battery maintenance

[Sir_Traveller]

Hello everyone
What is the best way to check the water levels on deep cycle batteries ? Do I disconnect them ( whether or not they need water refill ) ? Or just shut off the electricity from the hookup ? do I use bottled water or has to be distilled water to refill ( if necessary ) ? I am new to this so any tips will help, thanks a lot

[CincyGus]

Safety glasses, a Turkey Baster and a gallon of distilled water.

[ncrowley]

Definitely get a battery water filling system. You should check the water level often and these systems make it SO easy. Just be sure and only use distilled water.

[et2]

https://flow-rite.com/battery-watering/marine-rv/pro-fill-rv


We use this system to fill our 6 batteries. They aren't on a sliding tray and would be hard to top off otherwise. Once or twice a month in summer with distilled water and they're on their fifth year.

[Sir_Traveller]

thanks to everyone who took the time to reply, I appreciate it

[DrewE]

Agreed; the only reason why one would need to disconnect and/or remove them would be if physical access were impossible otherwise.

As it happens, on my motorhome I do need to remove at least one of the two batteries to get access to all the fill caps, which is a little inconvenient. I often take the opportunity to pull the batteries out and hook them up to a manual charger for a proper equalization at the same time, since I have to wrangle them around in any case.

[wa8yxm]

I must have seen this in a different forum family

No need to shut off or disconnect,, Fill to 1/4th to 1/8th inch below the bottom of the filler tube. Filling too full can cause "Spitting" of acid.

DISTILLED WATER ONLY.

[sgfrye]

Optimistic Paranoid wrote:
There's no reason to unhook the wires, nor even, I believe to shut down any loads. All you're doing is physically checking the fluid level, which is NOT affected by any electricity flowing in or out of the battery at the time.

Ideally, you want to use distilled water for longest battery life. In an emergency, if there were really low cells and no distilled water available, I, personally would use any water that I could drink and that didn't have any funny taste.

Distilled water is specified because any dissolved minerals in water could potentially contaminate the cells, and shorten both their capacity and their life. But I think running them with plates exposed to the air does even more damage.

x2 for me also.

i check fluid about once a month year round and leave my rig plugged into shore power at home to keep batteries charged,

even cheap wally world 12 deep cycles will last a long time if maintained properly

[Lwiddis]

Wear face protection or at least eye protection.

[Tal_IL]

Just get a battery fill bottle with valve. I carry one in a compartment. (Back in the day, every gas station had them around.) My batteries are under the entrance steps and I just open the compartment, remove the caps, and top them off. The battery bottle valve prevents any spills.

[Harvey51]

I haven’t figured out how to top up the batteries without taking them out of their compartment, which is a bit of a pain since they are belted in.

[Boon_Docker]

Also disconnect the battery (negative side) cable (if there is no disconnect switch) when the trailer is in storage and not plugged in to shore power.

[time2roll]

Best way is with a filling system where you just pump the water in and the caps stop the flow when full 😉

Otherwise just open the caps and check the fluid level. Most important part is eye protection. Fill to 1/4" to 1/8" below the split ring that extends down into the cell. Just touching would be max and may still push some electrolyte out during charging. Best to check water level when battery is close to full charge.

Distilled water only. The minerals for taste in bottled water will degrade the battery. Especially any minute amount of iron.

[Optimistic_Para]

There's no reason to unhook the wires, nor even, I believe to shut down any loads. All you're doing is physically checking the fluid level, which is NOT affected by any electricity flowing in or out of the battery at the time.

Ideally, you want to use distilled water for longest battery life. In an emergency, if there were really low cells and no distilled water available, I, personally would use any water that I could drink and that didn't have any funny taste.

Distilled water is specified because any dissolved minerals in water could potentially contaminate the cells, and shorten both their capacity and their life. But I think running them with plates exposed to the air does even more damage.