House battery "repair"?

[campingwiththor]

Bought a new deep cycle battery at Walmart last April 2015. (29dc 845mca) Maxx

Installed & all was good. I left it in the camper all winter+ ( 7 months ) with shore power disconnected. The camper was outside all winter.

So- the battery is dead. I checked the water levels & it has water.

Is there a way to save this battery or because it was outside unplugged all winter it's a lost cause?

Tks,
CWT

[jarata1]

Try a trickle charge

[MEXICOWANDERER]

JUST FOR DRILL-----

Charge battery on an old-fashioned wheel type battery charger. Charge on LOW setting until all 6 cells are not only bubbling, but roiling. Stop charging if you run your hand over any part of the battery and it feels hot.

I believe Wall-Fart only allows a one year warranty and the pimply faced Auto Dept. "Associates" are told to be strict about warranties.

Finding a garage that has an old-fashioned charger may be the hard part of this grand plan.

[bikendan]

if the OP had simply installed a battery disconnect switch, his battery would still be good.

my two 12v deep cycle batteries sat for 5 months in storage.
because i installed a $6 disconnect switch, they were still nearly fully charged at the end of the 5 months.

[wa8yxm]

Is there a way to save this battery? Likely no.. This is one of the problems with MARINE/deep cycle batteries, they are really starting batteries and when they die,,, they die.. Though sometimes you do get lucky.

Try a slow charger, like 10 amps or less for 3 or 4 hours, then use your multi-stage converter to fill it up.

But be aware. It may not last long, you may have lost capacity or it may have a shorteed cell (in which case it will nto charge)

True Deep Cycle batteries can go down to half full safely, and stand a much better chance of recovery if you "OH S***!" them but... Even then in your case I'd not hold my breath.

[eHoefler]

Replace it. Not covered under warranty. A battery that has been frozen can explode while charging.

[Almot]

Noise.

Disconnect them from loads - yes. And leave them floating on solar or whatever you have.

Otherwise, - OP saw what could happen.

New AGM - without floating charge - would lose about 10% after 4 months at 40-50F.
Flooded, "near full" after 6 months?... If stored at the North Pole, maybe.

[owenssailor]

mchero wrote:

gbopp wrote:

Almot wrote:

gbopp wrote:

smkettner wrote:
Solar seems better all the time.

I guess the sun shines 24/7 in southern California :@

With a normal size solar of +200W, for maintenance charging it doesn't need to shine very often.

Long absence was the main reason for me to buy AGM.

I understand but, we're talking about batteries, not charging systems.
Solar doesn't help at night if you have no battery to store the power.

Solar sure helps out in the winter if your rig is not plugged in and I bet the OP would not have lost his battery if a solar panel was connected.


For almost 12 years I had a 93 Pace Arrow Diesel that I wintered in New Hampshire w/o ANY power.
Never had an issues!

I would COMPLETELY charge the 4 Sams Club Golf cart batteries, disconnect & they would make it all winter.

Bought the batteries in 2005 and to this date the current owner is still using them.

Charge them completely & disconnect them! No need to take them inside during the winter.

Yes to the comments above. Fully charged and disconnectedd batteries will be fine for months. I've done that with our boat batteries for years. After 5-6 months they are still near full charge. There must have been a load on those batteries for them to discharge flat in 7 months.

[time2roll]

gbopp wrote:
I understand but, we're talking about batteries, not charging systems.
Solar doesn't help at night if you have no battery to store the power.

First two posts covered the battery issue.

I suggested solar to prevent purchasing a battery every year or two like so many do.
The issue of no float charge was mentioned in the OP.

Or just plug in but solar never forgets.

[mchero]

gbopp wrote:

Almot wrote:

gbopp wrote:

smkettner wrote:
Solar seems better all the time.

I guess the sun shines 24/7 in southern California :@

With a normal size solar of +200W, for maintenance charging it doesn't need to shine very often.

Long absence was the main reason for me to buy AGM.

I understand but, we're talking about batteries, not charging systems.
Solar doesn't help at night if you have no battery to store the power.

Solar sure helps out in the winter if your rig is not plugged in and I bet the OP would not have lost his battery if a solar panel was connected.


For almost 12 years I had a 93 Pace Arrow Diesel that I wintered in New Hampshire w/o ANY power.
Never had an issues!

I would COMPLETELY charge the 4 Sams Club Golf cart batteries, disconnect & they would make it all winter.

Bought the batteries in 2005 and to this date the current owner is still using them.

Charge them completely & disconnect them! No need to take them inside during the winter.

[gbopp]

Almot wrote:

gbopp wrote:

smkettner wrote:
Solar seems better all the time.

I guess the sun shines 24/7 in southern California :@

With a normal size solar of +200W, for maintenance charging it doesn't need to shine very often.

Long absence was the main reason for me to buy AGM.

I understand but, we're talking about batteries, not charging systems.
Solar doesn't help at night if you have no battery to store the power.

[CC_Crabman]

Covered by Warranty?

[Almot]

gbopp wrote:

smkettner wrote:
Solar seems better all the time.

I guess the sun shines 24/7 in southern California :@

With a normal size solar of +200W, for maintenance charging it doesn't need to shine very often.

Long absence was the main reason for me to buy AGM.

[gbopp]

smkettner wrote:
Solar seems better all the time.

I guess the sun shines 24/7 in southern California :@

[time2roll]

Solar seems better all the time.