house batteries

[wb13798]

along with my other problems i have a bad battery. i have had this coach three years and i have had to replace the house batterys every year . i have been using INTERSTATE batterys and they are not meeting my expectations. thinking of going to gel cells or something else., any thing but INTERSTATE brand. the bad one is just out of warranty and INTERSTATE WANTS ALMOST THE PRICE OF A NEW ONE TO REPLACE. NOT..have used Excide for the coach battery from walmart and it gets replaced about every year under warranty . any one have a suggestion for a RELIABLE replacement..


SURE IS FUN WORKING ON AND AIRSTREAM MOTORHOME THIS RIG IS WORSE THAN THE SQUATTING WOMAN IN A CAVE!!!!!!

[74Argosy24MH]

I would look at the charging system. 3 batteries in 3 years would seem to indicate a problem other than the battery.

John

[ALANSD]

for comparison- the coach batteries in mine were replace by the po in 1999.
They were run down quite a bit when i first got the unit as it had been sitting off charge for awhile. After I plugged them in that first time they have had no problem maintaining a charge. They are marine type batteries and were 80 dollars each almost4 years ago.

[davidz71]

You should be getting from 3-5 yrs. out of your house battery. Something is just not right. You either have a phantom draw from the battery going somewhere or you are not getting a proper charge to the battery. Have your alternator checked out to see that it is putting out the proper amperage. It is my understanding that many RVers like the Interstate as well as the Exide batteries. How often do you drive your rig? If it is not plugged in for charging or driven around periodically, batteries will discharge over a period of time.

[FrankR]

Batteries require more than just drawing out energy. Any new battery can be destroyed in just a matter of 4-5 heavy drawdown of power. Any serious drawdown of power from a battery that exceeds 50% of the battery capacity, will destroy that battery in a very short time period. Any battery that is drawn down to 12.0 volts repeatedly should say good bye to that battery. Batteries require carefull charging and monitoring. Batteries inherently lose about 6% per month just while sitting with no activity. A small output charger controlled with a time clock will keep a battery ready to be used for a long time. Many RV battery users get very ofter 6-8 years from a cared for battery. The best tool for care anf feeding of a battery is a digital voltmeter. Charging is best low and slo rather than hi and fast.

Battery voltage at rest

% Capacity voltage
remaining at 77 deg
100 12.63
90 12.54
80 12.45
70 12.36
60 12.27
50 12.18
40 12.09
30 12.00
20 11.91
0 11.82

[ALANSD]

footnote on my post from above- my house batteries went down to 10.7 volts over the weekend, and seemed overcharged by the smell of acid.
I unplugged them and they did rise back to almost 12 by the evening. I had to plug in the shore power for heat when the temp dropped to 27 degrees later that same night, and the batteries came back up a bit but not far enough yet. I am going to unplug them from the univolt and recharge them individually with my portable charger to see if they will recover.
Guess I spoke too soon about them before!

[wb13798]

did all of the cells have water in them ??? that is what my house batterys did, but i needed water in one cell. end result that cell was bad in one of the batteries. i have been looking at rv batteries and warranties .the best warranty i have found is at sams club . the stoway tournament series batteries are warrented for 18 months with free replacement. and they are less expensive that the interstate batteries.. the sales clerk says he has never replaced a battery to date . at one time the stoway battery was no good they were made by gnb , now i think they are made by exide. it did get a bit on the cold side a couple nights ago.

[Howard Lefkowitz]

Try Trojan deep cycle batteries. I have been using these for 8 years since I started having problems with the Interstates. You can get them from West Marine stores. I also tossed my Ener-Genius charger many years ago for a Statpower computer controlled charger. This unit has two separate outputs and I use it for both the coach and engine batteries. Problems long gone.

[ALANSD]

mine are sealed. Delco Marine/rv. Can't check or add water which ticks me off but they came with the coach. I have my charger on one right now trying to get it back to full voltage...
I also saw some rv/marine at walmart with a decent warranty, but don't rememder details....$65-70 each.
I think mine were overcharged- hoing they might be ok, but will know after attempting the charge.

