Alpine coach batteries

[donrod327]

I am a widow and am now driving our 2004 Alpine Coach 34'. I have been having problems maintaining the batteries. In the last 3 years I have replaced all 8 of the batteries 2 times and I need new cables often because mine corrode. I was told to keep the coach plugged in when garaged but am wondering what I am doing wrong. Any advice you could give me to help maintain the batteries would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Janet

[RichR]

What type/year is your unit- most all older converters are not well regulated, and are not good for your batteries. need the info

[OLYLEN]

Replace the corroded wires and use dielectric grease on the connections. Charge the batteries in storage for a few hours every third day or turn everything off in the coach while not in use and put a 120 volt timer on the batteries a hour or two a day.

LEN

[keymastr]

I agree you should replace wires and converter. Get a Progressive Industries 9600 series. Less than the cost of the batteries and will make them last years longer.

[Jim Durley]

Janet
You do not have a converter in your Alpine. It came equipped with an inverter-charger which on my 2004 Alpine is a Prosine 2000. There is a panel inside the mh that will show the status of the batteries and will maintain the batteries at the proper charge if you leave the coach plugged in and the inverter-charger on. It also sounds like you have wet cell batteries which will out-gas when charging, thus you will need to check the water level and top off as needed.
If you will post to the Alpine owner section on irv2, you will get a faster and more accurate answer. Other Alpine owners monitor that section daily and will help with any questions you have. My Alpine is a 40 MDTS and the location and brand of inverter-charger may be different than yours, but someone on the Alpine owner section will have one like yours and will be able to give better guidance.
Jim Durley
Alpine Coach 2004 40 MDTS

[FIRE UP]

Originally Posted by donrod327

I am a widow and am now driving our 2004 Alpine Coach 34'. I have been having problems maintaining the batteries. In the last 3 years I have replaced all 8 of the batteries 2 times and I need new cables often because mine corrode. I was told to keep the coach plugged in when garaged but am wondering what I am doing wrong. Any advice you could give me to help maintain the batteries would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Janet

Janet,
Well, I applaud you for taking on the chore of driving, maintaining, and using your coach, as a widow. Probably not very easy. Anyway, as has been stated, you have an INVERTER/CHARGER in your coach. If you don't know what all that means, it's simple. #1, the INVERTER side of that name inverts 12V (from the batteries) to 120VAC so you can run toasters, curling irons, microwaves, TVs and all that. Now, the CHARGER side, takes care of charging the house batteries. Depending on what kind of Inverter/Charger you have and how it was designed, that Charger "should" be a multiple stage charger.

That is, if your house batteries are in a low state of charge, that charger really goes into action and gives those house batteries some serious charging, until they reach a certain level. At which point, the charger simmers down some and goes in to a medium level of charging. When the batteries are up to an almost full state of charge, that charger simmers down to even a lower rate of charging which, is normally a "Float" charge rate. That is, the charger is just maintaining the high state of charge but, is not working very hard.

But, during all these stages of charging, the batteries get a bit warm and, the fluid/water/electrolyte will get hot enough to almost boil but, not quite. When that happens, just like water almost boiling on your stove, you see a tad bit of steam. Well, the batteries are doing the same thing. Just not as violently. So, when that happens with batteries, that battery acid will congregate around the tops of the batteries. Then, since it is an acid, it will start chewing things up and, causing corrosion and all sorts of things, making what you see as a big mess.

So, now that you kind-a get an idea of what's going on, you need to determine if, that CHARGER side of your INVERTER/CHARGER is working correctly. And that will take a bit of investigation. If your system is like ours, an '04 Itasca Horizon, 36GD with the C-7 CAT, you'll have a panel some place that will state what phase that charger is in, at any given time. You'll need to observe that panel/readings and tell us what it says, if in fact, you do have one. Let us know what you find out.
Scott

[Gary RVRoamer]

Your '04 Alpine should have a decent quality inverter/charger, so I would ignore the advice to replace it, at least without further evidence of a problem there.

However, heavy corrosion indicated battery out-gassing and frequent battery replacement is also a problem sign. A bad cell in one battery or a poor quality wire connection somewhere can fool the charger into overcharging, with the kind of results you have seen.

May I ask what type of battery you are using? Probably whatever a dealer said you should have, but that's not always reliable advice. A typical RV shop installs marine/RV batteries but they don't hold up well in rigs like yours that constantly charge and have fairly heavy normal loads.