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Old 06-28-2017, 01:00 PM   #1
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Corrosion on AGM batteries

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It was my understanding that AGM batteries don't corrode. These are 5 year old Lifeline batteries. Is this not correct?
They're house batteries. They've spent their entire lives on shore power, we don't boondock.
Has this happened to anyone else?
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Old 06-28-2017, 01:33 PM   #2
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why not get the manufactures address/email/phone. Contact them and request the same?

However, there is only 1 way, acid leaking, whether liquid or gas is unknown.

And since you never dry-camp, you could do with 1, 12 Vdc Deep Cycle
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Old 06-28-2017, 02:45 PM   #3
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The seal around the battery post has gone bad. AGM's seldom have this problem and a call to the manufacture would be in order. For the price of Lifeline I would expect better than this
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Old 06-28-2017, 05:37 PM   #4
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I agree with MoCoTom - Call the Lifeline and ask them for advice.

Before you do, think back over the life of these batteries of any unusual situations that may have occurred:
-Ever overcharged?
-Any problems with your electrical Inverter/Charger/Alternator?
-Have you programmed the charger for the Lifeline's?
-Have you equalized the batteries recently or frequently?
-Weather related activity, extreme highs or lows in the batteries history?
-Do you have chassis battery close by, and are they outgassing excessively?

All of these are things that when you take with Lifeline, will help them help you determine what's going on.

I've personally seen two year old Lifeline's that were bulging, due to bad programming of the charger by the installer. And, I've seen many other non Lifeline batteries that were scary to look at - also from unusual or mistakes...

And OP, sure not saying you've done anything wrong, and for sure it could be a defective group of batteries. Please come back and close the loop when you figure out what's going on! As it could help others too...

Best of luck to you,
Smitty
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Old 06-28-2017, 09:08 PM   #5
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I believe when overcharged or charged too rapidly AGMs can and do vent. Could this be the cause??
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Old 06-28-2017, 09:31 PM   #6
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A bad battery temp sensor can cause overcharging. There's one in the pictures.
The OP needs the float voltages checked.
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Old 06-28-2017, 09:44 PM   #7
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Several years ago I had terminal corrosion (see below) on one of my 1-year-old Lifelines.

Lifeline replaced all four of my batteries no charge.

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Old 07-02-2017, 04:02 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Smitty77 View Post
I agree with MoCoTom - Call the Lifeline and ask them for advice.

Before you do, think back over the life of these batteries of any unusual situations that may have occurred:
-Ever overcharged?
-Any problems with your electrical Inverter/Charger/Alternator?
-Have you programmed the charger for the Lifeline's?
-Have you equalized the batteries recently or frequently?
-Weather related activity, extreme highs or lows in the batteries history?
-Do you have chassis battery close by, and are they outgassing excessively?

All of these are things that when you take with Lifeline, will help them help you determine what's going on.

I've personally seen two year old Lifeline's that were bulging, due to bad programming of the charger by the installer. And, I've seen many other non Lifeline batteries that were scary to look at - also from unusual or mistakes...

And OP, sure not saying you've done anything wrong, and for sure it could be a defective group of batteries. Please come back and close the loop when you figure out what's going on! As it could help others too...

Best of luck to you,
Smitty
I don't know why they would be overcharged. The BIRD, Bigboy solenoid and inverter were all new when the batteries were installed. The tech programmed the charger, and I recently had that checked and it's fine. We avoid temperature extremes by moving. There are chassis batteries next to the Lifelines, but the tech who discovered the corrosion did not call out excessive outgassing. I don't know what equalizing the batteries means.
I spoke to Lifeline technical support, sent the requested email with the pictures I posted here, but have not heard anything back. I'm going to call back on Monday.
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Old 07-02-2017, 08:27 PM   #9
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I don't know why they would be overcharged. The BIRD, Bigboy solenoid and inverter were all new when the batteries were installed.
Stop beating yourself up by listening to "experts".

In my case, my Lifeline that went bad was part of a bad lot of batteries. Even Lifeline screws up occasionally.
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Old 07-02-2017, 09:14 PM   #10
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These were NOT overcharged.

If you look at the top of the battery there are 3 disks and the are the Valve in the VRLA battery.

If they are overcharged the valve opens and allows pressure to vent and this will leave behind a white area.

DO NOT CLEAR THE BATTERIES!

The seals for the posts have failed which I is a warranty issue and this is assuming there was not existing crud in the cables from before.

Contact the manufacturer ASAP and include close up clear photos of each of the round disks as well as the posts.

Place a digital voltmeter across one battery and photo the meter reading.

Verify charging voltages are correct per data sheet.

The disks are indicators of gassing and gassing is indicator of overcharging and the photos look good but you should look real close again.
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Old 07-02-2017, 09:14 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TechWriter View Post
Stop beating yourself up by listening to "experts".

In my case, my Lifeline that went bad was part of a bad lot of batteries. Even Lifeline screws up occasionally.
OP - My questions were more to help you for when you contacted Lifeline. As these are questions they might have asked you.

Please let us know what Lifeline say's, and hope this could have been a bad batch as Techwriter pointed out - 'stuff' does happen!

Best to you,
Smitty

Note:Equalizing is a high state of charge that helps break down sulphates. Usually done more so with wet cells then AGM's, though Lifeline is one of the AGM's that do say it is OK to do so. (They don't call it Equalizing, but it's the same thing.) And many of the default charger settings include 'auto equalizing or balancing'. And I've noted some posts, and helped two or three people, they had the wrong charge volt settings, as well as other parameters, for their specific batteries. Which resulted in over charging.
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Old 07-03-2017, 04:57 PM   #12
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Lifeline batteries are on my short list for my future replacement of my house batteries. I would be very interested in the final decision of cause and the end result.
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Old 07-03-2017, 08:49 PM   #13
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I have all Cabelas AGM batteries in both my boats and motorhome and never have experienced any corrosion. The last time I had one fail was about 10 years ago.
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Old 07-05-2017, 12:29 PM   #14
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Battery Issue Resolved

I have emailed and spoken to Lifeline. Even though the batteries are out of warranty, they are replacing them at no charge. They have been very nice about this and, obviously, we are happy with the outcome.
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