I think I killed My Battery

beachcamper · 02-22-2016, 07:41 PM

Today I Found my battery completely dead, like zero volts. I go out to the storage lot once a month in November, December, January and February and plug the camper in to my truck generator for an hour or so and check everything out. We usually camp a couple of weeks a month the rest of the year so the battery stays up. Looks like I somehow left the little light on the power tongue jack on. I have the battery on a charger in my garage now. Hopefully it comes back. It is only 2 years old.

**Flybob** · 02-22-2016, 07:59 PM

If you killed it to Zero ( actually anything below about 9V) it is unlikely the battery will recover. It may take an apparent charge, but as soon as you put any load on it, it will die.

beachcamper · 02-22-2016, 08:06 PM

I guess I'll leave it on the charger overnight and have it load tested in the morning at autozone or advance auto parts then.

**bikendan** · 02-22-2016, 08:52 PM

Why don't you just install a battery disconnect switch?
I have one and my two batteries were still nearly fully charged, after 4 months in the storage lot.

fast murray · 02-22-2016, 09:21 PM

How hard is it to take the battery out for the winter? Beats the heck out of hanging out for an hour every month charging it.

VinceU · 02-22-2016, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fast murray

How hard is it to take the battery out for the winter? Beats the heck out of hanging out for an hour every month charging it.

Since you regularly "short charge" the battery and allowed it to discharge way beyond the normal 50% of full charge, without a doubt some plate damage has occurred. You can expect near full voltage to return however current capacity will be reduced 30-50 % of original. If the acid was reduced to water, and froze, damage could be much worse.

Easy to remove unbolt two cable connections, remove hold down strap. Remove neg post first.

beachcamper · 02-22-2016, 09:43 PM

I used to disconnect the battery on my old camper. This new 8329ss has a disconnect switch. Disconnects everything but the jack. Battery on my old camper lasted 6 years.

Blackhat6mike · 02-22-2016, 11:02 PM

Although I am fully solar powered and never worry about keeping the bats up, I have a 4-way disconnect switch for the two house batteries. No disconnecting, hauling around 70+ lb bats, getting dirty, just flip the switch to off and forget about it. Cheap fix and easy to install. It has been the first mod on every RV I've owned.
My two house batteries are not outside, but under a hood that raises up to get to the batteries and 2 x 30lb gas tanks. The switches can be reached by reaching under the hood and not having to open it. Can't get any easier than that.
If your batteries are in outside boxes, you can mount the disconnect switch directly on the side of the battery box.

MNtraveler · 02-23-2016, 12:09 AM

Every 2 weeks for 2 hours, or plug the unit in for a day or two, or take the batteries out and put them on a tender that knows how to slow down to a float charge.

**Herk7769** · 02-23-2016, 09:34 AM

A 4 stage battery charger may save that battery.

The 4th stage is a desulphate mode that pulse blasts high voltage into the plates that forces sulphates built up on the plates back into solution as Sulphuric Acid.

I had a "dead-dead" pair of truck batteries from my diesel prime mover die two winters ago. I replaced both with new ones and put the 2 dead ones on the battery charger. One came back almost good as new; the other was toast and turned in for core.

rockjohn · 02-23-2016, 12:52 PM

Where is the battery disco located on your 8329. I have a 2016 and can't find mine.

beachcamper · 02-23-2016, 01:10 PM

Battery disconnect is directly across from the front door. Low down on the end of the sink cabinet. Looks like a headlight switch from a 1960s car. Our 8329ss is a 2015. Got it August 2014.

rockjohn · 02-23-2016, 01:21 PM

Ok thanks beachcamper

camaraderie · 02-23-2016, 03:58 PM

A couple of points:
1. If you fully charge a battery, there is no need to check it for at least 90 days in the winter. Loss is about 10% a month and it WILL NOT FREEZE if you charge it to 100% and never let it get below 60% during the winter. (Assuming it doesn't go below 20 below in your area...but it up to 70% if it does.) Simply charge fully then disconnect the negative battery wire(s)...the battery disconnect switch in the coach will NOT work to eliminate all parasitic loads.

2. In this case...it may be possible to recover SOME useful life in the battery as Herk says...but damage to the future life of the batter has been done. You need to learn how to properly FULLY charge a battery because whether or not this one went dead because of a mistake...the battery was being abused and slowly murdered with your present charging routine.

beachcamper · 02-23-2016, 05:26 PM

Well I load tested the battery. It recovered power wise. Autozone doesn't have a capacity test though. I'm in summerville, SC where there is rarely a hard freeze.

ornery · 02-23-2016, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flybob

If you killed it to Zero ( actually anything below about 9V) it is unlikely the battery will recover. It may take an apparent charge, but as soon as you put any load on it, it will die.

I beg to differ.
My son had an Optima car battery (not deep cycle) in his GMC Jimmy. He was living on campus, didn't drive much, so the battery completely drained. I replaced it and took it home, charged and used it for several years longer in our TT. It charged and held a charge just fine. I would say I was lucky to get more use out of it.

ornery · 02-23-2016, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fast murray

How hard is it to take the battery out for the winter? Beats the heck out of hanging out for an hour every month charging it.

I ALWAYS remove my TT batteries and store them in the garage over the cold Colorado winters. Charge them once a month.

camaraderie · 02-23-2016, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ornery

I beg to differ.
My son had an Optima car battery (not deep cycle) in his GMC Jimmy. He was living on campus, didn't drive much, so the battery completely drained. I replaced it and took it home, charged and used it for several years longer in our TT. It charged and held a charge just fine. I would say I was lucky to get more use out of it.

Optimas are spiral wound AGM (glass mat) batts and are less affected by deep discharge than a wet cell would be... so not exactly apples to apples but it's always good to try and recover & get whatever cycle life is left.

ornery · 02-23-2016, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by camaraderie

Optimas are spiral wound AGM (glass mat) batts and are less affected by deep discharge than a wet cell would be... so not exactly apples to apples but it's always good to try and recover & get whatever cycle life is left.

Well, I don't know about the technical specs, I'll take your word on it.
All I know is I got probably 8 years out of that battery between my son using in his SUV and my trailer. I do know Optima's are expensive and not Deep cycle, but heck, I sure got my monies worth on that!

hollywood91 · 02-23-2016, 08:36 PM

Many years ago before we had multistep chargers, if we encountered a battery that had been 'flat lined', adding 1 teaspoon of Epson salts in each cell, then charging was often enough to bring the battery back to life. The Epson salts would knock the sulphate off the plates. Off course this was in the day of conventional lead plate/acid batteries, not the new glass mat type batteries of today.
Ed

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