this upcoming season I will be back on the trails again here locally around Virginia... I have been doing alot using a single 12V Truck start Battery here running my POPUP trailer in my back yard setup location just to keep things going... I am really looking forward to getting back in the real camping mode again...

Roy Ken

[Mandalay_Parr]

jerseyjim wrote:
Battery acid is not to be fooled with. Get new batteries.

X2

[jerseyjim]

Battery acid is not to be fooled with. Get new batteries.

[old_guy]

how old are the batteries? are they still under warranty?

[ScottG]

I had a one leak at the seam where the top meets the case. I actually used a solder iron to melt it together and stop the leak!