House Battery Replacement

[DancinCampers]

I'm planning to replace my 6 house batteries later this week. I plan to turn off the inverter and battery disconnect switch, while still connected to shore power.


Any issues with this approach?

[Ranger Smith]

Take a picture before you disconnect anything so you'll know how to put the wires on correctly. I would unplug and shut off the battery disconnect.

[twinboat]

Don't leave 120 volt power to the inverter/charger without the batteries connected.

Find and trip the inverter/charger " in " breaker or pull the shore power.

[Lv2Roam2]

And ... unplug from shore power and remove the negative terminal of your starting battery.

[imnprsd]

If your battery-to-battery cables are corroded then you can order 9" red and black colored cables on Amazon.

These are welding cable grade "00" and are slightly thinner and more flexible than standard "00" battery cables, which is nice.

Be sure you have the right size lugs too! My lugs are 5/16", but many are 3/8"... which will work, but they will not be as tight!

This would be a good time to make sure your 2 or 3 solenoids are not leaking current cause the points inside are going bad. (See pictures or 2 common types.)

Also, for those with 3-12V batteries, you can change over to 4-6V batteries in the same battery try. Just order the appropriate number of 9" Battery-to-Battery cables.


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I believe the "OP" says he has 6-6V batteries so I hope you post some pictures of your battery bank after you are done.

...And with all your batteries out of the bay, this is a good time to check your ground cable and your starter relay if you have good access to your engine.

[DancinCampers]

Thanks for all the advice. I have 6 12v batteries. The cable ends look good. I bought 5 batteries today, getting #6 tomorrow at a different Sams Club.


The battery trays look specific to group 31, a friend with same coach put in group 27.

[DancinCampers]

Got the batteries installed yesterday. All is well.


Even with every breaker off, disconnected from shore power, both battery disconnect switches off and engine battery negative cable removed, there was still a small spark when I attached the main negative cable to the battery bank. My friend in Las Vegas, with same setup, said this also happened to him.


My original batteries were NAPA 9831DT, Group 31, 105AH. (Currently $292 + tx@NAPA).


I replaced them with Duracell Platinum AGM, 31DTMAGM, Group31, 105AH. ($179.74 +tx@Sams Club)


This coming March would have been 8 yrs of service, we fulltime. Other than looking at my setup out of curiosity after we bought the coach, they had not been attended to since. There was no corrosion on cables or battery tops. The sides of the batteries were slightly bulged. The tops were dry but very dusty, as they are installed between the main chassis rails, just below the floor of the pass thru bay.


These batteries weight 69#/each. My friend used a boat trailer winch, attached to the bay overhead to change his out. He said it was a 4 hour job by himself, recommended I have someone else do it. I heeded his advice. After I removed all the cables and tiedown straps the maintenance man where we stay crawled into the bay and replaced them by hand. My son and I moved the old ones from bay floor and slid the new ones in for him. Took about 20 min. I then reconnected the cables and tiedown straps.


Now will have to see how long before I need to replace the 2 engine batteries, which will be a lot easier to do myself.

[twinboat]

Inverters always spark when being connected to the battery.

[rotorjock]

I did the same thing with my 4 Group 31 12V batteries,changed them for the AGM's you got. I traded my coach three weeks later. But I was told that I should have reset the system to charge the AGM's at a different rate. I didn't get the chance. Has anyone else heard this?

[DancinCampers]

I know that my Magnum Inverter has settings for Flooded, GEL, AGM-1 (Lifeline AGM batteries) and AGM-2 (East Penn/Deka/Discover/Trojan AGM batteries.)


This settings affects the Absortion, Float and Equalization voltages.

[DancinCampers]

twinboat, Is this true even when inverter is turned off? tks

[twinboat]

Yes, its mentioned in most installation manuals.

The capacitors charge up when connecting to the battery.

The on/off switch controls the 120 volt output, not the 12 volt input.

[DancinCampers]

Thanks, now if I can remember that in 7 years.