Battery auto fill system

[Triangle Drifter]

I have a 2006 34RLR Ltd Alpenlite 5er which has the autofill system serving its 6X6V batterys.

I am never sure of the water level status in the batterys. Every month or so I give them a good squirt, never knowing whether water is needed or not.

All seems to be well. We dry camp from time to time & the power seems to hold out enough.

How does one tell if the level is high enough?

I expect to get another season out of them before replacement will become necessary, which will make 4 seasons of use.

During storage (5 months each year) the batterys are disconnected & NO trickle charger is left on. No ill effect doing this.

The maintenance is a nuisance. I plan to spend the $$ & make the next set AGMs. All the good endurance characteristics of gel cells plus a fast charge rate like wet cells.

[Rick Coleman]

I had terrible results with the factory auto-fill. Seems like lots of cells got missed and I ended up having to replace all 6 of my house batteries at great expense. There is no easy way to check the batteries with the system in place. When I replaced my batteries Acacia RV strongly recommended I replace the factory unit with an auto fill made by Sta-Rite. It has worked flawlessly for nearly two years. You can retain the resevoir and pump of the original system. Good luck.

[Gary & Betsy]

Can you give us more info on the Sta-Rite system. Where it can be purchased and cost plus installation etc. Some of the tubing on our original system is in need of replacement and we would be interested in seeing if a different system would be more efficient & accurate. Thanks.

[Melorene]

I had the auto fill system on my 31RL and had nothing but problems..I went to Uhlmanns RV in Chehalis Wa and they installed slide out trays for the batteries after I had replaced the batteries due to 2 of them were dry with that system..Interstate battery company dealer does not recommend the system as the floats fail often. I also had the batteries on my Alpine Coach fail and disc it and replaced batteries .

[Rick Coleman]

Quote:

Originally posted by Gary & Betsy Sinclair: Can you give us more info on the Sta-Rite system. Where it can be purchased and cost plus installation etc. Some of the tubing on our original system is in need of replacement and we would be interested in seeing if a different system would be more efficient & accurate. Thanks.

My apologies- I think I had a short moment of "old". I believe the system is Flow-Rite. Try Flow-Rite.com
I don't recall the cost as it's been about two years now, but rest assured it's a whole lot cheaper than battery replacement. Good luck.

[Cardsfan]

This will be my first winter with our '07 with the autofill system. What needs to be done for winterization?

[LindaH]

Quote:

Originally posted by Rick Coleman: I believe the system is Flow-Rite.

We had the Flow-Rite ProFill on a motorhome we had with 6-volt batteries and it worked very well. All you need to do is squeeze the bulb until you can't squeeze it any more...at that point, the batteries have the correct amount of distilled water in them.

[Spikester]

Quote:

How does one tell if the level is high enough?

The system is particular to the class/type of batteries it is installed on. The gadget that goes into each cell has a ball float valve (or similar) in it that stops the flow of water when the level in each cell is at correct height, hence the hard pump bulb when all cells are at the correct level.

Have used flow-Rite systems on current, and previous motorhomes, (past 10 years) with no battery problems due to water levels. Wouldn't be caught without it, takes the work out of battery maintenance, once a month 5 minute job to keep battery water level at the optimum level.

Spike

[historyljc]

Quote:

quote: How does one tell if the level is high enough? The system is particular to the class/type of batteries it is installed on. The gadget that goes into each cell has a ball float valve (or similar) in it that stops the flow of water when the level in each cell is at correct height, hence the hard pump bulb when all cells are at the correct level. Have used flow-Rite systems on current, and previous motorhomes, (past 10 years) with no battery problems due to water levels. Wouldn't be caught without it, takes the work out of battery maintenance, once a month 5 minute job to keep battery water level at the optimum level. Spike

It sure saves my big self a lot of problems.

[dgerstel]

I still like my Hydro Caps. They are costly and do require that you check the water level, but I find that once a year seems to be often enough. They also eliminate all of the corrosion in the battery compartment and on the batteries.

From what has been said about the Flow-Rite system, if I were going to use an auto fill system, that is the one I would probably use. I would do a cost comparison, to Hydro-Caps first.

[Mule Skinner]

Who has some leftover parts I can buy?
I still have the fill system that came on my 04.
I see that one of the tube stems is broken.

Thanks,
Dan

[C&H from NorCal]

Does anyone out there have any Battery Fill System caps or oter parts they would like to sell? I want to buy 12 for a golf cart. Thanks

Harold

[C&H from NorCal]

I can't figure out how to access or modify my previous post so I have to add a new posting. If you have any Battery Filling Systems caps my e-mail address is chborl@juno.com....Thanks

[takepride]

Harold

To modify your post, look in the lower right-hand corner and you will see an icon that looks like a pencil eraser over a yellow file folder. Click that and it will bring the posting dialog box back up. If you modify it soon after posting, it will not mention the modification at the bottom. After a certain amount of time (I don't know how much) the modification is noted. Also if you are censored by a Moderator or Administrator, that will be noted, too.