Battery Question

harold1946 wrote:
One bad cell, sulfated battery/batteries, or stratified battery/batteries will not accept a full charge. and even a three stage charger will continue to apply current in an attempt to do so. The result is boiling and gassing off of electrolyte.
Get a good hydrometer and check each cell, it may just need a conditioning charge.

Thanks, Harold

One bad cell, sulfated battery/batteries, or stratified battery/batteries will not accept a full charge. and even a three stage charger will continue to apply current in an attempt to do so. The result is boiling and gassing off of electrolyte.
Get a good hydrometer and check each cell, it may just need a conditioning charge. The most common malady of a battery is sulfating.

Older batteries do use more water. Otherwise check the voltage and relate that to temperature.

I can think of another scenario. If one of the batteries in the bank has a bad cell, the charger never reaches the float condition and will boil them dry

korbe wrote:

They would lose a lot of water and I was refilling all the time.

That probably means that your converter never was dropping to a proper float level.

It might be poorly designed or it might have failed.

I think you should observe the charging voltages over a period of time to see if it needs attention. I think it probably does.

Sam Spade wrote:

korbe wrote:
My batteries appeared to over charge while plugged into shore power even with my 3-stage charger

What exactly leads you to believe that ?

If that is true, something has failed and needs to be fixed.

They would lose a lot of water and I was refilling all the time. And when I read my converter manual and found out that I do have a 3-stage charger, then I figured it best to just disconnect the batteries once fully charged and now I add water about once a year.

300 watts is not going to be an inverter/charger but just a stand alone inverter.

You must have a converter to supply 12v power and charge the battery. Probably mounted near or integral to the 120v/12v distribution panel. Get a model number off the panel or the converter might be mounted right behind.

wolfe10 wrote:
What make and model inverter/charger do you have?

Do you have a remote monitor panel?

Brett, I just got back from a trip out to the RV. I own a 2004 Winnebago Adventurer it was Winnebagos top of the line gas coach in 2004. My converter is a Dimensions Unlimited. The unit is mounted under the stove below a drawer very near the batteries. The remote inverter panel is up to the front of the coach above the dash and next to the TV set. There is a small panel that has a off/on switch and a green light which does not come on when I switch the inverter switch to on. There is also a breaker switch above the on/off switch. My inverter is Model is WIN 12/300, Input is: VDC is 12.6, ADC 30, VDC 12.6, ADC 40 and output RMS/VAC 120, Watts 300-400* *= inverter can deliver 400 Watts of constant power for 20 minutes and the 300 Watts in the inverter is continuous. This is all the info that I could muster up! Thanks, John

wolfe10 wrote:
What make and model inverter/charger do you have?

Do you have a remote monitor panel?

Brett, I'll have to go out to my RV and check!

Thanks Doug for taking time out to explain that to me!