House Batteries Bubbling

[Thorp]

I have searched, but need more clarity on the appropriateness of my 4 yrs. old, Costco golf cart 6 volt house batteries occasionally bubbling (that's what it sounds like) when plugged into shore power. I have a Trace inverter/converter.

I'm worried about out gassing, having just completed a battery compartment overhaul with powder coated trays, new Kwikee ball bearing slides, load lock battery straps, and chassis saver paint on the rest of the compartment. I also purchased a LifeLine chassis battery to replace the original chassis Interstate Workhorse battery (even though it still worked well).

My father's '09 Beaver Contessa also has occasional "bubbling" on the house batteries when plugged into shore power.

I have individually tested my house batteries with a volt meter(all between 6.4 and 6.5 volts), put a load tester on them and it shows good, and checked with hydrometer and that test also shows good.

Please educate me on what I should expect or if I still have a problem here. Thanks very much.

[Mike Canter]

They are all going to bubble depending on where they are in the charge cycle. I just don't fill them up as high so it doesn't come out the caps. The other opetion is to pour mineral oil into each cell so it floats on top and prevents them from bubbling out. If you google it you will find all about it or somebody that has done it can jump in here and tell you how much to add.

[William Willard]

About 2oz per cell -- You can get the mineral oil at Walmart -- Look in the laxative section -- Less than $2.00 per bottle -- Bill Willard

[IMDSailor]

I've read in many posts about adding mineral oil to the batterys cells. Question; Assuming the batterys are filled correctly, which would be to the ring at the bottom of the fill hole, is there enough room to add the 2 oz's of mineral oil? or do you have to remove any liquid from the battery prior to doing this?
Thanks

[gripper]

[QUOTE=IMDSailor;1063726]I've read in many posts about adding mineral oil to the batterys cells. Question; Assuming the batterys are filled correctly, which would be to the ring at the bottom of the fill hole, is there enough room to add the 2 oz's of mineral oil? or do you have to remove any liquid from the battery prior to doing this?

I just completed the addition of mineral oil to my batteries. I put 4 oz. in each cell, when the cells were full and it looked like I would have to withdraw some of the acid. However, only one rose to the top and I did suck out enought oil to lower it to just to the bottom of the fill hole. I don't have any results yet...it's too soon to tell.

The reason I decided to add the mineral oil, is that I had just cleaned up the compartment and removed all the corrosion. I'm hoping that this will stop the gassing and corrosive action.

[Thorp]

Mike, William, et al,
Thanks very much. It's very helpful to know that the bubbling is not a problem. I didn't mention it, but part of my battery compartment overhaul included adding 2 oz of mineral oil to each 6V battery cell. I certainly am learning a lot from all of you on the Monaco forum.

[Windecker]

I used the Thermoil stuff before the price went crazy but they recommend 4 ounces per cell and yes, suck out some acid to make room.
I also have the Trace system that was boiling out my acid like crazy. Had to replace the battery cable ends once due to excessive corrosion, and within a year the new ones were really getting rough again.

I spoke with the manufacture of the Trace system (name changed, can't remember who it is now) they said they have had issues with the temp sensor failing causing the brain to think the batteries were cold all the time which ramps up the charge rate and over charges the batteries boiling the acid out...
As per instructions I disconnected the temp sensor and added the Thermoil. Wow what a difference! Zero (and I mean zero) corrosion in the past year! Very little acid missing after the years use. I am totally sold.
You will hear some gassing through the charge cycle though, it is normal. You just don't want a lot of it I would say that if your hearing it after it has been plugged in for more than a couple of hours (assuming your ran the batteries down a bit before hand dry camping) there is something wrong.
Good luck!
Windecker

Originally Posted by Thorp

Mike, William, et al,
Thanks very much. It's very helpful to know that the bubbling is not a problem. I didn't mention it, but part of my battery compartment overhaul included adding 2 oz of mineral oil to each 6V battery cell. I certainly am learning a lot from all of you on the Monaco forum.

[BZam]

Originally Posted by Thorp

I have searched, but need more clarity on the appropriateness of my 4 yrs. old, Costco golf cart 6 volt house batteries occasionally bubbling (that's what it sounds like) when plugged into shore power. I have a Trace inverter/converter.

I believe bubbling is basically good. In my youth on farm over 70 years ago, before auto chargers we used to put the juice to them until they bubbled, like 1-pause-1 bubble and that meant they were charged.

On my old RV I had two house batteries and I used the same system. Without auto inverter I just waited until bubbles started and they were charged. Dry camped a lot using this system.

[Steve N Sal]

Bubbling is common when they're in the charging mode. I'm still not sure about using the mineral oil though. I've heard pros and cons on the subject but in inspecting my battery bay yesterday it's still clean as a whistle.

[Mike Canter]

The chargers that are used today have several different stages when charging and how long they stay in a stage is dependent on how far down the batteries have been drained. Stage One is Bulk Charge and the batteries are fed a constant current during this time until they reach a preset voltage. The will bubble during this Stage. Stage Two is Absorption or what is called Constant Voltage and during this Stage the current tapers off. There is way less bubbling in this Stage. Stage 3 is Float Voltage stage which is used to maintain the charge on the batteries and should not have much bubbling. You can normally look at the control box and tell what stage you are in.

[Thorp]

Thanks all for the additional info.

Windecker, I have a Trace RC7GS inverter. New company is Xantrex. I too had one very corroded cable end, but doesn't need replacing. I may call Xantrex and then disconnect that temp sensor and try to determine if it has failed or is working properly. I may have placed my temp sensor incorrectly on the side of one of the batteries in the open quadrant in the middle of the 4 6V house batteries. That's how Monaco did it. I've noticed on the Monaco forum here that it is recommended to place the temp sensor between 2 6V batteries. It may be getting a colder reading than necessary.

[Mike Canter]

Xantrex told me the other day that the temp sensor only was for fine tuning the charging and wouldn't make that much difference if it was there or not. The temp sensor gives a digital readout of some random number that can be viewed on the RC7 control box but nobody at Xantrex could convert the readings into anything that was useful.

[rrs-ase-evt]

I have had the same problem with my batteries also, I disconnected the temp sensor from the trace charger it self. problem went away and now maintains 13.2 volts at the batteries and reads the same from my inside voltage gauge. This is in the float stage and the manual states this voltage also. When the weather starts to warm up i will plug the sensor back in and monitor the battery voltage, I believe that when the batteries are warm the temp sensor will your protect the batteries from over boiling the acid in hot weather. All my batteries are new and the hydro readings are good. I always saw fluid around the caps and on the surface of the batteries. I hate to see that, like to keep my battery compartment clean. The temp gauge wire looks like a phone line at the trace charger and you should be able to see this on your wiring diagrams if they came with your MH.

Ron

[Mike Canter]

The temp sensor is more required for the sealed batteries but like I said Xantrex said it would be OK without it. My Float Stage is 13.5 volts but then I have 8 batteries so that might make a difference.