Battery maintenance

[HABBERDABBER]

Battery blues

2014, 15 foot, escape, i keep the battery on a/c when not using, but I still am loosing battery power after a year...why is my battery failing? I have 12.88 v on it ... and i get flickering lights and refrigerator...is it possible my battery connections are not tight enough?

12.88 v on it? Is that the measured battery voltage or the charge voltage? 12.88v is super fine for a charged battery. 12.88v is too low for effective battery charging.


Which is it...battery voltage or charge voltage?

 

[vickiervsd]

battery right out of the cage without a charge, now with a charge it is 13.22

 

[flynfrfun]

2014, 15 foot, escape, i keep the battery on a/c when not using, but I still am loosing battery power after a year...why is my battery failing? I have 12.88 v on it ... and i get flickering lights and refrigerator...is it possible my battery connections are not tight enough?

Is it possible you have been over discharging the battery while camping?

 

[HABBERDABBER]

I still don't understand your issue

A battery, at rest, AFTER being fully charged, and WAITING a couple of hours should read 12.7-12.9V. While charging, the voltage will depend on the chargers performance and depth of discharge that the battery is recovering from. Don't go by voltage while charging.



Please, be more specific. "Out of the cage" doesn't provide context or meaning to me.


WHAT? You cage your battery? Tsk, tsk.

 

[vickiervsd]

well what do you call what the battery sits in on the frame of the trailer? I am sorry I never went the the COLUMBIA SCHOOL of TRAVEL TRAILERING...My problem is simply I keep getting a dead or low charged battery. I am on my 3rd battery in six years, even after always keeping it connected when not camping to A/C at home.

 

[cpaharley2008]

well what do you call what the battery sits in on the frame of the trailer? I am sorry I never went the the COLUMBIA SCHOOL of TRAVEL TRAILERING...My problem is simply I keep getting a dead or low charged battery. I am on my 3rd battery in six years, even after always keeping it connected when not camping to A/C at home.

I think it is time to take your trailer to a rv shop to check out the electrical system and converter and solar.

 

[flynfrfun]

well what do you call what the battery sits in on the frame of the trailer? I am sorry I never went the the COLUMBIA SCHOOL of TRAVEL TRAILERING...My problem is simply I keep getting a dead or low charged battery. I am on my 3rd battery in six years, even after always keeping it connected when not camping to A/C at home.

This is why I was asking if if you have any way of knowing whether or not you have been over discharging the battery while you are camping. Over discharging will reduce the lifespan of the battery. If you always have power where you camp this should not be the problem. But if you are boondocking or camping without power hookups you could be running the battery down too low between charges.

 

[vickiervsd]

lets put it this way, in six years I have camped wherein i used the d/c battery 5 times for 2 days each and from this I have gone through 3 batteries...(RV batteries)

 

[padlin]

Did you clean up the connections at the battery? If so I'd try it at home for a day or 2 and see what happens. Disconnect it from the A/C. What's the voltage in about an hour? is anything running in the trailer? lights and so forth? if everything looks good then check the voltage at 6 hr or so intervals for the next couple days. If nothing is running, the voltage should drop very little.

 

[sherminator]

well what do you call what the battery sits in on the frame of the trailer?

It's called a battery tray.

 

[vickiervsd]

thank you all so very much, I really appreciate your help and kind words...great advice one and all...Battery Tray, GOT IT...


btw nothing running, except I suppose the co2 detector which is online non battery operated.

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

ok, with the trailer plugged into 120VAC, you should see around 13.6-13.8V at the battery once its fully charged. now, with everything turned off, unplug the trailer, and in a few hours or overnight, check the battery voltage again, and a good battery should read about 12.6V +/- a tenth.

Note, BTW, that Costco Interstates are Interstate's *CHEAPEST* grade of battery, and if you have a single 12V, its almost certainly a 'Marine/RV' battery, like a Group 27M or whatever, which is not a true deep discharge. 2-3 years of life regardless of how little its used, from a budget store-brand battery is not unheard of. Have you checked the electrolyte levels every month or two? Top off with distilled water only. A vehicle electric service, or dedicated battery store, can run a load test on a fully charged battery using a 'carbon pile' tester, this will give a decent indication of the battery capacity and life remaining. The cheaper sort of digital tester isn't very reliable, you want the old school analog tester that has a resistive heating element surrounded in a cage at one end.

 

[johnnyv]

Hi Dave, should i be scared of using any battery power. Just getting the feeling from others.

Thank you sir

 

[davidmurphy02]

Hi Dave, should i be scared of using any battery power. Just getting the feeling from others.

Thank you sir

If you are not familiar with RV 12 volt systems, here is an excellent resource - has been around for years and is still probably one of the best basic primers about RV electric systems: The 12volt Side of Life (Part 1)

Escapes are very well designed electrically to give you the capacity to do just about anything you want. It's just a matter of understanding how your systems work, being able to do basic troubleshooting when issues occur, and periodic maintenance like checking battery fluid levels several times a year.

 

[Tom&Joan]

1. Your battery is old. 5-7 years of use would be a swell maximum.
2. Many, most, if not all electrical connections corrode over time. It's related to galvanic corrosion. More on that MUCH later.

3. Start with cleaning your battery primary (at the battery) connections with abrasive methods. 120 grit sandpaper, baking soda wash, clean water wash, etc., etc. Get them lead contacts (both and all sides clean).


After that, either buy new batteries or work down the system contacts, cleaning, inspecting, repairing if required, but above ALL, paying close visual attention to all the connections.
I think your batteries are simply old and tired.

I seem to get more life out of batteries than most folks. Car, truck, equipment or RV. We had an RV with 2 golf cart batteries, we only replaced them once even though we had the unit 17 years. I think the first set lasted 11years. They may have been good for more, but the converter failed and they froze one winter.

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

golf cart batteries are true deep cycle batteries and have MUCH thicker lead plates than marine/rv batteries (which are glorified car batteries).

 

[alanmalk]

... even after always keeping it connected when not camping to A/C at home.

I may possibly be stating the obvious so forgive me. But keeping a battery on charge continuously does require that you check the water levels on a regular basis. If the battery becomes dry in areas those areas will not recover.

And one more observation. There are a myriad of combinations of issues that could ruin a battery. Solving them via a web conversation can take considerable time, diligence, guesswork and good luck. We will have to ask a lot of questions and make a lot of suggestions. But we try hard!

--
Alan

 

[gbaglo]

Yup. I check the water levels in my Trojan group 27 about every six weeks and top up as required. Trailer is plugged in year round. RV shop load tested a couple weeks ago and report it's all good. Battery is at least 2 years old and is a true deep cycle battery. Didn't come from Costco or Wallyworld.

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

the power centers in late model Escapes (like my 2014) should not overcharge a battery, they drop to a safe 13.2 to 13.4 volt maintenance level once the battery is fully charged.

that said, I haven't checked the water in my golf cart batts in a few months, so far in 2 years they've never needed any.

 

[Bill and Earline]

My two original ETI 6volt batteries are still seemingly doing fine. The trailer is plugged in full time while at home.

I check and fill the water several times a year and write the date on the plywood to keep track of it. Those months will get away from you if you just guess.

I did have corrosion at the point where the cables are held into the clamps on the batteries and after tightening a few times, eventually bought new and heavier cables.
In 2014 ETI was "making" their own cables and apparently didn't have as good a connection as a factory supplied cable with a finished end. Reace went right to it when I presented the problem at Osoyoos a few years ago.

Bill