akadeadeye Report post Posted January 10, 2015 I have 4 six volt deep cycle Interstate batteries that are 5 years old. I am very good at keeping distilled water in them. I check them every month on the first day of the month. They always have a trickle charge on them in our RV garage from the on-board inverter/converter charger. It shows about 13.5 to 13.9 volts on the control panel when "float charging" and I notice there are periods where the read out shows "fully charged". Recently I noticed some evidence of leakage on the garage floor (photo attached....the batteries are up front directly above the leak spots..that's a piece of cardboard to the right). The tops of the batteries show no corrosion at all. I keep them clean and spray red stuff on the terminals to prevent corrosion. So, what do you think is going on? I have not crawled underneath to try to look at the battery tray. It is very hard to see from below. Comments are appreciated. Don Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wolfe10 Report post Posted January 10, 2015 Don, Two things: Be sure you are not OVER filling the batteries. A common issue. 13.5 is the very high end of where float voltage should be unless ambient temperatures are below 40 degrees or so. If you have a smart inverter/charger, check the settings. If you are not able to keep float voltage between 13.2 and 13.5, consider using a HD timer (like 20 amp from a box store) to turn the charger on for just an hour or so a day while in storage. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
akadeadeye Report post Posted January 10, 2015 Brett, Thank you for your quick reply. Overfilling could be an issue, I admit. However, I don't understand where I would put a timer, and I am not aware of how the charger could be adjusted. I guess I need to do some homework. The higher float charge voltage is only recent and could be associated with colder ambient temps. It usually runs in the 13.2 to 13.4 range in warm weather. So where is this discharge coming from. Does it seep out of the fill holes, even with caps on? Don Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wolfe10 Report post Posted January 10, 2015 Don, What converter, charger or inverter/charger do you have. That will tell us if it is "smart" and if it can be adjusted. Yes, out the fill holes is the most likely, though, of course, you could have a cracked case. But a cracked case should show up as one cell using a lot more water than the others. And, as batteries age, it is common for one call to go bad before the others, That can leave your charger (even a smart one) trying to charge a 10 VDC battery (5 good cells, one bad) as though it was a 12 VDC battery (6 good cells). That will absolutely cause the remaining cells and usually other batteries on that circuit OVERcharged and therefore boiling. Since these are wet cell batteries, I would turn off the charger, wait overnight and use a battery hydrometer (under $10 at any auto parts house) to check SG (specific gravity) of the batteries. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
akadeadeye Report post Posted January 10, 2015 I agree that a hydrometer check is in order. Historically, one cell in one battery has shown to be slightly weaker than the others and it has been a while since I have checked SG. Thank you. Don Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hermanmullins Report post Posted January 11, 2015 Don, You said that your batteries are 5 years old. You may be getting to the end of their lives. It appears that they have served you well and are continuing to try to serve. You are doing all the right things for the batteries. How do they look, do any of the sides look to be bulging? Older batteries will expand due to pressure inside while charging. It may be time to consider retiring them to a nursing garage and replacing them with new upstarts that are young and ready to get to work. Herman Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
akadeadeye Report post Posted January 11, 2015 Herman, they are too young for a nursing garage. Assisted living is not out of the question however. I will "assist" them for a couple more years if possible. Don Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
alltooledup Report post Posted January 12, 2015 Nursing home and assisted living Yikes LoL. Agree with Brett cracked case you would have a bigger spot and need to fill the batt. Maybe you just overfilled and the cold caused an overcharge on some cells and created a boil over. Your nose will give you a hint that you might be overcharging ie acid smell. A long time ago we used to take the caps off of batteries that we charged with a high amperage dumb charger. If you did not you might have acid fountains through the vent holes in the caps The converter on my coach (2006 Damon) Intellepower is supposed to be a smart charger as it has a plug in module "wizard" that will desulphate a battery periodically to prolong its life. If your coach has this smart converter it may have done a little boil while it is desulphating. My converter is hidden away on top of the fresh water tank. I just discovered it by accident. It is one bay away from the batteries in a high and dry location I just bought a smart charger for use at home and it has a reconditioning mode that also will desuphate a battery. After reading many reviews of my Stanley smart 15/2 charger maintainer on Amazon it seems to have helped some and others were not so fortunate. I tried to recondition my snow plow truck battery that sits idle 99% of the year and it did not survive. The battery was weak but after the recondition it was la morte Kind off topic but maybe useful to others, the reason I bought the smart charger was I did not realize my Blue Ox Patriot brake had a wet cell battery in it. So it sat around not connected to power while we were not traveling. It would no longer work giving low battery warnings on its display. The helpful people at Blue Ox explained that the low battery was in the brake not the toad! (cant tell you how many times I started the toad motor to charge the low battery. It always did seem funny that a low battery could start the engine) I tried to charge it with the smart Stanley charger but it would not take. A completely dead battery cannot be charged with a smart charger. Then I paralleled the brake power cord with my lawn tractor battery and did a recondition cycle with the Stanley smart charger, which can take days. So the Patriot batt came back to life and the lawn tractor battery seemed more powerful also. The smart chargers can put out high frequency voltage to the battery to knock the sulphate off the plates. I have had some sucess but I also have smelled a strong acid smell from my Damon motorhome with the charge wizzard module and it did have lots of acid buildup on the terminals. I just got it so have no idea how old the batteries are or how they were maintained. The dealer said they had serviced the batteries but a month later they had acid flowers all over and were very low on water. I am hoping that the strong acid smell was from a normal desulphation cycle from the charge wizard. I am also hoping the smart converter with its wizard module will not overcharge and am keeping the coach powered up during storage. I have considered Brett's idea of using a timer but with this past weeks subzero temps I am leaning to keeping the coach powered when in storage to protect the batteries from freezing. I have seen battery cases that cracked from freeze expansion. Hope this was helpful to someone Akadeadeye keep us posted on what you find out.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
akadeadeye Report post Posted January 12, 2015 "my snow plow truck " "with this past weeks subzero temps" BBbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.............Thanks for your input alltooledup. If anyone would know how cold affects batteries you would. Bring your rig to Texas and thaw out. Don Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
