Low water levels in batteries

[BirchyBoy]

I picked my new Forza up about three weeks ago. I did some basic battery maintenance today on the house batteries and hopefully they will perform better. Three of the four were about an inch below the plastic guide and the fourth had four of the six cells with no water and the other two were low.

After they’ve finished charging for the day and the MH is put away tomorrow, I might remove them and have Napa load test them. I know they have a six month warranty but hopefully that starts at my purchase date. If any are bad Napa should replace them. If not then I’ll contact Winnebago.

Next season I may upgrade to better batteries; time will tell.

[Morich]

One of the biggest things on keeping a motorhome running is keeping water in the batteries. That is also likely to be covered in the warrenty, so I might not expect to get much luck on dry batteries.
You may get lucky and not have total damage but when they run low on water, they are often damaged.
Not likely to be a Winnebago nor battery warrenty question but you "might" get better luck at the dealer as part of the dealer prep if it is a new RV???

[Scotty B]

Winnebago will tell you to deal directly with NAPA I think. I had great luck with the local store replacing all four batteries after one went bad right when we started our current trip. You don't want to replace just one. I had one making that awful rotten egg smell which one never forgets!
Funny story now, but I had no idea what was going on so first call was to Coach Net. They immediately put me on hold when we mentioned a smell and called the local fire department without my knowledge who showed up in short order.
They were lovely and got a $100 donation out of us for the trouble.

[creativepart]

You have a 2017 Vista in your Profile... so I guess you got a new Forza? Congrats on the upgrade.

Did you just get the Forza from a dealer and they are responsible for the low water condition of the batteries? I wonder how long they were in that state? Dealers are notorious for this kind of lack of attention.

Generally, deep cycle batteries are pretty tough. But the one thing they cannot take is being depleted of charge and sitting a lenght of time without recharge.

Obviously, they need water in their cells, too. But it doesn't necessarily mean the batteries are ruined. Once full (not overfull) I'd recommend a good long slow charge, preferably with a multi-phase charger. Depending on your built in charger, if you have an external battery charger that might be best.

If your Forza came with a Magnum Inverter/Charger (many do) that's a good smart charger when set up correctly on the Magnum remote in your Tech closet. So, plugging in to shore power for a few days will be plenty of time for a good charging.

Don't just go with the voltage meter in your coach - get a hydrometer and check specific gravity to verify the charge of each cell after the long charge. If any one cell doesn't come back then perhaps that battery should be replaced. One bad cell will pull down the rest of the batteries to it's damaged level.

Some articles I've read recommend charging first and then adding water but that sure seems bass ackwards to me. The important thing is the total recharge. Don't think of them like your car battery that recharges easily after a short drive. Give 'em a good long charge over many hours/days.

[BirchyBoy]

Originally Posted by creativepart

You have a 2017 Vista in your Profile... so I guess you got a new Forza? Congrats on the upgrade.

Did you just get the Forza from a dealer and they are responsible for the low water condition of the batteries? I wonder how long they were in that state? Dealers are notorious for this kind of lack of attention.

Generally, deep cycle batteries are pretty tough. But the one thing they cannot take is being depleted of charge and sitting a lenght of time without recharge.

Obviously, they need water in their cells, too. But it doesn't necessarily mean the batteries are ruined. Once full (not overfull) I'd recommend a good long slow charge, preferably with a multi-phase charger. Depending on your built in charger, if you have an external battery charger that might be best.

If your Forza came with a Magnum Inverter/Charger (many do) that's a good smart charger when set up correctly on the Magnum remote in your Tech closet. So, plugging in to shore power for a few days will be plenty of time for a good charging.

Don't just go with the voltage meter in your coach - get a hydrometer and check specific gravity to verify the charge of each cell after the long charge. If any one cell doesn't come back then perhaps that battery should be replaced. One bad cell will pull down the rest of the batteries to it's damaged level.

Some articles I've read recommend charging first and then adding water but that sure seems bass ackwards to me. The important thing is the total recharge. Don't think of them like your car battery that recharges easily after a short drive. Give 'em a good long charge over many hours/days.

I updated my profile with the new rig . I bought it from La Mesa RV 5/16/2023. They should have been on top of the maintenance like they said they were. It has the Magnum inverter/charger as noted and they will have about 16 hours of charge before I have to leave tomorrow. It has been plugged in for a week but the battery fill happened today.

It is going into the dealer on Wednesday for roof seal checks and I’ll ask them to check the batteries then.

[Ray,IN]

I answer to your question; the battery warranty began on the date of sale of the MH or the date stamp on the battery if you have no receipt.
I'd begin with La Mesa. Large dealerships like that buy batteries by the pallet load.