Community Forums

Soniccruzer · 12-07-2019, 08:15 AM

It’s time to check the water level in my non AGM chassis batteries. On my Spartan Mountain Aire the water access to the two batteries is towards the rear of each battery with the battery cables in the way. I’m thinking I will have to pull each one out enough to see the water level. If so is there any technique or recommended process (ie. order of disconnect etc).

TIA

R.Wold · 12-07-2019, 03:17 PM

It shouldn't matter but if you disconnect the ground first you’ll eliminate the chance of unintentional welding.

dmholt · 12-07-2019, 05:01 PM

You might want to invest in a battery watering system such as this one: https://www.campingworld.com/qwik-fi...SABEgIUZ_D_BwE

Then you can top up your batteries without even opening them up for a look.

R.Wold · 12-07-2019, 05:12 PM

X2 on that. They can be a bit of a hassle too but it sounds like less trouble than sonniccruiser is having

Tigerfan1 · 12-07-2019, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by R.Wold

X2 on that. They can be a bit of a hassle too but it sounds like less trouble than sonniccruiser is having

Actually it is easy to use. Place the end of the pump tube in a container with distilled water, give it a few squeezes and when the pump bulb gets hard you are done. Just a couple minutes.

R.Wold · 12-07-2019, 07:03 PM

Easy to use but I had an automatic one on 16 batteries and it was a maintenance hassle on its own.

Tigerfan1 · 12-07-2019, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by R.Wold

Easy to use but I had an automatic one on 16 batteries and it was a maintenance hassle on its own.

He has only two chassis batteries which should be pretty easy to set up and use.

vsheetz · 12-07-2019, 09:14 PM

Your chassis batteries are not maintenance free? Are you sure?

Just because a maintenance free lead acud battery appears to have removable caps, doesn't mean it needs water added..

Soniccruzer · 12-07-2019, 09:14 PM

First off thanks to everyone who responded. I found a thread about changing chassis batteries here on IRV2. I followed it and all went well. It was actually very easy as Spartan connects both the positive and negative in one string each so each one was easy disconnect and reconnect.
All was good with water level, but I brought them up a bit.

Soniccruzer · 12-07-2019, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vsheetz

Your chassis batteries are not maintenance free? Are you sure?

Just because a maintenance free lead acud battery appears to have removable caps, doesn't mean it needs water added..

No they aren’t maintenance free. When we were at the Spartan academy they told us so.
Thanks

R.Wold · 12-07-2019, 11:03 PM

You can pay to upgrade to AGMs but economically its better to just live with the standard batteries until they fail in 3 or 4 years and then buy your AGM for less than the cost of the upgrade.

FLJOE · 12-08-2019, 04:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soniccruzer

No they aren’t maintenance free. When we were at the Spartan academy they told us so.
Thanks

So on my low level Ventana it comes standard with AGM engine batteries on a FL chassis, but you are telling me that one of Newmar's high end models on a Spartan chassis uses wet cell engine batteries? Wow, shame on Spartan.

Mark_K5LXP · 12-11-2019, 04:41 PM

I'd be curious to know what kind of SLI battery this is that isn't maintenance free.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

FLJOE · 12-13-2019, 04:17 AM

As far as I know even Ford and Chevy puts sealed engine batteries in their diesel pickup models. I know my F350 did not have wet batteries.

How about posting a pic of those starting batteries that Spartan is using.