Can zero maintainance batteries be used as house batteries

[BAHEMI]

Originally Posted by samven

I think if you blow out the lines you will be fine. I add the RV antifreeze to the drains so that they dont freeze or go dry and let black or grey tank gasses back into the RV. And yes I do clean them before storage but since I cant actually see inside them I feel better safe than sorry.
As a side note to the battery problems mentioned above, I bought a 6w coleman solar panel and have it mounted at an angle to a saw horse. I put it out facing south and connected to the house batteries. It wont really charge them but it does keep them hot, I dont like leaving the RV plugged in all the time. Too much chance of something going wrong when I am not around.

I totally agree better safe than sorry

[DocMike]

AS PAUL HARVEY WOULD HAVE SAID, "AND NOW THE REST OF THE STORY"!

One and all, my Harris Battery/WFCO/Thor story has a happy ending. You see, after 5 months of struggling to keep the Harris Batteries charged, then purchasing new batteries last fall out of my pocket and following up with another 6 months of emails and one letter written to the CEO of Thor...I received my reimbursement check for the replacement batteries yesterday!

Doc

[EA37TS]

Doc,

Glad things worked out. Also, depending on how you wrote the letter, it may trigger Thor into reevaluating their use of Harris batteries.

[DocMike]

Dave,

Being former military (specifically 5 years as a Unit Clerk) I documented the heck out of everything, every trip to the CW shop for repairs, every expense AND every email sent and received on the topic.

It may very well have been that the original Harris Batteries had a rough time/service/charging/use/abuse prior to my purchasing the unit. BUT, the good news stands that the new batteries have not missed a beat since their installation last October!

Doc

[bevedfelker]

The persistent BIRD gets the worm. Glad everything worked out, Doc. A few weeks ago I was talking to Thor customer service and I was discussing the Harris batteries. They verified to me when the current stock is exhausted they will discontinue installing them. They said they have received lots of complaints.

[DocMike]

ED,

That is good news.

Safe Travels.

Doc

[Larry]

Guess I'm one of the lucky few as I haven't had any problems with mine holding a charge. Sorry you and others weren't as fortunate. Glad to hear you got reimbursed for some of your trouble.

[jb1911]

Originally Posted by junior30

I just found out tonight that I have to same issues described. I have a new 2015 four winds 31w. I have owned it about a month and it has been in the shop for three of those weeks. Walk out today to find a bad egg smell.

One of the house batteries was fried and smoking. I disconnected the power and set it to store mode. I will be calling the dealer in the morning to get this straightened out but my big concern is whether it is the charger/controller or the batteries not being maintained.

Has anyone had and further findings on this subject?

We had this happen to us while staying overnight at a KOA in Sandusky, OH. We stopped on our way home at Camp Land in Burns Harbor, IN where we bought our Vegas and had the batteries replaced. They put Crown Marine Deep Cycle batteries in and we've had no problems since.

Since day one our original junk batteries would discharge in about 2 days if not plugged in to shore power, with the new batteries the voltage has stayed above 12.5 volts for weeks now.

Camp Land replaced both batteries and only charged us for labor.

[Laco]

My understanding in talking to the dealer, is that Harris isn't claiming the charging converter is not the right one, but that both Thor and selling dealers allow the batteries to go completely dead multiple times, charge them up, let then go dead, over and over. Sure way to kill any battery is running them though that cycle multiple times.