Batteries and motorhome storage

[Guest tmoning]

I have a 1995 36-foot Dutch Star on a Spartan chassis with a Cummins diesel engine and an Allison transmission. It has 60,000 miles on it. We have had to replace all four batteries (house and chassis) within the last week and are now replacing the alternator. The alternator was a Leece-Neville brand that lasted for 10 years. We have always stored our RV with a shore line connected and the battery switches on.

Based on the advice of the battery distributor, I believe now that I made the wrong decision concerning the shore line. They claim that charging the batteries for 24 hours per month will keep them in operational shape. I am unsure.

Another mistake was not checking the electrolyte in the batteries on a timely basis. It is very difficult to do this, as I must disconnect all wiring to the batteries before I have access to the fill ports. Still, it is obvious that my maintenance schedule must be greatly improved. Would you offer some advice on how I can improve the battery maintenance schedule, as well as whether the battery switches should be left on or off when the motorhome is in storage?

[Guest tmoning]

First, I would recommend that you review the battery article in the January 2005 issue of Family Motor Coaching ("RV Batteries," page 76). Lead acid batteries will self-discharge even if there is absolutely no load, so they must have some sort of maintenance of voltage when in storage. I am not sure charging them for 24 hours a month is a criteria. A battery needs to be recharged before it is more than half discharged (12.2 volts). Allowing a battery to deeply discharge shortens its life, and it will gas more during a recharge from a deep discharge since it will get hotter, thus requiring more water. It is absolutely necessary to irrigate the batteries before the plates are exposed from low electrolyte. If access to the fill plugs is a problem, maintenance-free batteries might be your best alternative. If shore power is available, you should consider purchasing a charger that will float the batteries at around 13.4 volts.

[lanerd]

tmoning's last sentence is the key to his reply. If your current inverter/charger does not have the three stage capability, then keeping shore power on all the time to keep the batteries charged will be very detrimental to the batteries as they will over charge and most if not all water/acid will be reduced.

If you don't have the three stage inverter/charger and don't want to spend the bucks on replacing yours, then instead of plugging in your rig to shore power, just purchase a small battery maintainer that has "float" capability and plug it into shore power and to your batteries. There are several brands at different costs. Walmart has one for about $20 bucks that works very well. Keep in mind, you will still need to occasionally check your water level, but after 18 months on mine, I have yet to add any water at all. Use your disconnect switch and isolate the batteries from your rig during storage.

Hope this helps

Ron

[Guest Wayne77590]

Access to batteries can be a major problem in that it keeps one from checking as often as they should. Over the years I have circumvented the problem with a "Battery Filler." You can search on those words without the quotes and find several distributors. And the price is typically under $10.

Here is one link for a Battery Filler

[nspencer]

We recently intalled a Qwik-fill on-board battery watering system on our coach. Can be seen at www.flow-rite.com and might be purchased at Camping World as well as other places.

It replaces all battery caps with caps that have a float cut off, then manifolded together. You just make one hose quick connect to a bulb pump, then pump from your distilled water jug until you feel resistance which means all floats have filled & closed.

We can not vouch for this, but am hoping this is the answer to an age old problem.

If it does work like we think, it should pay for itself in the extended life of the batteries, because you never have to open them again after the initial installation.

[garykd]

The battery fill caps in the previous post is a good idea. I had this product and it worked as advertised. I would make the same purchase again. If you replace your batteries again, consider the AGM technology of battery. They are sealed and need no water. I did this and am very pleased that I can take adding distilled water to the batteries off my list of maintenance tasks.

Contact the manufacturer of your charger and see if they have a module you can plug into the charger to make it a smart charger. This might eliminate the gasing of the liquid in your batteries. There should be no problem with having your coach connected to shore power for long periods of time. Over 11 million RVs come to Florida each winter. They check into a CG and park for months, connected to shore power.

[johnfv2]

Good bad or indifferent. I always leave 110 hooked up in my Coach when not in use. I did the same when I had a boat. I've never had a battery problem doing this. My boat batteries lasted me for 6 years. But yes you must check on the water at least 1 per month. I've installed a water fill system so I can fill the batteries without having to check their levels. My battery slide tray does not pull out far enough to see the rear fill holes of the rear battery. Having this system in place elevates having to check each cell to see if water (Distilled) is needed. Camping World has this system and it's even cheaper than what I paid for it at a Rally.

[Xplorer]

I have a bayonet disconnect for the engine battery,,,,,

I am plugged into a 110 line,,,,and check batteries monthly,,,,no problems with keeping it plugged in.......I run gen monthly,,,,,and have the furnace set to kick in at 33 if the temp gets that low.

No problems with the coach batteries after 3 years.