Battery Question

[J Stemler]

On onboard volt meter on my 2004 Adventurer is showing my chassi battery at 11.9 - 11.8 volts after sitting for a day or so, does not go any lower, should I be replacing it at this point ?

[robbstein]

I believe that coach had a solar panel that should keep the batteries charged. They should be in the 12.5-13.5 range when charged. Before replacing, I'd have them checked. You may have a bad cell that is causing the drop in voltage. You also have some residual draw on the coach that could bring the voltage to that level, so if you are talking about early in the day before the solar panel can do it's thing, that may be where the problem is.

[wa8yxm]

You might consider having the battery tested. At 6 years it is approaching or past the design life for SOME batteries,, (Not all) and since I have no clue as to which lowest bidder they got it from... I can't tell if it's old or not yet by design.

But having it tested (assuming you can pull it yourself) at an Auto-Zone or Discount Auto or Sears or Advance Auto or ____Fill in the blank____ auto or even a Batteries Plus store (if they can do it) is usually free.

If you need to replace it and it is a maintenance free consider a traditional type (Not OPTIMA) AGM.

(Why not Optima.. No advantage in Motor home service, it's only 3/4 the battery at 4/3 the price)

[J Stemler]

My solar panel only charges the house batteries, the engine battery is maintenance free so I can't check the cells, it still starts the vehicle ok and has all winter even in below freezing weather, just want to avoid any problems this season.

[DAN L]

Originally Posted by J Stemler

On onboard volt meter on my 2004 Adventurer is showing my chassi battery at 11.9 - 11.8 volts after sitting for a day or so, does not go any lower, should I be replacing it at this point ?

you can do an equalizing or desulfation charge on the battery before deciding to replace it. when fully charged the battery should have 12.6-12.8 volts.
i use this schumacher charger:
SC-6500A - 65amp 20<>10 amp 2 Amp with Engine Start

[J Stemler]

Dan....I looked at the schumacher charger you referred to, Looks like a good one to have on hand...another question....while dry camping and running the generator, can I plug the battery charger in an attach it to my coach batteries to speed up the recharge process ?

[DAN L]

Originally Posted by J Stemler

Dan....I looked at the schumacher charger you referred to, Looks like a good one to have on hand...another question....while dry camping and running the generator, can I plug the battery charger in an attach it to my coach batteries to speed up the recharge process ?

i don't know. i haven't tried it yet. paralleling the converter and the smart charger may mess up the automatic features of the schumacher.
in order to quick charge my house batteries, i idle my engine. my alternator is 145 amps. usually 1.5 hrs get the job done. my scan gauge 2 says that i am using .6 gph at idle. thats less than my genny uses to get 45 amps out of the converter.

[exqueen]

I just added two 130 watt solar panels to my roof so that I never have this problem again. Should make dry camping a lot easier too.