Left battery out all winter in Michigan....

[EnochLight]

Greetings everyone!

Forgive the noob post (and I apologize if this is in the wrong place or has been discussed before), but I am new to the RV world and just bought our first travel trailer last summer (a 2013 Gulfstream Amerilite 16BHC) new.

I keep it plugged in to shore power when at home, but this winter I accidentally forgot to pull my battery for storage inside the house. As a result, I left my TT plugged into shore power all winter long (a good 7 months) with the porch light on, but I am wondering if my battery has been damaged or if I need to do anything now at this point?

My battery is an Interstate HD24-DP that appears to be sealed, but then again... it has the two caps on top that I am assuming I can pull to add distilled water to (not sure).

Thanks for any advice!

*Note: my TT does not have a battery meter or battery level indicator

Here's a shot of my battery for reference:

[EnochLight]

*UPDATE*

NinerBikes wrote:
Unplug your travel trailer, and disconnect the single negative ground wire from the battery, the white wire. Measure your voltage at the terminals with the white wire disconnected. You should see 12.68 at around 50F to 12.73 volts at 70F if you leave the trailer unplugged from the wall, and the terminal disconnected overnight. Battery voltage fully charged is affected by the temperature of the battery at the time of measurement..

Alrighty, so I'm at 13.17 volts at 70F last night around 4PM. Just tested this morning at 9AM and I'm at 12.96 volts at 60F. According to the chart here, I feel confident that my battery is in great shape. Aside from me filling it up with distilled water too far, I think I'm good to go for the season! 🙂

Thanks to everyone who chimed in; cheers!

[EnochLight]

NinerBikes wrote:

EnochLight wrote:

colliehauler wrote:
Your yellow line is correct.

You mean the water level should be at the bottom where the yellow ring is at???

yes, at the bottom, where the yellow ring is at, just BELOW where the green portion of the battery top stops.

If you have doubts, go to somewhere where they sell new batteries, and pop the tops and have a look inside at what the factory level is at.

Crap. I really did overfill these bad! In fact, they weren't even low. 😞

I don't have doubts; just looking for the collective experience of the forums here to point me to the right answer. If everyone feels the fill point is at the bottom of the cylinders where the circular ring is at, then I'm good to go. I'll keep a rag handy and move along - since I never camp unplugged to shore, it's likely I won't have to fill these again for another year.

Cheers all!

[NinerBikes]

EnochLight wrote:

colliehauler wrote:
Your yellow line is correct.

You mean the water level should be at the bottom where the yellow ring is at???

yes, at the bottom, where the yellow ring is at, just BELOW where the green portion of the battery top stops.

If you have doubts, go to somewhere where they sell new batteries, and pop the tops and have a look inside at what the factory level is at.

[EnochLight]

colliehauler wrote:
Your yellow line is correct.

You mean the water level should be at the bottom where the yellow ring is at???

[colliehauler]

Your yellow line is correct.

[EnochLight]

westend wrote:
Those are a bit over filled but I wouldn't sweat it. Put a rag over and around the battery for the first charge as some acid may be expelled.

NinerBikes wrote:
Those are too high... they should only be filled to the bottom of the green top, preferably just below, to allow full venting during recharging.

Thanks guys - I was afraid of that. Still having a hard time interpreting the black line marking on the inside. I can't find any reference on Interstate's website. Ugh...

Are you suggesting the water level should be at the bottom of the cylinder where the black line goes around its perimeter?

*UPDATE:

Here's an illustration. The yellow is the black markings inside the cylinder. The red is where the water level is at.

[EnochLight]

NinerBikes wrote:
Unplug your travel trailer, and disconnect the single negative ground wire from the battery, the white wire. Measure your voltage at the terminals with the white wire disconnected. You should see 12.68 at around 50F to 12.73 volts at 70F if you leave the trailer unplugged from the wall, and the terminal disconnected overnight. Battery voltage fully charged is affected by the temperature of the battery at the time of measurement.

I just disconnected and tested. I'm at 13.17 volts at 70F currently. Will let it sit overnight and re-test tomorrow afternoon.

[NinerBikes]

Those are too high... they should only be filled to the bottom of the green top, preferably just below, to allow full venting during recharging.

[westend]

Those are a bit over filled but I wouldn't sweat it. Put a rag over and around the battery for the first charge as some acid may be expelled.

[EnochLight]

Hey guys, so I finally was able to check my water levels in my battery today. It's hard for me to tell, but are the levels supposed to be at the top of the black lines or at the bottom where the black lines circle the cylinders?

Check this out:



*Edit: to be clear, I already filled all 6 cells in the photos. They were each at the bottom where the cylinder where the black line circles the radius of cylinder.

[AKSuperDually]

I keep mine plugged in all the time. I do have a computerized wizard charger though. I plan to check the battery fluid, but hopefully mine survived fine. I run an electric heater to maintain 36F in the camper.

[Harvey51]

Interesting. I'm in Michigan and our nights are only now starting to hover above freezing. Are you using your plumbing in your 20 footer? I'm reluctant to flush my plumbing of antifreeze right now for fear of it freezing at night.

I'll be dewinterizing tomorrow. No freezing for our two day outing, high of 6 C, then freezing each night for four days over the weekend. I could use electric heating or winterize again. We aren't camping again until mid may. Winterizing takes less than a gallon of antifreeze so that would probably be the best way to go.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

At -20F that battery would have reveled at 15.0 volts float. At Prudoe we went above 1.30 specific gravity and 15.5 float.

[BFL13]

EnochLight wrote:

BFL13 wrote:
IMO the 6300 would do you no harm in winter at its 13.8v, which is still below ideal voltage for those temps. ( 13.8v is for 50F. Higher temps than that you need lower voltage; lower temps higher voltage )

So you would not "boil" the batteries but you would still need to destratify.

Some converters (not the 6300 or 7300) give a shot of 14.4v every so often to try to keep the batts from stratifying when on a Float at 13.2v (proper float voltage for 80F)

IMO dubious if that does much good when it is cold out, but haven't been there, done that, so can't say for sure.

So whatever converter you have, you should still use an hydrometer and see what the SG is. Then you may need to destratify as indicated.

Thanks. So... (and pardon my naïveté).. but is SG = specific gravity? I'm not familiar with battery maintenance like this. I have no idea what destratify means, nor what SG is in relation. Where would I find a hydrometer for something like this and a guide on.. well - a guide on what you're talking about? 🙂

Read this several times. I still refer to mine.

http://www.bestconverter.com/Books_c_67.html

Get a glass tube hydrometer with the bobber not those "other kinds" cost about $6.00