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deasnealy · 10-09-2017, 09:17 AM

Xantrex Freedom 458
Interstate Lead Acid 6 volt (4) in series (Costco)

I am thinking my 2-year-old batteries may be toast. I have been on the east coast until this year with mostly full hookups. When I store the RV, the batteries are always connected to at least 20 amps. Seems like with minimal cycles, I should get more out of theses.

I have been recently boondocking for about 80 straight days. I am seeing a very quick time (less than an hour) for the charger to go to float mode. I have about 420 ah rated batteries. Getting to 12.2 every night with no real loads. I have equalized the batteries on shore power about 3 weeks ago for about 5 hours. I have cleaned terminals and kept the water levels a proper level. Never had the batteries go below 12.1.

My charger will go to bulk for only about 25 seconds and then absorb. It seems like it should stay in bulk longer. Does anyone have any other suggestions for me before I dump these and get new batteries? When new the controller would only stay in bulk mode for minutes before it when to absorb. Wonder if the controller is faulty as well. Thanks in advance!

Mr_D · 10-09-2017, 09:31 AM

I have about 920 AH of batteries, my inverter/charger takes about 90 min of gen runtime to get out of bulk mode. My batteries are about 2 years old and are wet cells.

F76Marion · 10-09-2017, 09:33 AM

Deas,

Something is out of calibration. The bank should charge to 12.6 (stable after a rest). If you are seeing 12.1, the Xanterx should go to boost for a couple of hours and bulk for most of a day.

Call Xanterx.

The depression put us out of business, or I might be able to help more. When we closed, I lost my professional contacts.

Frank

dennis45 · 10-09-2017, 09:35 AM

You're right in that they should last longer. My four Excides are going on eight years with no sign of giving up yet.
Have you load tested each battery? That's where I would start. It is possible you've got a bad one that's dragging down the whole system.
When you are plugged into shore power what is the battery float voltage? How often do you need to add water?