Dry house batteries

[eandy]

Hi all, back to the battery problem. I check the batteries often enough and they are full then suddenly dry. The rv is always plugged in to the stick house elec supply. The question is; 1. why is there any need to cycle through the batteries when plugged into power supply instead of by-passing batteries thus not wearing batteries? 2. Has anyone installed a by-pass switch? Thanks

[eandy]

Hi all, back to the battery problem. I check the batteries often enough and they are full then suddenly dry. The rv is always plugged in to the stick house elec supply. The question is; 1. why is there any need to cycle through the batteries when plugged into power supply instead of by-passing batteries thus not wearing batteries? 2. Has anyone installed a by-pass switch? Thanks

[rvten]

With the battiers on. You get steady even 12 volt power. If you by pass them you converter will surge and your 12 volt will go up and down not stay steady.

[Phantomiz]

Hi,

Your batteries act as a buffer. When your loads need mega current, that excess current comes from the batteries and not necessarily your converter. You either have a Converter/charger or an inverter/charger. If you have the converter/charger, I can see why your batteries boil. They tend to be low tech and their trickle voltage too high. From your rig description, I don't think you have a cheap converter, but it could be. Now, if you have the inverter/charger, I would say you have something wrong with the trickle charge portion of your setup. Did you go through and make sure your charger is setup for wet cells? Total battery amps is correct? Do you actually see your charger going into trickle charge? Have you measured your battery voltage when it reaches trickle? Should be around 13.1 Vdc. I've seen converter/chargers output a constant 14.1 Vdc...

If you are plugged in all the time and using your moho, then your battery charger should keep your batteries trickle charged. Sounds to me like your battery charger is not trickling and you are boiling the liquid from your batteries (not a good thing). That is too much liquid to be boiled off suddenly.

If you have your Moho plugged in when it's in your driveway not being used, I would make sure the batteries are fully charged and disconnect them and unplug the main 120 v feed. Every two months or so, plug the Moho back in a bring the batteries back up to full charge.

L8r
PhanTomiZ

[edgray]

eandy: Depending on the brand and model of your converter, you may be able to install a plug-in device which makes the converter a "smart charger" which prevents over-charging the house battys. My converter is an IOTA-55, I think, and the plug-in is available as an accessory. I can research this further and give you more details if necessary, but you should look into what is available for the brand you have. ED

[-Gramps-]

If you have the Intelletec Converter,than the addition of a Charge Wizard will help those house batteries a lot.

[hamguy]

It appears the question is, what make/model converter are you using. Knowing that will allow a reasoned analysis of your problem.

Dean

[John-D]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by eandy:
The question is; 1. why is there any need to cycle through the batteries when plugged into power supply instead of by-passing batteries thus not wearing batteries? 2. Has anyone installed a by-pass switch? Thanks </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

1: This depends a lot on your converter.. Some converters (For example the Progressive Dynamics Intella Power line (9100 or 9200) you can disconnect and your 12 volt "Stuff" likely won't even known it, In fact I have done just this with my 9180, and could not tell that the batteries were "off" till one of my radios, which is hooked direct to the U-2200's acted up. The other radio, which is fused at 25 amps and puts out 100 watts average on transmit, did not even know the batteries were missing, no hum, no distortion, no loss of power (Conclusion: PD makes GOOD converters... VERY good converters) (Side note: I've done a lot of research on converters.. And the results is that I have to say the PD 9200 line or the 9100 line WITH the optional charge wizard (9200 has it already in place) are on the top line of converters... #1 is a shared position, Xantrex has a few products on that line too as do others)

On the other hand Magnajunk (Which is no longer on the market, it was bought by another company (parallex) and greatly improved.... Well.. if there is top slot, there must be a bottom one. And somebody has to occupy it... Magnatek needed to have either a battery , or a battery "Simulator" (Big hardening condenser) or they just flat did not work, there is no regulation of the output (They use a ferroresonate transformer) and no filtering either.. Just a transformer and a diode bridge... That's all folks Best place for them is "Recyclers are us"

Most converters fall in between, Some need the battery to provide filtering else radios buzz or hum, And some need the battery to provide regulation (Like the magnajunk)

2: It's not called a bypass switch, it's called a disconnect, and it's standard on many motor homes and trailers. You can buy them at Camping world, there are three kinds that are common

KNIFE switch.. These can be dnagerous as there may be a spark when opening or closing and if there are battery fumes, which are mostly brown's gas, (2 parts hydrogen one oxygen) you can easily land 2 counties over after the BOOM. Rotary switches marine rated.. Very good, and explosion proof. Remote switches like the Intelletec Battery Control Center. Actually all you need is a relay and a switch, The relay from the IBCC is a good one, and is fairly common

IT has two large and two small screws and is explosion proof The two large screws are battery and "house" (don't matter which) and the two small ones are called "I" and "S" (You really don't need to know this)

Run 12 volts direct from the battery via a 5 amp in-line fuse to a switch (more in a paragraph or two) also ground to the switch (no fuse)

The switch is a DPDT (Double Pole, Double Throw) Center off, Momentary Spring return to off (Radio Shack or your local electronics supply)

It will have six terminals on it

1 2 3
4 5 6

Hook up as follows

12 volt fuesed Positive to 2
Ground to 5
Terminal 1 to six to "I" (or "S" don't matter)
Tgerminal 4 to 3 to "S" (Or I again don't matter so long as it's one to each)

Install switch in handy location

Push switch to one position, you should rear latching relay CLUNK, release, check to see if battery is connected.. If it is label that position "USE' or "Connect"

Push it the other way.. Again you should hear the CLUNK and now things should be OFF (Battery disconnected) Label "Store" or "DISCONNECT"


Comments: What concerns me is you said Batteries were Full, full, full, many times full, dry

I'm interested in why they went "Suddenly dry" this is a sign of a problem

Or did you mean "Full to near the bottom ofthe filler tube

Full to a bit farther down
Full to a bit above the plates
Top of the plates are dry

In which case... You should have added water at the next to the last inspection.. Distilled water please.. I find I have to add once a year with my rig.