poked Report post Posted September 30, 2010 New to FMCA. Have bought a 2004 LaPalma with a pair of 6-volt batteries (Interstate U2200s) in place. The last owner replaced the batteries in February 2009. It looks like there is room for two more batteries in the compartment, so I would like to add them for additional dry camp power. I use a breathing device to sleep and since we camp a lot at military bases, we run into dry camp scenario's fairly frequently in Florida. My concern is that the existing batteries are over 1 year old and I know that there are charging disparities if you don't have fairly consistent ages in the batteries. Looking for advice. Thanks. Ed Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wolfe10 Report post Posted September 30, 2010 Ed, Welcome to the FMCA Forum. There are no concrete answers to whether you can reasonably combine two new (same kind and brand is best) with 2 that are a year old. Much of the answer depends on whether the existing batteries have been well cared for: not deeply discharged, never deeply discharged and stored that way, never run low enough on water to expose the plates and never severely overcharged (kept over 14 VDC for long periods of time). If they have been well cared for, I would just add the two new ones. If not, replace all 4. Brett Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
poked Report post Posted October 4, 2010 Thks, I checked with hydrometer and they both read in the 13 Plus range so think I will add 2 and see. Not having owned the rig before May of this year I am not sure but they look good and the box did not have any evidence of recent "boil over". Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnFreyja Report post Posted October 5, 2010 Ed, Make sure when you check the voltage that they aren't still connected to the charger! Otherwise you are getting the voltage that is currently being charged. They should be disconnected for about 24 hours for an accurate voltage and buy a cheap hydrometer to check specific gravity of each cell. John 05 Inspire Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
poked Report post Posted October 5, 2010 Thanks......the batteries have been disconnected sitting on a pallet outside the coach for a week now while I spiff up inside the battery compartment. Waiting for mats to arrive and need to get new cables made up tomorrow for the new batteries as well. Figured I might as well freshen it all up while I was at it so I can move on to some other maintenance issues. The coach has 30K on it now and since we will head south for a month or so in Jan, need to get the jacks and wheels serviced since I don't find any evidence that they have been done in the records that came with the rig. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
