All my battereis ruptured!

[Rodd06]

I went to begin getting the motorhome ready for the season and the first thing I noticed was no power. I checked the batteries and ALL were ruptured. I live in the pacific northwest so we do have cold winters, but I did have it winterized at Camping World.. What would cause this and how do I prevent this from happening again?

[zman-az]

Rodd06 wrote:
Thank you,
We had it plugged in and all electronics were off, a few days later, we smelt something in the air, it was a pin hole in one of the chassis batteries and putting a acid vapor in the air,so we just unplugged it for the winter. Thank you. You can bet this will not happen again.

Thanks for replying. It appears from your comment that the batteries did indeed go dead and then froze. Can you confirm this, did you leave the batteries connected to the RV rather than removing a cable.

Many people don't realize that batteries can freeze (never does in their car on those cold days). When they discharge the acid in them turns to water, thus they freeze and rupture.

[RoyB]

X2 on freezing discharged batteries.

I normally leave my three GP24 Interstate batteries on the trailer tongue during the winter months here in Northern neck VA. We usually have pretty mild winters. Its probably best to bring the batteries inside if you have real long below freezing conditons.



I just checked mine last week getting ready to spot my POPUP trailer in another position here at CAMP BACKYARD and open things up getting ready for the upcoming camping season.

My 2008 Interstate Batteries all read around 12.6VDC... Fluid levels normal

I have three BLUE SEA four position switches which gives me complete control of each battery in the two banks. When my switches are in the OFF position then all batteries are completely disconnected from the trailer grid.

This year we have had several days below freezing here some days in the single digits.

Roy Ken

[Lobstah]

They froze. Been there, done that.
Keep them plugged in, or hit the batt disconnect switch, or remove the negative lead from the batt post.

Jim

[rwynkoop]

When my batteries in my tt went bad, they would boil over when I attempted to charge. A bad cell will cause the good cells to boil out.

Could it be your batteries were done for and that is why you smelled a problem.

Robert Wynkoop

[Golden_HVAC]

Hi,

I suspect that the battery charge voltage was way to high, and may cause any kind of damage. Melting holes into the bottom of the battery might also happen. Without water, then rupture can happen too.

So after replacing the battery, consider checking out the shore power charging system, and see what else is wrong with it. If it is charging at more than 14 volts, that is the problem. Perhaps one of the batteries is connected backwards? Applying +12 volts to the negative terminal can also cause problems.

Is the RV plugged into 120 volts or 220 volts? Perhaps the charger is not getting 120 volts and be the root cause of the problem?

What year is the RV?

What model number is the charger or converter?

This will help someone help solve your problem.

Fred.

[crasster]

Do you have a photo of the ruptures? Did they just pop open & crack?

[Rodd06]

Thank you,
We had it plugged in and all electronics were off, a few days later, we smelt something in the air, it was a pin hole in one of the chassis batteries and putting a acid vapor in the air,so we just unplugged it for the winter. Thank you. You can bet this will not happen again.

[naturist]

Battery disconnect switch so the passive loads (clocks, converter, etc.) don't drain the batteries and a Battery-Minder type trickle charger, that's how you prevent batteries freezing in the winter.

[rskrbina]

Your batteries froze through the winter and ruptured. This happens when batteries are stored without a "full" charge. To prevent this from happening again, have them "fully charged" before storage. Then add a 24 hr slow charge once a month. Hope this helps.

[Artum_Snowbird]

A good battery with a full charge will only stay good by disconnecting it from the circuit totally. Lift one lead right off the battery, and none of the parasitic loads will be able to slowly drain and kill the battery.

[azrving]

Were the batteries connected but the shore power was not plugged in? If so the electronics sucked the life out of the batteries and the electrolyte/water froze. During storage disconnect the batteries or keep it plugged in. If it is plugged in check the battery water level ever month or two so that the level is over the plates at all times.

When you replace the batteries neutralize the acid and clean the compartment well.