Batteries Warm

[andysherard]

I’ve got a used 2018 27FB that is less than a year old. The batteries lost their charge and needed water in the cells. After adding water I’ve noticed the batteries seem exceptionally warm and are making small hissing sound with a strange odor.

All electrical seems to be working fine.
Thoughts?

[cwf]

Shut off the converter. They are known to cause these symptoms. Replace the converter.. most owners appear to have made this repair. Your batteries may be “toast”

[AtomicNo13]

If the plates were exposed to air while charging, they have been damaged.

[rmkrum]

Trying to charge batteries that are running hot and hissing is an indication they are ruined. All you are doing is wasting power and making the batteries boil off electrolyte and hydrogen gas (flammable and an explosion hazard) from the cells.

Sulfuric acid may actually spew out of the batteries. This is s serious hazard. I’ve had it happen. It took several gallons of water and boxes of Baking Soda to neutralize the acid all over the batteries and inside my battery box. Nightmare to clean it up.

It’s not necessarily a bad converter, but it’s not helping the situation.

Water level checking is vital to the health of a conventional flooded lead acid battery. I installed a battery watering system to make it much easier to do.

Plan to get new batteries and a better converter if need be.

[OTRA15]

Well said, Rich.

Welcome to the forum, andy!

Have an expert check the output of your converter, and plan on replacing the batteries at a minimum. The standard Airstream converter is perfectly functional if you manage it correctly. It is, however, not a "set-it-and-forget-it" device.

This Battery School site is a good source for info on RV batteries:

http://www.batteriesnorthwest.com/ba...hool.cfm?TID=0

You should also read your owner's manual carefully about battery charging and management.

There are plenty of earlier threads/posts on "bad batteries" which can be accessed via the new search function above in the blue box [on the desktop version of this site]:

https://www.google.com/search?q=bad+...=airforums.com

Good luck,

Peter

[andysherard]

Thanks to everyone for the comments.

[gklott]

Originally Posted by andysherard

I’ve got a used 2018 27FB that is less than a year old. The batteries lost their charge and needed water in the cells. After adding water I’ve noticed the batteries seem exceptionally warm and are making small hissing sound with a strange odor.

Everyone is right - replace converter and batteries. This happened to us at the KOA in San Diego one weekend. We had the same symptoms: hot, smell, and sound.

Don't do what we did - one for one converter replacement. Being on the road, and being that the local RV parts place had what we needed, we missed the chance to get better. Upgrade your converter to a better one.

Also, recommend AGM batteries.

73/gus