Hi,
I need some help on an electrical issue. This winter, my U280 in storage, I plugged it in overnight to charge up the batteries. I came back about 24 hours later and the battery compartment was "warm" with a couple of the batteries (one brand new engine battery, two 4 yr old house batteries) kinda bubbling like soda pop. one of the caps had popped off one of the batteries. It looked like I was overcharging and "boiling" the batteries.
4 yrs ago I put in new house batteries and a brand new power dynamics converter- the factory original one boiled the batteries and blew the top off one of them. I'm wondering if this scenario is repeating?
Other thought is one of the two older house batteries has a dead cell?
Open to ideas and suggestions going forward.
Thanks,
You really need to disconnect the batteries and test them individually with a load test. First, they need to be fully charged (assuming they will take a charge). Then a known load is applied for a set amount of time. At the end of the time, voltage is read and then you can calculate the amp hour capacity. Or you can get a load tester that makes it much simpler ::)
Such as; Amazon.com: Auto Meter (SB-5/2) 800 Amp Variable Load Battery/Electrical... (http://www.amazon.com/Auto-Meter-SB-5-Variable-Electrical/dp/B001U9H09E)
Or the one I bought (I don't think I got it from this place though); Solar 1000 Amp Carbon Pile Load Tester (http://www.remybattery.com/solar-1000-amp-carbon-pile-load-tester.html)
Don
What was voltage reading at the batteries when this happened?
Either one battery is bad OR they are being overcharged by the converter providing too high a voltage.
Either one battery is bad OR they are being overcharged by the converter providing too high a voltage.
Yep, that was the two scenarios I laid out. I will hook up electrical for a couple hours and pull the batteries and have them tested. I'd have done this already but FT is at the back of the building and its a long way to carry those batteries :(
Thanks all!
nt
if you have the progressive dynamics convertor for $30 you can buy a plug in module that converts it to a 4 stage smart charger (but does not have a battery temp sensor) If you have the smart module is the LED light on constant?
We have the OEM converter installed and still working well. It keeps the house at about 13.5 volts but the plug-in module sounds good. How about a link to the site? Thanks in advance.
Pierce
It this the module you found? Inteli-Power® 4600 Series - Progressive Dynamics (https://www.progressivedyn.com/rv/power-converters/inteli-power-4600-series/)
Pierce
The smart 4 stage module is only for the inteli-power 9100 series. It is called the Charge Wizard. It has a 4 pin connector that just plugs into the convertor with small gauge wiring so 5 minute install time with no programming. My guess it only enables features already built into the convertor unit, including a desulfication mode.