Battery charging slow

[Lurker52]

Hi All,

We went camping last weekend. We were plugged in to 50 amp. My Xantrex 3000 inverter charger was operating. The inverter was installed about a year ago upgraded to run my residential refrigerator while traveling and overnighting without shore power. I have the inverter set up to power the TV, the micro. a couple of plugs and my residential refrigerator. It was kind of cold so we were running a 1500 watt electric heater from time to time. The heater was not on the inverter. We were using a lot of power.
Everything worked fine except I notice my batteries stayed charging bulk charge for several hours then to absorb and finally float. When we had a lot of things operating the heater, tv, lights the charger went back to bulk. The batteries charged at bulk for most of the weekend.

It is my understanding when plugged into shore power the transfer switch changed everything over to shore power so the items running through the inverter did not run from the batteries. Is this correct? So, the only thing that the inverter/charger would be doing is charging the batteries. There was no problem running everything although the batteries just did not seem to stay charges.

When I bought the RV about a year and a half ago the seller said the batteries would be good for a few more years so I know they will be needing replacement (4-6 volt) I have maintained the batteries and when I got home, I checked a few cells and all were good.

Upon inspecting the batteries, I noticed the date stamp was from August of 2005. I guess I never really though about the date before. Is it possible the batteries are that old and still good but not keeping a good charge? When we Walmart parked a couple of times this summer I though the batteries were low in the morning only running the ref. overnight.

Do you think my batteries could be that old or did they not update the stickers to 2010 -2020 If that is the case my batteries could be from 2015.

Do you think this is old batteries needing replacement or is something else going on.

I appreciate the help as always

[babock]

DFord wrote:
The 6 volt golf cart batteries are designed to discharged/recharged. I don't know of any truly deep cycle 12 volt batteries even though there are a few labelled as such they're really dual purpose batteries.

https://sciencing.com/marine-vs-deep-cycle-battery-5606295.html

There are plenty of 12V deep discharge batteries. Almost all golf carts these days don't use 6v batteries anymore so they are either 12V or 8v. Trojan as well as many other manufacturers make them.

[down_home]

The batteries charge faster on the generator or engine. We had new batteries installed in 2012. Going down the road with generator running the it took perhaps hundred miles for the batteries to show full charge on the panel. Older batteries might benefit from the desulfate setting. Read the manual on charge level and have battery compartment door open. However just getting them to full charge might be all that is needed. Check the level in the batteries too. We rarely use our battery bank, of flooded cell T105s. When we do it is by error. We left vent fan on for a month. They say to fully discharge our batteries sometimes, so we did that, and they were dry too. Filled up and charged they seem to be alright, but we will have them checked.

[wa8yxm]

Lurker52 wrote:
Hi All,


Upon inspecting the batteries, I noticed the date stamp was from August of 2005. I guess I never really though about the date before. Is it possible the batteries are that old and still good but not keeping a good charge?

That is 14 years the LONGEST I have ever heard of Lead Acid batteries lasting was 12. and that was Exceptional life.. 7-10 is normal mine made it 9.

[DFord]

The 6 volt golf cart batteries are designed to discharged/recharged. I don't know of any truly deep cycle 12 volt batteries even though there are a few labelled as such they're really dual purpose batteries.

https://sciencing.com/marine-vs-deep-cycle-battery-5606295.html

[atsrmf]

What is the purpose of having 4-6 volt batteries vs 2-12 volt? I assume it is due to the heavy current draw when starting a diesel.

[wildmanbaker]

I don't think you are charging your batteries long enough. If they are in a depleted state, it would take at least 24 hours, and more likely 48 hours to fully charge them back up.

[Lurker52]

Battery update.

I found more stickers that say May 2015. That makes them almost 5 years old. I tested them with a hydrometer and they read all good. I charged them for about an hour and they went quickly to absorption mode.

Probable will have to replace them this year.

Thanks for all the responses

[wa8yxm]

Two possible issues.
One Battery v/s converter size. That box should be able to kick out around 100 amps charging as I recall but if you have several pair of GC-2 Well it will remain in bulk for up to 1 hour per pair possibly longer at full output.

Second Many Xantrex have "Shore Power Share" feature if you have it fed with a 30 amp breaker you tell it it's eating off a 30 amp breaker and if you are drawing say 25 amps.. for "other stuff" (120 stuff) via the inverter it will "Throttle" the charger so it does not trip the 30 amp breaker. This won't affect 120 volt loads as the only thing it Throttles is the charger.

[frankgibbons194]

Jeff from Johnson's RV shows us how to check your battery and charging system on your trailer. I hope this will be helpful to you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JFUad9ECWI

[DFord]

If I can get 7 years out of a battery that's pretty good. 10 years is excellent. 15 years is beyond belief. I'd shop around for new batteries.

[2oldman]

Octaneforce wrote:
If the batteries are actually from 2005 then i would bet thats your issue. .

x2. start there

[Octaneforce]

If the batteries are actually from 2005 then i would bet thats your issue. I can barely get a few seasons out of batteries lately, let alone 15 years.

[Lwiddis]

“Do you think my batteries could be that old or did they not update the stickers to 2010 -2020 If that is the case my batteries could be from 2015.“

You are ah wishing and ah hoping. They are that old. As with tires part of the pre-purchase inspection is determine the manufacturer date of batteries. What the seller said was verifiable...and puffing.

[wolfe10]

Yes, your inverter/charger should "pass through" power from the shore power or generator.

But, it is a good idea to run high-draw appliances on outlets NOT powered by the inverter to avoid running the inverter/charger transfer switch at max capacity.

Pretty easy to tell which outlets are not on inverter: Unplug from shore power, and turn on the inverter. All outlets that are not hot now are the ones to plug that electric heater into.