keep batteries good?

[roadtriptoforev]

I just bought my first motorhome. It's a class a. The guy I bought it from said he kept "killing the house batteries". He gave me a brand new set. But I want to avoid doing the same. I'll near power most of the time, so should I just have it plugged in all the time? Do I just charge it when they are dead or before going ona trip? Charge them whenever they are halfway dead? Nightly? Something else? These are sealed deep cells.

Thanks

[time2roll]

'Super Start' does not invoke confidence of being a deep cycle house battery.
Or was the prior owner killing the chassis start batteries?

Either way that inverter/charger will easily take good care of the batteries when plugged in. Although you need to check if the chassis battery is getting maintained while plugged in. Many do not. Plugged in 24 hours all your batteries should be 13.2 to 13.5 volts on the terminals. You can add a combiner if the float charge is not getting to the chassis start battery.

The 12 Volt Side of Life

[rgatijnet1]

OK you have a Xantrex inverter. Here is the owner's manual to set it up to charge your batteries when hooked to sure power.. Make sure that it is set for the right type of battery, either AGM, Wet cell, or gel cell. As I mentioned before, this will not charge your chassis batteries. You will need a serarate battery charger for them. Xantrex Inverter

[2oldman]

Your pictures are SO HUGE they're blowing the margins out. Please quote my post to see the height= parameter, and change yours, or just copy/paste what I've done.



Breaker Panel



Metal Box Thing



Panel in house



House Batteries (Sealed?)

and


Chassis Batteries (Wet?)


and

[roadtriptoforev]

I appreciate everyones help. I know how frustrating it can be to try to help someone who doesn't even know what information to give you to properly answer the questions.

Okay so I took some pictures of stuff that may be what you guys are talking about

Please see post below

[willald]

Dakota98 wrote:

Mr.Mark wrote:

roadtriptoforever wrote:
I just bought my first motorhome. It's a class a. The guy I bought it from said he kept "killing the house batteries". He gave me a brand new set. But I want to avoid doing the same. I'll near power most of the time, so should I just have it plugged in all the time? Do I just charge it when they are dead or before going ona trip? Charge them whenever they are halfway dead? Nightly? Something else? These are sealed deep cells.

Thanks

Tell us what kind of motorhome it is and the type of battery charger, etc. Is it a diesel or gas?

MM.

What is being asked is: What type of "CONVERTER" do you have? That's the power control center of the coach. What is needed is the make & model number.

Exactly. Need to know what converter is involved here, and if it is one that has some kind of 'smart' charging or not.

Older converters are known to over-charge the batteries when left plugged in to shore power all the time. With a converter like that, you need to keep a very close eye on your batteries water levels, make sure they don't get 'cooked dry' from over-charging. I'm going to bet that may be how, why the previous owner wore out some batteries.

If you find that this is the case (and again, finding out what converter you have is the first step), then I would consider replacing the converter with a newer one that has 'smart' charging. Then, you can just leave the MH plugged in all the time and the battery charge will be maintained properly for you without you having to worry so much about it. You still need to keep an eye on the battery water levels, but you will not be adding water to them anywhere near as often.

A good example of converters that have this smart charging that I would highly recommend, would be Progressive Dynamics 9200 series converters.

[rgatijnet1]

When hooked to shore power, most inverter/chargers ONLY keep the house batteries charged, NOT the chassis batteries. If the supplied batteries are AGM batteries, you need to make sure that the inverter/charger is properly set-up for AGM batteries, since they are different from wet cell batteries. You will also probably need to supply a separate battery charger for the chassis batteries.
When the coach is not being used, there is still a drain on the batteries from the CO detector, propane detector, radio memory, smoke detector, etc. All of these things will gradually deplete your batteries unless they are maintained by a battery charger.

[wa8yxm]

First: What converter is in that motor home (This is the device that charges your Batteries)

Second if they are flooded wet cells... Where you can remove the caps and look into the cells

As others have said,they need watering from time to time DISTILLED WATER ONLY

Fill to around 1/4 inch BELOW the filler tube,,then charge,,and top off (if needed)to 1/8 of an inch..DO NOT fill so much that the liquid level enters the tube.

[Ivylog]

/

roadtriptoforever wrote:
How do I find out what kinda charger? There is a whole house alternator, and a control in the house that shows the charge level

Will the TV turn on when not hooked up to shore power? Is there a model number on the control that shows charge level and does is show volts or %... ? Is there a small (24X24") solar panel on the roof?

It is best to not let your batteries go below 50% or around 11.8 volts before recharging. It would also help if we knew what the top of the batteries say on them and what brand while you are looking.

PS, we'll figure it out... just need a little more info.

[time2roll]

Dakota98 wrote:

smkettner wrote:
Wet-cell lead-acid likes to be fully charged and topped off with water.
By all means plug it in and check the water. After a week check the voltage on the battery terminals. s/b 13.2 to 13.5 volts.

OP stated the batteries are "sealed"

If they are AGM fine but 'sealed deep cycle' is a bit of an oxymoron.

Anyway skip the water part and check voltage. Even more critical since you cannot add water.

[Dakota98]

Mr.Mark wrote:

roadtriptoforever wrote:
I just bought my first motorhome. It's a class a. The guy I bought it from said he kept "killing the house batteries". He gave me a brand new set. But I want to avoid doing the same. I'll near power most of the time, so should I just have it plugged in all the time? Do I just charge it when they are dead or before going ona trip? Charge them whenever they are halfway dead? Nightly? Something else? These are sealed deep cells.

Thanks

Tell us what kind of motorhome it is and the type of battery charger, etc. Is it a diesel or gas?

MM.

What is being asked is: What type of "CONVERTER" do you have? That's the power control center of the coach. What is needed is the make & model number.

[Dakota98]

smkettner wrote:
Wet-cell lead-acid likes to be fully charged and topped off with water.
By all means plug it in and check the water. After a week check the voltage on the battery terminals. s/b 13.2 to 13.5 volts.

OP stated the batteries are "sealed"

[roadtriptoforev]

How do I find out what kinda charger? There is a whole house alternator, and a control in the house that shows the charge level

[roadtriptoforev]

I appreciate the help. I'm very new to this so wasn't sure what information to provide. It's a 2003 national tropi-cal m350. Diesel Spartan chassis

[time2roll]

Wet-cell lead-acid likes to be fully charged and topped off with water.
By all means plug it in and check the water. After a week check the voltage on the battery terminals. s/b 13.2 to 13.5 volts.