Here is my opinon on those so called deep cicle maint. free deep cicle batteries. I have been messing with them in my Wellcraft boats I owned for the past 30 years. The batteries are not maintainance free, they loose there water just like any other battery. You can take a small screwdriver and pop off the two caps, 3 cells each and refill the batteries with destilled water or battery acid. Befor you buy bateries, have them load tested and have your alternator checked. Altenator berrings will wear out normaly and the distance between the amateur and field will change, giving it a dead short. JUST MY OPINION ON THE ISSUE.

[NewStreamer]

I am quite satisfied with my 2 Yellow Optima's, they seem to be well made.

Ron

[ralley]

Originally Posted by wa3vez

Try Trojan deep cycle batteries. I have been using these for 8 years since I started having problems with the Interstates. You can get them from West Marine stores. I also tossed my Ener-Genius charger many years ago for a Statpower computer controlled charger. This unit has two separate outputs and I use it for both the coach and engine batteries. Problems long gone.

Did you throw the whole energenius thing out, or just the battery charger?

[SilverRanger]

My 05 Bambi came with a couple of Lifeline glass matt batteries. It's probably too early make an assesment, but so far, they have been fantastic in terms of taking a charge and longevity. When not in use, the 55 watt solar panel easily keeps them at full charge, and when in use it doesn't take long to charge them back up. I was wondering if anyone has had any experiences with them, either good or bad.

[Howard Lefkowitz]

Originally Posted by ralley

Did you throw the whole energenius thing out, or just the battery charger?

I threw out everything but the distribution panel. I removed the transformer and all wires to the charger as well as some circuit boards. I kept the DC fuse panel and the AC circuit breaker panel so I did not have to touch the Motor Home wiring.

[ralley]

Thanks, I thought as much. Most decent battery chargers these days are 3 stage. I may try to figure a way to hold on to the AC /DC bat charger and I think I will use a Xantrex charge controller to handle battery charging from DC and solar. We shall see how it goes. The old girl needs new batteries anyway!!!

Thaks very much,
Rob

[steelbird312]

Many things effect batteries; the greatest of which is owner ignorance, bringing up the next to greatest which is lack of maintenance or proper care.
With batteries, rather than reading our comments, which are mostly opinions, go to Google, seek out one of the major battery manufactures website, (Deka is the largest manufacturer in the world- look up that one)and read the facts.

There you will find that starting with two new battries that receive a proper initial charge is necessary. Don't expect the selling place to give them a proper initial charge. Then, DEPENDING ON WHAT TYPE BATTERIES YOU HAVE PURCHASED, you must be aware, through the use of a digital volt meter, to what level you are 'using down' your batteries prior to recharge. Water levels are crucial. Sulfation control is extremely important, which can be controlled during storage, through the use of a Battery Maintainer- NOT A REGULAR CHARGER OR TRICKLE CHARGER!
If your equipment, that is powered by the battery is faulty, then it's not the battery's fault. Also, if you discharge them too deeply, or don't keep them charged PROPERLY, especially during storage, it's not the battery's fault.
With you having so many problems, it is possible you have a piece of bad equipment, your cables may be faulty, your charger may be charging too high (boil out the water) or too low and letting the batteries sulfate. Many parts and pieces to the puzzle to make it work properly. I might suggest, however, that with that many batteries going bad, it probably is not the battery manufacturer's fault.
Good luck!

[lewster]

Ranger,

I just changed out my new Interstates that came with my '06 19CCD for Lifeline AGM's. They are superior batteries in many ways. You can position them in any way you like, they only lose 2-3% of charge every month due to extremely low internal resistance, they require only a slightly higher charging voltage due to this low resistance (unlike regular lead-acid types) and the big bonus......you never have to check the electrolyte! Plus, you can discharge them to 50% on a regular basis with no damage.

Works for me!