Frozen Batteries

[DCTENT]

I Have 2008 Dynasty, I Live In Minnesota (ICE BOX CAPITOL OF THE WORLD) I winterized Coach last Fall, I have Coach inside NON-HEATED Garage. Today I went out there ALL THE Batteries appear to be frozen as they are all bulged, I Have had it plugged into 50Amp Shore Power all this time, When I Shut Power off & Turn it back on via breaker on Garage wall I DO hear the Thump, Which I ASSUME Means I have Power going to Batteries, I DID NOT turn off the switches in Battery Compartment. EVERYTHING IS Dead In Coach.
Why then do I have frozen batteries???.
THANKS TO ALL THAT RESPOND!!!!

[pipedream2]

its possible the power was off for some time or the charger section is shut down and discharged the batteries and froze them......turn off the charger at the panel if it is not off already....do not charge a frozen battery

[DCTENT]

I have unplugged Coach from 50amp Power, Per your Info ,However I was under the impression, even tho Battery Switches are in OFF position there still is Power entering coach to keep computers Or whatever running, Am I wrong, I don't know anything about how the system works, I should Never Have purchase an RV, as I KNOW NOTHING!!! & TOO Old to learn.
Thanks for your HELP!

[OLYLEN]

Have you checked that the batteries are indeed froze, visual? Don't beat yourself up. These are very complicated coach's and no one can know or understand it all. There maybe a equipment failure or a power outage that reset something. One step at a time.

LEN

[wa8yxm]

Deepending on the coach if you have the batteries in the OFF position the charger/converter may NOT be charging them. My coach for example when I disconnect, the converter is on the "House" side of the switch.. Several radios, and a few other thigns, remain on the battery side (They have their own disconnect) so.........

Now the batteries could have been damaged by something else as well.. But I'd pull them and put them in a safe place to warm up, Somewhere where acid (should it leak) will NOT cause damage.. Then test 'em

Every morning I listen to a group of ham radio operators. One is in MINOCQUA, Wisc. if I've got the city right His temp reports on the net are truly.... FREEZING

[DCTENT]

Its One Below Freezing Here Today, Actually it has warmed up a little, I Have Tested batteries They are all completly Dead, Going To Cost A Fortune to replace, I sure thought having it plugged In I would'nt encounter THIS Problem, BUt!!!! SO I'am STUPID, When I Unplug it & replug it back In To Shore Power, I Hear the CLUNK, What Then Does that Mean?.

[Route 66]

When I Unplug it & replug it back In To Shore Power, I Hear the CLUNK, What Then Does that Mean?

That is the transfer switch closing contacts to pass the shore power to the coach.

Normal.

[DCTENT]

Thank You Sir!

[wa8yxm]

When it comes to replacement... consider Sam's Club or Costco.

IF they can get them for you (or if they have them in stock) they have six volt golf car batteries made by Johnson Controls for far less than most merchants.

A few motor home (and trailer) facts

Some motor homes (More likely in a trailer) have single stage battery killing converters.. These either over charge or never fully charge the battery.

Many have good 3-stage charger/converters, An example of a good one is the Progressive Dynamics 9200 (or 9100 with charge wizard) NOTE: just an example there are many others.

Second: MY motor home the converter is wired to the HOUSE side of the disconnect switch.. So If I hit "STORE" on the battery control, the batteries do not charge.. Some things bypass that switch so they go down.

Other coaches the converter will connect direct to the battery.

Your's..... I don't know.

[LewF]

DCTENT

Not much help now probably, but the wiring diagram on our coach (09 Camelot with Magnum true sign wave charger/inverter which is probably similar to your setup) shows that the house 12v power disconnect is between the battery and the house circuits. In other words your charger should be charging the battery if you have 120v power to it. You should check to see that the charger is working properly and charging the battery. There is/are fuses between the charger and the house battery (one 300 amp fuse in our case), heavy duty bugger, so you could check to make sure they are not open but if they are then there could be big problems that caused them to blow.

A couple of other items. If the battery is kept charged then it is very unlikely it will freeze. The freezing point for the electrolyte in a lead acid battery that is charged is about -75 deg F. If the battery is allowed to discharge however it will freeze somewhere in the 20 deg F range. It sounds like the batteries discharged, that should not have happened with 120v power to the coach, and then froze.

Good advice given above, it is dangerous to have the charger on while these batteries are installed. They are certainly damaged. I would also pay close attention to ensure the 120v transfer switch is working and passing 120v. You can check that by seeing if you have 120v in the coach when shorepower is plugged in. Example, the microwave display is on.

This may all be redundant but hope it provides some help. Good luck.

Lew

[NLOVNIT]

You are not stupid, don't ever think that & don't feel bad. These things happen, even to those of us who've been doing this a while.

We discovered the same thing with our coach house batteries last spring. We hibernate the coach for the winter plugged into 30a circuit. Power must've been off for an extended period & parasitic loads drained the batteries, the temps were in the teens for over a week & the batteries burst. Didn't notice until we went to uncover in early spring & saw the acid residue in the gravel below the entry steps.

Trojan batteries came with the coach & upon checking, we found they were $200+ each to replace. We took 'em to Sam's club & got replacements for about $75 or $80 each. Shop around, it is a lesson learned but doesn't have to be an expensive one.

Lori-

[glennb100]

To charge the house batteries, it's necessary to have the charger turned on at the inverter/charger control panel. When this is on, the control panel will show the mode the charger is in (bulk, absorb or float charging) as well as the charging current.

It might be worth paying an RV tech to take you through the details of operating your coach. Take notes, pictures and videos as the tech takes you through the coach systems.

Good luck.

[GaryKD]

Hi DCTENT,
The only thing I can add to the posts is for you to consider AGM technology batteries (your choice on which brand). They are sealed. Except for cleaning the top of the battery every couple of years, there is no maintenance (no checking/adding water). You and I are alike in that anything I can cross off my worry list, I buy it. I changed to AGM technology batteries a little over 2 years ago. The coach batteries become like a Energizer Bunny.

I know they are expensive, but for me, well worth it.

FYI, if the batteries that are frozen are the ones that came with your coach, you lost only about 1 year's worth of use.

[tom49]

Originally Posted by DCTENT

I have unplugged Coach from 50amp Power, Per your Info ,However I was under the impression, even tho Battery Switches are in OFF position there still is Power entering coach to keep computers Or whatever running, Am I wrong,

Well I was just looking at the wiring diagrams for my 1997 Dynasty and if I turn off the 12V cutoff switch at the front steps the inverter/charger is still connected to the batteries, that switch just disconnects the house circuits in the front run plate and the house fuse panel in the bedroom but the inverter/charger is still connected to the house and chassis batteries.
However if I turn off the house batteries at the rear run plate the inverter/charger is disconnected from the batteries and only the solar charger and the security system are still connected to the house batteries. The chassis battery disconnect on the rear run plate disconnects the chassis batteries from everything.