Battery replacement

[fishforfunman]

I purchased new Trojan T-105 6 v batteries, two years ago hoping to have more staying power while dry camping. They never performed like I wished and investigated a number of sources of my problems. I recently called a WFCO tech, maker of my converter in my 2012 Wildcat. He gave me some interesting info. I did the usual testing as he prescribed to test that the converter was actually working properly. I told him that I never saw the the unit go into the float mode of 13.2 v. He indicated that even a slight amp draw from a propane detector, radio or other appliance that had a minute draw would put the unit into the absorption mode of 13.6 v. In order to let it go into the float mode, I would have to remove all of my fuses, which he said most people will remove the batteries to store for long term. Wow! So the first winter I left my expensive Trojans in the RV plugged in for the winter thinking it was the best thing for them. Did I fry them? I now have new 6v Exide batteries and charge them with a separate charger and keep them isolated when not in use. Thoughts? Is there a better converter?

[DaveSchwartz]

'No float mode' was definitely not my experience with the WFCO converter in my trailer. I tested the voltage at the battery terminals several times during the winter (when the topic of 'can you leave the batteries on the converter during storage' came up a few times) and it was 13.2V. This was without the disconnect pulled, the propane detector, digital thermostat and radio standby on.

[HONDAMAN174]

Now my problem with WFCO was that would never go into bulk mode, even when deeply discharged. So if I ran my genny for a few hours, I still may have not been at full charge.

Put in a full time voltage gauge to better understand what was happening but still did not solve main problem- WFCO not "ramping up" to charge up. Ended up buying the progressive dynamics 4655 conversion from the WFCO. First time connecting with batteries at 50%- was pushing 30 amps to the batteries. And yes it will go into float charge even with a little amp draw. It will also kick off the float mode about every 20 hours and go into bulk mode to desulfate the plates for a few minutes.


2014 Evo 2850 "Woodstock"
2011 Toyota Tundra "Clifford"

[pgandw]

According to the WFCO web site, the WFCO will not go into float until 44 hours (two days) at a near constant current. They call absorption mode "normal" mode - which is what I normally see on the WFCO on my A-frame (13.6 - 13.7 volts). I have seen bulk mode once - when I installed the golf cart batteries - and I knew it because the cooling fan came on in the WFCO.


Unless your batteries ran low on water, the higher voltage should not have harmed them. If they low on water, they have lost some of their capacity.


Costco sells some reputable 6V golf cart batteries for a lot cheaper than Trojans. I paid $150 for both batteries (232 AH each), including sales tax. It was cheaper than buying two 12V deep cycle size 24, and gave me more (25%) capacity. I believe Sams Club has a similar deal. Not the Trojan name, but not the price either.


Fred W
2014 Rockwood A122 A-frame
2008 Hyundai Entourage minivan

[fishforfunman]

I was pretty fastidious about keeping water levels up. I will have to check again when I get back from my trip and see if it ever gets into that 13.2 mode after 44 hours. I have heard good things about Progressive Dynamics converters. I went to a web-site that sells PD converters and looked at the reviews and found a guy that had similar problems with his Trojan T-105 batteries until he bought a replacement PD converter.
I did go to COSTCO and bought the new 6 volts.

Thanks all to your comments.