Bubbling batteries

[SCOTT JORDAN]

Hey folks,

During a check of fluids and such, I removed the house battery caps to find the water low (just above the plates).  The 6v batteries were also bubbling.  The MH was plugged in to shore power.  The combined voltage is 14.2v while plugged up and 13.5v when not.
It appears that the inverter/charger is "cooking" my batteries.

Should the batteries be bubbling?

Should they be disconnected while idle?

Thanks

Scott

 

[Jim Dick]

Hi Scott,

Batteries will bubble when they are being charged. Your condition may or may not be normal depending upon whether the charger was active at the time. 14.2 seems a little high to me as mine run around 13.40 when charged and on float. 14.2 might be OK if the batteries have been discharged but it's not a normal reading. You might want to check the condition of the charger.

 

[Jeff]

When I was in Arlington WA last month I went down to Xantrex ( a block from my old office) to ask about charging rates, They suggested pulling the temp compensator on my Freedom 2000 and checking the voltage with it unplugged. Charging rate dropped .3 volts and my battery water has been constant since.

They also gave me a new temp sensor gratis. 8) 8)

 

[SCOTT JORDAN]

After further inspection of the converter/charger (not inverter/charger) it tells me the max output is 13.4v.  However, it also has what appears to be a phone jack that indicates that a charge rate of 14.4v can be obtained by plugging in something.  There is a plug installed with 2 wires looped back to the plug.

Any ideas on what this might be?  Should I remove the plug to find out if the charge rate will reduce?

Thanks

Scott

 

[Jeff]

After further inspection of the converter/charger (not inverter/charger) it tells me the max output is 13.4v.  However, it also has what appears to be a phone jack that indicates that a charge rate of 14.4v can be obtained by plugging in something.  There is a plug installed with 2 wires looped back to the plug.

Any ideas on what this might be?  Should I remove the plug to find out if the charge rate will reduce?

Thanks

Scott

Scott:

If you have an Intellicharger built by Progressive Dynamics there is a jack for a Charge Wizard that makes the charger  a 3 phase charger. I added one to our last m/h and it stopped almost all water usage in the batteries. Cost is low and it is available at CW.

 

[Bob Zambenini]

Should the batteries be bubbling?


Thanks

Scott

At the risk of dating myself, I grew up on farm and as a little guy I was sometime was told to watch the batteries being charged. As this was before anything automatic, I would look at the plates and when the bubbles would come off and up to surface at a slow count of 1-2-3 they were fully charged and time to turn off charger.

On a previous motorhome I had the trickle charger system so when cold camping I would run my generator and put the charger on the house batteries. After about an hour to  get the bubbles coming off at a steady pace and they would be fully charged.

If you are getting gas coming at a 'bubbling' pace I would say you have some overcharging.

Bob

 

[John From Detroit]

Scott:

If you have an Intellicharger built by Progressive Dynamics there is a jack for a Charge Wizard that makes the charger  a 3 phase charger. I added one to our last m/h and it stopped almost all water usage in the batteries. Cost is low and it is available at CW.

My rig came equipped with the intella-charger/charge wizard pair already installed.  In doing research into batteries, and the charging thereof.  I was unable to find another charger that bettered the Intella Charger/charge wizard combo for flooded wet cells

One thing the combo will do is an equailze cycle every so many hours, this is a controled overcharge.

So far, I had to add water to my work-a-holics one time, at about the 1 year point,  tihs is 100% normal usage (Actually, kind of on the low side)

 

[King]

One thing that nobody has yet mentioned,  as batteries age their efficiency drops off. it takes more power to fully charge them.  There comes a time when a continuing charge current is unable to get the battery voltage up.  The difference shows up as heat, and will cause the battery to use water even when the charger is working correctly.  How old are the batteries?
Art

 

[Jim Dick]

One thing that nobody has yet mentioned,  as batteries age their efficiency drops off. it takes more power to fully charge them.  There comes a time when a continuing charge current is unable to get the battery voltage up.  The difference shows up as heat, and will cause the battery to use water even when the charger is working correctly.  How old are the batteries?
Art

Art,

Good point!!! Batteries do come to a end eventually.

 

[John From Detroit]

Not just that but they hold less charge... I now have a nice pertty box with a couple of meters and a dial which can draw power faster than my Xantrex inverter (in fact it can draw power 2.5 times as fast as the xantrex, 500 amps of power) 

If it's a starter battery you read the CCA, divide by 2 and twist the dial till the left meter reads the number you got, when the beeper sounds read the right dial and twist the dial back to zero (Fully ccw)  If it's a deep cycle you read the AH rating and tripple it, crank the dial to that number and again when the beeper beeps read the right dial, same method.

Unhook VERY CAREFULLy as battery clips do warm up a bit at 500 amps