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Stretch · 12-30-2006, 07:43 PM

Our O3 has a plastic box that covers the six house batteries and the two engine crankers. I removed the cover to check the water level in the batteries and found that the back rear positve house batery terminal was just a great big ball of white fuzz. After using baking soda a water to remove the growth I found there was nothing left of the terminals. I replaced the terminal ends, reinstalled and coated with the red terminal protectant. I went thru this same proceedure about a year ago, with this same terminal. Question. What is going on? Why is this happening so often. And is the plastic battery box really necessary? If it had not been there I would have seen the fuzz build up sooner. Any ideas?

Stretch · 12-30-2006, 07:43 PM

Our O3 has a plastic box that covers the six house batteries and the two engine crankers. I removed the cover to check the water level in the batteries and found that the back rear positve house batery terminal was just a great big ball of white fuzz. After using baking soda a water to remove the growth I found there was nothing left of the terminals. I replaced the terminal ends, reinstalled and coated with the red terminal protectant. I went thru this same proceedure about a year ago, with this same terminal. Question. What is going on? Why is this happening so often. And is the plastic battery box really necessary? If it had not been there I would have seen the fuzz build up sooner. Any ideas?

Danny Gayhart · 12-31-2006, 06:07 AM

Hi Ross

How about more details? How often do you check your batteries? How old are they. Do you leave them on the charger all the time?
Many of us have gone to a buss distribution system to eliminate the battery terminal corrosion problems.

Danny

lundy · 12-31-2006, 06:10 AM

I was told that it was caused by battery gassing and too many connections. When I found it necessary to removed all connections for cleaning, a local auto electrical company added a terminal on the frame and attached all the connection to it and ran one to the battery post. End of problem.

SteveS · 12-31-2006, 12:25 PM

lundy,

I did the same thing with my batteries some time ago but also, like you, did not like the cover hiding the batteries. I removed the cover and it has been off ever since. The cover is nice because it hides the "ugliness" of the batteries (and what builds up) but it is also horrible because it hides the ugliness of what builds up on the batteries and surrounding areas i.e for the same reason. By the way, I have not had corrosion build up on the terminals since I put terminal strips on the frame and ran a single wire to the battery posts, but corrosion does seem to build up on the hold-down brackets and accompanying bolts/nuts. I have also reduced the amount of water I put in the cells. Rather than filling them to the lower fill level, I fill them to about half way between the bottom of the filler holes and lead plates. Still need to watch them but no massive "fuzz" build-up after about two years.

Stretch · 12-31-2006, 01:45 PM

Thanks Steve:
I was really wanting to know if anybody saw any problem an removing the plastic cover. I will leave it off. It always did seem a bit silly. Yes battteries are ugly. But we need to get at them and visually inspect.
To answer the other questions. The batteries are Trojan T101s that I installed 2 years ago. And yes I did install a copper bus bar up above the batteries and did run all of the cables up to the bus bar. And yes the post in question is the postive terminal that DID have all of the cables atached to it. Now it has only two. The series strap from the ajoining battery and the cable that runs up to the bus bar. AND STILL THE WHITE FUZZ buildup. Admittidly I had not looked at the terminal in a few months. I do have the MH plugged in all the time. I am wondering if the small charge that is present constantly is causing the fuzz. I have Zantrax pure sine wave charger/inverter that is supposed to be mo betta.

Old Scout · 12-31-2006, 02:18 PM

Today, while swapping out my 5-year old chassis batteries in advance of DRR, I too noticed some white "fuzzies" [no terminal damage] on the back post of the rear house battery. Along with the usual collection on the metal hold-down straps. I also noticed that the back post was/had been arcing to the metal hold-down strap--perhaps for sometime (coach has been in storage the last three months but this may explain the extra gassing/moisture on top of the house batteries--or not) So anyway, no more metal hold-down straps--will replace with some sliced -up cutting brd material before we leave for DRR.

Stretch · 01-01-2007, 12:22 PM

Thats a great idea Dean & Jan. I have run afoul of those steel hold down straps myself. Both because of the white fuzzy stuff building on the straps and while changing batteries I accidently shorted the positive cable to the steel strap. Saw stars for an instant. Think I will look for some fiberglass or some other non-metalic material to take the steels place. Any ideas? What is "sliced up cutting brd material"?

Old Scout · 01-01-2007, 12:44 PM

Stretch--not an original idea here but have heard of several folks using the 1/2" thick plastic cutting boards [protects couter tops from knife cuts] to form hold-down blocks. Havent seen any in use but sounds like a good concept to cut/saw this material in strips/blocks to hold down the batteries....

APEXMAN · 01-01-2007, 04:30 PM

My 06 Apex don't have one!

Stretch · 01-01-2007, 05:21 PM

Yes I think I know the plst cutting board material you speak of. That should work. It thisc enough and still flexible. Thnx

Stretch · 01-02-2007, 05:29 PM

Trex is plastic or wood or a combination of both?

Paul Heuvelhorst · 01-02-2007, 06:08 PM

Trex decking products are made from a unique combination of reclaimed wood and plastic. Trex is made primarily with recycled plastic grocery bags, reclaimed pallet wrap and waste wood. (Direct from the Trex website) Although Trex decking is what people usually think of (1.5"x 6 or 8), they also make a landscape edging that is 1/2"x4" (.375"x3.5") in 16' lengths. This may be a handy material to use for RV projects of this nature.

We installed a Trex deck on our home 2 years ago and love it.

htg3 · 01-03-2007, 07:26 AM

I replaced my metal straps with ABS plastic strips. I wanted a material with some flex.
I went to a local plastics shop and pulled some out of the scrap bin, they cut them to width and didn't charge me anything. Lucky day.
So far, there are no cracks and, except fot some road dust, my batteries are staying much cleaner.