I recently checked my RV battery and found it to be pretty much bone dry. The converter (Progressive Technologies) light had been indicating everything to be normal up to this point. I topped the battery off with water and hooked it back up to see if I could manage to get any life out of it. The lights went thru the normal boost, then regular charge and then to trickle over the course of about a day. I checked the water level again today and found one cell dry and the battery was quite warm. I topped the one cell off again and reconnected. The converter went to boost charge (approx. 14 volts)the battery again got quite warm (hot actually). I even checked the line voltage at the cables with the battery unhooked because I thought I may have reconnected it wrong. (One heavy gauge white and one light gauge black to -Neg and one heavy gauge red and one light gauge red to +Pos) Would a shorted battery be doing this?

Yes those are the signs of a classic shorted cell.Remove the battery and see what voltage it holds after a couple days.

Bad battery symptom. Have it load checked at a auto store. Always take pictures before removing any wiring.

smkettner wrote:Yes those are the signs of a classic shorted cell.Remove the battery and see what voltage it holds after a couple days.x2, and get it out of the system. To verify have it load tested and then replace it.

I forgot to mention that the sides are bulging too. Yep. Me thinks a new battery is definately in my future.:(

Sounds like it may have been frozen over the winter.Jim

Why is my converter is cooking my battery? | Good Sam Community

time2roll
Nomad
May 22, 2013
Yes those are the signs of a classic shorted cell.
Remove the battery and see what voltage it holds after a couple days.
CA_Traveler
Explorer III
May 22, 2013
Bad battery symptom. Have it load checked at a auto store.

Always take pictures before removing any wiring.
hmknightnc
Explorer
May 22, 2013
smkettner wrote:
Yes those are the signs of a classic shorted cell.
Remove the battery and see what voltage it holds after a couple days.

x2, and get it out of the system. To verify have it load tested and then replace it.
Huckleby
Explorer
May 22, 2013
I forgot to mention that the sides are bulging too. Yep. Me thinks a new battery is definately in my future.:(
HiTech
Explorer
May 22, 2013
Sounds like it may have been frozen over the winter.

Jim
mena661
Explorer
May 22, 2013
Huckleby wrote:
I forgot to mention that the sides are bulging too. Yep. Me thinks a new battery is definately in my future.:(
Oh yeah, definitely bad battery.
pianotuna
Nomad III
May 22, 2013
Hi,

If you boondock look at maximizing the number of amp-hours with the replacement battery bank.
skipnchar
Explorer
May 22, 2013
It SOUNDS to me like you have a battery with an internal short. If it's WARM to the souch I'd get it off line ASAP. They CAN explode if they get too hot. Time to replace that battery.
Sandia_Man
Explorer II
May 22, 2013
Battery is toast at this point and should be replaced immediately as converter can suffer a premature death attempting to keep bad battery charged.
RoyB
Explorer II
May 22, 2013
Also if you have two or more batteries in this setup then the other batteries should also be replaced if they are older batteries. This would especially tru if your batteries are older than a year or so. The new battery may get sucked down to the same level as the older batteries and not last as long as a new battery should...

This just happened to me last season. One of my three 85AH 12VDC batteries had a shorted cell and boiled out all of the fluids. Got real warm when I tried to rejuvenate it. I am down to two batteries this season so I am also in the market for more batteries. Mine are at least all 12VDC sizes.

My converter is the PD9260C

Just my thoughts
Roy Ken