Burned off Battery Hold-down Strap

[PIPEWRENCHGRIP]

Here is one that has me stumped. I bought a new Monaco Diplomat in July. We took a few short trips, then this fall we traveled to Arizona and then to South Texas for the winter. After getting settled in, a went to check the battery water in our house batteries. When I opened the battery compartment I discoved that the plastice buckle on the hold down strap had burned off. Also one of the metal hooks was badly corroded. I assumed at the time that the strap must have been in contact with one of the positive battery posts.

I then found a new plastic buckle, cleaned up the corrosion and reinstalled the hold down strap, making sure it can't touch any of the battery posts. Guess what!!! About a month later I went to check the batteries again and the buckle was burned off again. This all occured while we were plugged into shore power.

Something is setting up a current thru this strap, but I can't imagine how.

Can anyone shed some light on this situation?

[garykd]

Hi PIPEWRENCHGRIP,

It sounds like your batteries are out gassing quit a bit. There is a remote possibility that the battery tops are so dirty that they are conducting AMPs to the hold down straps. If the battery tops are dirty, start by cleaning them thoroughly.

Look at the following:

1. Charger voltage to the batteries. Maintenance voltage should be 13.4 VDC.

2. Are the battery casings walls straight (vertical). Or are they bulge outward?

3. Are the battery connections clean and secure? Especially the negative cable (on both ends).

4. How often do you need to add water?

5. The water you add, is it distilled water?

6. When running without shore power, how long will the batteries last (down to a 12.1 VDC reading)?

Let us know what you find.

[PIPEWRENCHGRIP]

Hi PIPEWRENCHGRIP,

It sounds like your batteries are out gassing quit a bit. There is a remote possibility that the battery tops are so dirty that they are conducting AMPs to the hold down straps. If the battery tops are dirty, start by cleaning them thoroughly.

Look at the following:

1. Charger voltage to the batteries. Maintenance voltage should be 13.4 VDC.

2. Are the battery casings walls straight (vertical). Or are they bulge outward?

3. Are the battery connections clean and secure? Especially the negative cable (on both ends).

4. How often do you need to add water?

5. The water you add, is it distilled water?

6. When running without shore power, how long will the batteries last (down to a 12.1 VDC reading)?

Let us know what you find.

Thanks for your suggestions! The coach is new and batteries are clean. I think the charge rate is the problem. I have a Magnum Energy Management System and the Max Charge rate was set to only 10amps. This is what is was set at when I bought the coach. I never checked it before. I think what was happening is that the battery voltage continued to drop during the day when were using the DC lights and a few other DC appliances. The batteries would then recharge during the night hours, and at that time were gassing. This is what caused my strap to get corroded through. I reset the charge rate so it would mainting a full charge during the day. I hope this takes care of it.