Battery corrosion

[dennis45]

Originally Posted by Just For Fun

"Remove the Negative cable from the battery bank to isolate the set."



Being a total NON-Techy, I'm curious: When it rains and or road/ground water is sprayed up into the battery compartment (on a car as well) there is no problem with water hitting both the + and - terminals at the same time. Why then would he need to "Remove the Negative cable..." and or "Shut off power...?"

That would be so there is no risk of causing a short to ground from the positive connection and a big spark.

["007"]

If you do not remove negative first you run the risk of burning out control boards under dash, your slides and other items.
Removing positive cables with negative connected will cause these problems for sure.
The BCO Disconnected and fuses for slides may help also.
When your done cleaning than hook up the negative cables.
Person that bought my coach stopped in truck stop, while they were changing the chassis battery and hooking up cables burnt out many boards under dash for back up camera, signal controls and caused locked LR slide bottom to move out but luckily the motor stopped before any other damage to slide was caused.
Maybe it does not matter in car but advisable in your MH to remove negative cables and tie back while working on your battery systems, took over a month before all items found and changed out before things were normal again, plus cost of items needing replacement.
Read this link below in my signature to learn somethings on items in your coach.

[HavingABlast]

Originally Posted by slabman

I found with my last coach, if I reduced the charge rate from 80% down to about 40, the corrosion went away...never to return!

If I remember correctly this is accomplished at serum on the Magnum monitor panel. I think that the Newmar factory tech set my charge rate to 80%. This would make it longer to reach absorption level voltage correct? I only ask, because I run my generator just a few hours in the morning and almost that time in the evening. I might have to plan accordingly if I changed the charge rate.

Is the programming on the Magnum controller reset to factory default if the batteries (either house or chassis) disconnected? The house batteries were disconnected one time a year ago when I had them load tested.

[HavingABlast]

Originally Posted by 007";3341271]If you do not remove negative first you run the risk of burning out control boards under dash, your slides and other items.
Removing positive cables with negative connected will cause these problems for sure.
The BCO Disconnected and fuses for slides may help also.
When your done cleaning than hook up the negative cables.
Person that bought my coach stopped in truck stop, while they were changing the chassis battery and hooking up cables burnt out many boards under dash for back up camera, signal controls and caused locked LR slide bottom to move out but luckily the motor stopped before any other damage to slide was caused.
Maybe it does not matter in car but advisable in your MH to remove negative cables and tie back while working on your battery systems, took over a month before all items found and changed out before things were normal again, plus cost of items needing replacement.
Read [B][URL="http://www.irv2.com/forums/f54/technical-info-links-28855.html

this link [/URL][/B]below in my signature to learn somethings on items in your coach.

Thank you for the voice of experience 007.

[dutchstr3884]

As many above have said, Disconnect battery, clean battery terminals with backing soda mixed with water as well as any adjacent area showing corrosion, then I use any regular bearing grease to lightly coat all metal connections. I also work the grease into the electrical cables where the wires dissappear under any insulation. I don't use any mineral oil since there are as many proponents as opponents on this subject. Also most of the battery manufacturers, if not all, don't recommend it. I have never had corrosion when using just the grease as long as some grease is on the connections. The corrosion is caused by the battery acidic vapors, which are created during charging, that come in contact with the connections and other metal surfaces. The grease coating prevents the vapors from contacting those surfaces. Normally I have only had to replace/renew the grease coating when I have disconnected the cables for some reason or when installing new batteries. In the past I have used the red spray-on protectants and they have never lasted as long as the grease.

[slabman]

"If I remember correctly this is accomplished at serum on the Magnum monitor panel. I think that the Newmar factory tech set my charge rate to 80%. This would make it longer to reach absorption level voltage correct? I only ask, because I run my generator just a few hours in the morning and almost that time in the evening. I might have to plan accordingly if I changed the charge rate."

Good point. Yes, when re-charging, you want it back up to 80%. But when sitting there plugged in, all the charge you need is to replace the amount of "juice" you are pulling out of the batts during normal use...lights, etc. So, when you set it at 40%, you end up with the charge being applied at a lower rate for TWICE as long. This reduces the corrosive effect. Now, this will require you to remember to play with it a bit, but in actuality, I found I forgot to change the charge rate many times and there were no ill effects.

One nice thing about the Lifeline batts is you can set that charge rate up to the MAX, because they accept a very high incoming current.