Boiling Batteries

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

When I went to service my House Batteries for an upcoming trip a couple of days ago, I noticed a couple of them had dry cells in them and they are not "Dry Cell" batteries.    So I filled them up with distilled water and let them be.  The next day I smelled something unusual and discovered two of my batteries boiling the water out and they were very HOT.   

I took the worst one out of them out of the circuit (There are six 4D batteries total) until I could get this resolved.  I couldn't find a temperature probe in the area which I thought perhaps it had one at one time, but may have been moved when I had the compartment painted, but thought there should be one.  Do all decent inverter/charges have temperature probes?  Also I measured the specific gravity and I have a few bad cells. I suspect at the very least I need all new batteries. What are your thoughts on this?

[ol713]

   Hi;
       I would pull all six batteries and have them checked out by the people
       that sold them.    IE;  interstate, exide, Walmart etc.  They will usually
       check them at no cost.
                                                  Merle.

[Dave5Cs]

Do a load test (Harbor Freight has them cheap )after charging them up. Check out your Charger also. It may be over charging them. If an inverter is charging them check it out to make sure it is not either. If you are using a Converter to charge they are known for killing batteries by boiling them.

[thomasinnv]

Have you ever done an equalize charge? How old are the batteries?

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[Scott & Heather]

No Gary, I LOVE boiled peanuts, but boiled batteries? That can taste very good. Quite acidic if I should say so....might need some tums after that meal.


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[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

These batteries were installed new in 10/15.  I seem to get only a year or two out of a set and at $270 each for 6 batteries, they get pretty expensive.  But I full-time so this eats them up a bit faster than those that are parked with a steady-state load on them most of the time. 

[Utahclaimjumper]

 Do you have an electronic read-out to refer to often, and keep track of whats going on??>>>D

[PP]

Gary, I had that happen to my house batteries about 8 yrs ago. I figured out the cause was a chest freezer on a joey bed in the basement. Everytime it kicked on it activated the charge cycle on the bats until they over heated and cooked. I have since replaced the chest freezer with an upright tool box along with all the bats. I'm on 8 yrs with this set. I check them once a month and top up the distilled water along with a specific gravity reading. Knock on wood they're still going strong and we full time also.   Heart 2000 inverter/charger,
Will

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

I do have an electronic read-out. Unless the lights start getting dim, I don't pay much attention to it.

[buswarrior]

Please, Gary, you should be seeing at least 7 years from a set of batteries.

You have a battery murderer on board that mu$t be dealt with!!!

You can check those batteries yourself, do the specific gravity for all the cells and see where you are?

List off the rest of your electrical equipment and your usage/charging strategy?

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[luvrbus]

I just had to change my house batteries in Austin Tx 5 years old,if 1 goes bad like mine it will boil the others with the inverter try to keep the bad one charged,just be sure the batteries are wired correct don't have the + and - on the same run 

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

I try to check the water level every couple of months, but sometimes do not get to it which is really bad, I know.  I only check the specific gravity when I see a problem then it is usually too late. I checked all cells two days ago and about half of the batteries have two dead cells by the posts.  

I have an all electric bus so it does draw more AMPS then some buses, but I have an Aqua-Hot and I seldom cook with the stove so I really don't tax the system much. However I am concerned that my inverter/charger allows the batteries to boil. I need to RTFM (Read The Freaking Manual) tonight to see where the temp probe plugs in and see if it has one as this should prevent it from boiling.

Probably need to have an expert look at it which I can probably get one to look at it this week, maybe before I buy new batteries. I know basic electricity, but don't know much about inverters/chargers.  

[luvrbus]

Mine boiled even with a probe 

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

I called my battery supplier who is very good to me and he suggested I replace my 6 4D batteries with Trojan 8 to 12  6V golf cart batteries.  He said I should get longer life out of them.  Someone else told me the same thing a few months ago.  I would have to buy one more cable per set to make the 6V work in series, but that isn't too bad at about $15/cable. I need to measure my battery box area too, to see if I can fit in taller batteries but if they will fit, I may go this way.  He said I should get more life out of them.  Besides, I may get old someday and these 4D batteries are almost the same size as the 8D start batteries and they are dam heavy when you lift them over my head.

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

They must be wired correctly as they would have had more problems in the past two years.  I am pretty careful about that.