New TT battery box full of water

[limbery]

Opened up my plastic battery box on my 2 month old TT, and found it was full of water...there are a couple of ventilation slots on the tp so I guess it got in there.... I was worried something could short out or something? I drilled a half doz. holes in the bottom of the box so water will drain out.... Is this unusual? Why wouldn't the box have some sort of drainage? It sits right behind my propane tanks.

[Boskie]

Camper G wrote:
On my layton I noticed my box was 1/2 full off water as well...a few holes in the bottom corners and all is well. Your battery should not be leaking...if it has a case leak it should be replaced. So if it's just rain water and the battery case is sound I see nothing wrong with putting some holes in the box to drain out the water.

Think I will drill a few drain holes in my box as well. The vent wholes on top allow some water to enter..

[Passin_Thru]

Yes! It is unusual to drill a dozen holes. 4 would suffice. Did I answer your question? LOL

[Camper_G]

On my layton I noticed my box was 1/2 full off water as well...a few holes in the bottom corners and all is well. Your battery should not be leaking...if it has a case leak it should be replaced. So if it's just rain water and the battery case is sound I see nothing wrong with putting some holes in the box to drain out the water.

[RetiredSFC_97]

Mine gets water in it as well. After ten years I'm going to drill some holes as well. It won't hurt a thing. Just haven't got around to it yet, but it hasn't hurt anything by having water get in it.

[DB2BRMI]

limbery wrote:
I'm hesitant to seal the vents at the top though, since they're there to vent gases right?

Check out the lid on your battery box. Mine has no shortage of "vent" opportunities due to the gaps between the lid and the top edge of the box. The lid is not sealed tight to the box (look at the gap where the cables exit the battery box - space for gas exchange). Sealing the two little "vents" at the top of the lid is not going to make your battery box an unvented space. But - sealing those vents on the top of the lid will keep rain out.
DB2

[mrkoje]

Ironically I need to get a 9v square battery to put in my multimeter so I can check the reading on my trailer batteries. I'm hesitant to hook my slow charger right now because of the amount of water I here sloshing back and forth on the bottom of the battery. I've never heard that much water before even on the wet cell batteries.

[bhh]

+38 (or so).

I found a couple of inches of water in the bottom of my new TT. Drilled some holes. My thought was, what's going to happen when that water freezes? Hopefully the box will crack and not the battery.

[brulaz]

Well thanks to this thread I just checked the 2 new 6V golf cart batteries on my new trailer. And, sure enough, one of the "marine" cases was completely full, with water over the top of the battery.

Don't understand why that one was not shorted. Measured 13.3V across the both of them as they were being charged by the trailer which was plugged in to 110V.

Anyway, drilled the holes and drained the cases, disconnected the batteries from the trailer and am now bulk charging with my fancy charger. They look to be still good.

Thanks to you all.

[Chuck_thehammer]

the only reason a battery will boil out water/acid. is being OVER charged...

and how often does the battery boil over in your car/truck. it has drain holes..

I just purchased my first TT (used)... and the battery box was full of water.. completely covering the battery.
had battery LOAD tested and drilled holes in box..

my opinion. retired auto mechanic 43 years...

[RoyB]

I drilled a couple of holes in the bottom of my battery case. The vents for my battery case remain in place as they are there to vent off battery fumes

In your case I would also check the battery for proper fluid level. The fluids you had in the battery box may have battery fluids...

Batteries may boil out their fluids if left on charge for a long time period using a single mode 13.6VDC type converter/charger. I have a smart mode type converter/charger unit on my batteries but always check the battery fluids every month or so. Just a good habit to get into...

Roy Ken

[dodge_guy]

mrkoje wrote:
I just removed my batteries today and... the boxes were full of water! I'm not sure how long these batteries have been partially submerged. Now I can here water inside the batteries sloshing around. That can't be good right? Any ideas if these batteries are salvageable?

If they are wet cell batteries then yes you will here Water sloshing around! make sure they are full.

[Heavy_Metal_Doc]

If the battery cells are full, then do a load test and then just drill / drain the battery boxes.
As others here have said already -- cars don't have closed battery boxes, just protection over the terminals. Heck, equipment like tractors usually have them half out in the weather and work fine.
The plastic boxes used to mount batteries outside is more about protecting the terminals on something wide open like a TT a-frame.
When mounted inside a vehicle / boat / RV, it's more desirable to NOT have drain holes so as to contain any acid that might leak out of the battery and cause damage to interior....different situations requiring different methods....

[ExxWhy]

Another vote for the drill.

[time2roll]

Open the vents and check the water (acid) level.