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marty1300's avatar
marty1300
Explorer
Aug 06, 2017

Battery question

2011 tioga Montara, has WFCO WF8955AN Converter
Rv is plugged into house, it was completely closed up and propane was off, the propane alarm was going off Saturday am I went in hit reset opened 2 vents and left, came back later and it was going off again. I checked the batteries they are under steps near the propane detector. The voltage was good at 13.68 but I could hear a real slight gurgle when very close to them, also a bubble or 2 while I had the tops off. Water level looked okay just below top but the plates were covered. I shut everything off and unplugged from house. The voltage immediately dropped to 13.49. On Sunday (today) I checked voltage today at 2:00 and it was 12.74, then about 4:30 pm it was 12.68 . Could my batteries be going bad? Trying to locate the reciept I believe they are from 2014 or 2015. Connections look good no corrosion.

Any ideas ? Thank you marty
  • OP here- temps have been in the upper 90's here in Florida, I will keep an eye on them. checked at 7:00 pm eastern and they were at 12.65 with nothing on but the propane detector and any parasitic drag I don't know about

    Thanks for the info/advice
  • what was/is the ambient air temp, how hot are the batteries

    your batteries voltage is find, i suspect the 'detector' was alarming because of the very slight amount of hydrogen sulfide gas that was being released

    13.68v might be a tad high for float voltage at 100*

    depending on battery chemistry

    at high summer temps setting unused, a low amp battery tender is a better option than some converters for correct float voltage
    a battery is unlikely to bubble a pair of batteries
  • Batteries seem great by those measurements. There will always be bubbles when chargimg.
  • Anytime you disturb your batteries, you'll get some release of bubbles, they get trapped by the plate seperators. If I were you, I'd look into getting a Progressive Dynamics converter, much better than the WFCO. Probably sulphated to some degree. I'd monitor the drop over a 24 hour period to see if they are on the way out,,,

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