Battery Corrosion

[Jim 007]

My house batteries appear to be corroding from the bottom. The battery terminals are fine, but the battery tray keeps on getting the white corrosion that I can clean with baking soda, but it keeps reappearing. Do I need to replace one or both batteries? Is AGM the way to go? Thanks!!!

[Jim 007]

My house batteries appear to be corroding from the bottom. The battery terminals are fine, but the battery tray keeps on getting the white corrosion that I can clean with baking soda, but it keeps reappearing. Do I need to replace one or both batteries? Is AGM the way to go? Thanks!!!

[RV Wizard]

After your batteries are fully charged check them with a hydromoter. You may find a weak cell and if so this could cause your charger to keep charging trying to get the total voltage acceptable. This can cause the good cells to boil off gassing profusely causing the corrosion. What type of charge or inverter/charger do you have on board?

[Jim 007]

I have a solar charger. While I am using shore power, may I shut off both the main and aux battery power? Or is there some reason that I should leave one or both of them "on". Thanks!!!

[ajbjrvers]

To; Jim 007;

Ifyou have a controller to control going into batteries and it is able to go to float charge or trickle you should be able to leave on.

Heliotrope, the company that makes most controllers , just came out with a unit that has an on/off switch. I am getting one for my 3 120 watt panels because there are times like when on shore power or batteries fully charged, there is no need to keep panels charging. You can add an on/off switch in the positve line going to the batteries.

Have you removed batteries from their tray, sanded all corrosion off and spray painted all bare metal???

Hope this info is useful,

Thanks===== AJBJRVERS=== AIME

[Tom N]

You may be over-filling your batteries.

[Diplomat Don]

Jim 007....I have a fairly new Monaco Diplomat with (4) 6 volt batteries and (2) 12 volt batteries in the same bay. I was surprised to see that after only 5 months I was getting corrosion build up on the terminals and the plastic connectors on the hold down straps had rotted away. I cleaned everything off and then purchased some battery protectant spray made by "Permatex". They make both a cleaner and spray protector. I sprayed all of the metal components including hold down nuts, bolts and screws with the sealer. I checked them again the other day (two months since I sprayed them) and everythng was perfect. I put a second coat on for added protection.

I added one other item to the batteries. There is a set of battery caps that you can buy that are suppose to help recirculate the excaping gases back into water and allow them to return to the battery. They claim that they return 40%-80% of the gases. I couldn't tell you if they are really working, but I'm impressed with how clean my battery bay has stayed.

P.S. I leave my coach hooked to 110v when not in use.....No overcharging issues. Hope this helps.

[Terry McGee]

Both gas and acid will cause the corrosion problems. One place for leaks that most people don't realize is around the posts. That usually is a gas leak. Yes, the sealed AGM's will fix all the problems. The downside of AGM's are the cost. In the long run AGM's are much better than lead acid.

[Gary RVRoamer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">In the long run AGM's are much better than lead acid. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


Sorry to nitpick but an AGM battery is a lead-acid battery. The difference is that the electrolyte is in a glass sponge (mat) and the battery is sealed, as opposed to the more common "flooded cell" lead acid battery where the electrolyte is in open cells.

[Terry McGee]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by RV Roamer:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">In the long run AGM's are much better than lead acid. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


Sorry to nitpick but an AGM battery is a lead-acid battery. The difference is that the electrolyte is in a glass sponge (mat) and the battery is sealed, as opposed to the more common "flooded cell" lead acid battery where the electrolyte is in open cells. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

True. But, AGM's are still better and safer.