batteres smoking

[ringneck]

hooked juice to 5thw for the frist time in 3months today.came back to trailer after 4 hours and smoke was coming out of the battery box.one battery was very hot i mean hot.it has been cold about 20 above,and batterys are seven years old.do you think it took out my inverter,or what happen.do batters freeze,thanks ring neck

 

[Bob V]

sounds like they may have froze. Yes batteries can freeze if they are not charged up

 

[TLane]

You mention "batteries", as in more than one. Do you have 2 twelve volt batteries in parallel, or 2 six volt batteries in series?

Batteries left discharged can develop sulfation as well as a shorted cell. If it's shorted cell, the remaining cells will be charged like crazy and can get hot, smoke, stink real bad (hydrogen sulfide, aka sewer gas). The other possibility is that the inverter has gone bad and is way overcharging the batteries. You need a voltmeter to know for certain - if it's above 14v then the inverter is probably bad. Most likely, it's the batteries and the inverter is OK. If the inverter is bad, you probably need new batteries as well.

 

[Bill Stockard]

... and batterys are seven years old.

At that age I would suspect the batteries are your problem. As stated above, more than likely a shorted cell causing the converter to overcharge the batteries.

Bill

 

[ringneck]

thanks to every one for replys.how would one check the inverter,by the volts at the batterys?

 

[TLane]

Yes, check the volts at the batteries. Turn everything off in the trailer, including the converter (unplug from shore power if you have to). Measure the battery voltage, I'd expect around 12.6 volts. Battery voltage much lower than this probably indicates a shorted cell (if you have removed all loads from the battery). Then plug in the trailer and turn on the converter. The voltage should rise to around 13.6 to 14 volts - any more than 14 volts and the inverter is probably over charging the battery.

Trailers that set a long time (more than a couple of weeks) without being used frequently wind up with bad batteries. The gas detector typically draws enough power to discharge the battery in a week or two. Seriously discharging the battery (more than 50%) is very hard on it, leaving it discarged for a month or two will usually ruin the battery. The best practice is to install a battery disconnect switch and disconnect it when you are not using the trailer, then use a charger to recharge the battery about once a month.

Leaving the trailer plugged in so that the converter continuously charges the battery is almost as bad for the batteries.

But you've gotten seven years out of the batteries - that's pretty good lifetime (unless you bought very expensive batteries that you might expect to get 20 years out of...)

 

[ringneck]

sounds good to me,thanks tlane.

 

[p-Bar]

Not true on all trailers leaving them plugged in . My 92 has a smart charger on it and when it goes down to mantainance mode it is putting out 300 milliamps while it monitors battery voltage . All converters are not created equal. It's usually not the voltage but the current going into the batteries

 

[jelag]

TLane

My inverter has 4 steps to the charge rate.... the top rate is 14.7 - 14.8 V based on the manual that came with it... its maximum current is 60 amps... So I have to comment about your thread above where if the charge voltage is over 14 the converter is bad... But I agree with your other comments... hot battery means a problem... usually a bad cell or two.. and also agree that a discharged battery can freeze... but with that freeze will usually crack/break the case and when it thaws will leak the water/acid onto the ground.... or into the battery case... this is normally easy to see as the side of the case has a bulge....

My coach has (6) volt batteries... (2) sets of (2) in series... did I say that right... in any case my inverter at full output (60 amps) can't overheat this much capacity before the circuits in the converter scale back the charge voltage..

Also remember that based on the static voltage of the battery (its state of charge) the higher the output voltage of the converter the higher rate of charge (amps)....commercial charges increase rate of charge by increasing charging voltage..

 

[p-Bar]

Jim not always true voltage can be regulated to 14v and pump out 60 amps such as your alternator which used to regulate at 13.8 old days , but with all the electrical load they have upped the voltage .

 

[TLane]

Perhaps I should clarify. A good three stage charger may indeed go above 14 volts while charging - but once the battery is charged, it should drop back down to a float voltage around 12.6 volts. If the charger remains above 14 volts for a long time, it will cook the batteries and destroy them.

ringneck - what have you discovered so far?

 

[ringneck]

bad bad batteries,sorry for not getting back.thinks to every one.