Running the Heart 2500, 8 hour maintenance on my 4 flooded batteries. Did it once 7 months ago. Brings them up to 16 volts to clean the plates ( disulfate ) . Any opinions?
What is age of your batteries, manufacturer, model, and group size? What does your battery mfg say about equalization? What was the resting battery voltage before and after doing it 7 months ago? How has that changed over the past 7 months?
I've always recommended following your battery mfg recommendation for your specific battery.
Well it's been going for 3.5 hours now and I can hear the batteries boiling. They are 6 volt autozone rv deep cycle batteries that are 3 years old. I don't remember what it did the last time but twice a year seems to be the going rate on a coach not used to live in. I'll post the after findings tomorrow. I did pull it out of the garage and open the battery bay to ventilate the fumes as recommended. It automatically shuts off and returns to normal after 8 hours. It will be interesting to see if there is any difference. The Heart is a 3 phase, 130 amp charger. I was 12.5 on float unplugged before I started the clean cycle which the manual says is ok
Your unihome's battery compartment is not vented. Was not made for flooded cells. Dangerous.
@Bob,
I just had 3 late '90s Uin-coaches together last week and all had vented battery compartments.
@ Dan
Look at the front bulkhead of your battery compartment near the top there should be 2 vent tubes that run to the front of the coach.
Mike
I'll go look asap
My 99 295 is vented
When equalizing, I plot voltage every half hour. When it stops rising for one hour, I terminate equalization.
Be sure all house systems are OFF when you do this-- many PC boards are NOT happy with 16 VDC.
Exactly! Our house batteries prohibit equalization. Manufacturer's web page will have recommendations.
Pierce
Well, well. I'll be a frog lickin, lizard chasing, hog eater. Yes. Made sure everything was off. After 8 hours, I turned it on equalize and went to bed ( not in the coach ). Next time I'll monitor like Wolfe said. The batteries are back up to 13.8 idle. The fluid in all the cells is still ok and checking for vents, one under the battery slide out tray and a large one next to it in the floor. Nothing on top however. Do battery gases rise or are they heavier than air? When these give up. I'll go to AGM's and solve the gas problem.
BOTH.
Hydrogen which is explosive is lighter than air and will rise.
But sulfuric acid vapor, water vapor, etc are heavier than air and will fall.
The unihomes had a fiberglass close fitting box and cover over the batteries and a tube running from the top of the boxes edge straight to the rear wheel well. Knowing that the batteries vent almost continuously
Sorry. No way I would run flooded cells in a open compartment.
The vents in the compartment are for emergencies I assume not normal operation.
That's what I thought as well. Vents are for liquid spills to run out the bottom. I'll call FT tech support Monday and see what they suggest. Previous owner did this and got away with it as I have but seems sketchy at best.
Am I correct in assuming AGM type 6 volts won't give off gas or just less gas
AGM also known as absorbent glass mat and gel type lead acid battery designs use a recombinant technology to turn the oxy-hydrogen mix back into water and are valve regulated so there is no out gassing. There are also strict upper voltage limits on AGM and Gel designs so equalizing charges are forbidden.
If you want to run an equalize charge on your flooded cell batteries you could open the bay door. With modern microprocessor controlled 3 and 4 stage battery chargers out-gassing is kept to a minimum.
Yes toolmaker, I pulled it out of the garage and left the bay door open during equalizing. Thanks
Our U300 unihome may have come with GELs but it had house conventional flooded/engine conventional flooded without any enclosure when we purchased it. I installed 6 AGMs for house batteries and have flooded conventional engine batteries at the back bumper ever since we brought it home many years ago. No enclosure then or now.
Pierce