Six Volt Battery Maintenance

[J.P.]

I have 2 six volt house batteries on a trickle charge when motorhome is in storage. How often do I need to check the water level on the batteries?

[Grumpy Grampa]

I check mine every 6 months. Set my iPhone as a reminder, repeat at 180-Days.

[Chateau_Nomad]

Originally Posted by J.P.

I have 2 six volt house batteries on a trickle charge when motorhome is in storage. How often do I need to check the water level on the batteries?

Historical information is your friend. When I installed my two GC2 FLA batteries, I started by checking the water (5 minute procedure) once a week. After a few weeks, I realized (in my situation) the water level was pretty constant, so once a week wasn't necessary. After having the batteries going on two years now, I find that once a month is sufficient when not using the rig... or after each trip.

My rig has sat in the back yard since first of November, covered with one 100 watt solar panel exposed. I topped off the water when we put the RV cover on. I check the batteries the first of each month (when I exercise the generator for at least an hour). The batteries are always at 13.6 volts, and I haven't added water all winter (4 months now).

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by J.P.

I have 2 six volt house batteries on a trickle charge when motorhome is in storage. How often do I need to check the water level on the batteries?

Check the batteries when you exercise the generator every month.

[lwmcguire]

What I found with my 6v FLA was traveling and boondocking used the heck out of the batteries and resulted in having to add water every month, and they were often down near the top of the plates

Way too much cleaning up and corrosion for me especially the cables and hold down, changed to AGM three years back and will never buy a FLA unless it is the only game in town

[Beau388]

Originally Posted by lwmcguire

What I found with my 6v FLA was traveling and boondocking used the heck out of the batteries and resulted in having to add water every month, and they were often down near the top of the plates
Way too much cleaning up and corrosion for me especially the cables and hold down, changed to AGM three years back and will never buy a FLA unless it is the only game in town

Unless you plan on mounting the battery on its side or end, a flooded VRLA battery will give the same service and cost 40% less. I have had two group 29 and one group 65, flooded VRLA batteries for 4 years. No corrosion and no watering required. Walmart sells; batteries that are flooded but require no watering under normal use that are even cheaper, but they to have removable caps in case you over-charge them.

[lwmcguire]

Originally Posted by Beau388

Unless you plan on mounting the battery on its side or end, a flooded VRLA battery will give the same service and cost 40% less. I have had two group 29 and one group 65, flooded VRLA batteries for 4 years. No corrosion and no watering required. Walmart sells; batteries that are flooded but require no watering under normal use that are even cheaper, but they to have removable caps in case you over-charge them.

They work for some folks but never for me in any equipment

Went to AGM in almost everything many years back, starting with the water craft and atv's. All my F150's have came with AGM for quite a few years stock

Heck, if something works don't change it but in my case cost of cables and corrosion, plus the aggravation of checking water levels far outweighed the cost of the longer lived AGM's

Always nice to have options

[EA37TS]

The OP’s question is how often they should check the fluid level in their batteries. Why must folks always hijack a thread with their thoughts on how someone should spend money on something they may not need or want.

The question, how often should they check the fluid in their batteries while connected to a trim kle charger in storage?

[Beau388]

Originally Posted by lwmcguire

They work for some folks but never for me in any equipment

Went to AGM in almost everything many years back, starting with the water craft and atv's. All my F150's have came with AGM for quite a few years stock

Heck, if something works don't change it but in my case cost of cables and corrosion, plus the aggravation of checking water levels far outweighed the cost of the longer lived AGM's

Always nice to have options

I an not an AGM hater. I have AGMs in my Corvairs because of the hot air heating system. I have one in my wife's Jetta as it is a diesel and has high initial current draw for the glow plugs when below 40 degrees. I had two AGMs in my previous class A because the batteries were in under the bed and the compartment was not well sealed. Since the Hurricane has battery compartments built for all the problems with flooded batteries, then I believe it is prudent to use the cheapest battery that meets my needs. $180 installed for two 123 amp-h flooded, no maintenance batteries installed plus a $36 dollar credit for the old Harris group 27 batteries. Of course that was 4 years ago when they were on sale.

[Chateau_Nomad]

What I don't get is the corrosion? When my batteries were new I coated the posts and connectors with dielectric grease. When I check the water I'm careful to not splash electrolyte everywhere... if some spills I just wipe it off with a paper towel. In nearly two years I have had zero corrosion build upon the terminals. Same method with the sealed/AGM batteries in the coach, Jeep, wife's daily driver and my F-150... and no corrosion.

If terminals are clean and treated, and batteries properly charged, one should never have issues with corrosion.

[Laco]

I hope the charger you leave it on is a 'smart' charger and will float the battery when it is fully charged. A constant trickle charge, will over time ruin your batteries.

[HMCSW]

Originally Posted by J.P.

I have 2 six volt house batteries on a trickle charge when motorhome is in storage. How often do I need to check the water level on the batteries?

So we have ours plugged in during storage and check every 3 weeks. We use the Flow Rite so it take about 3 minutes total. Just squeeze the bulb and the batteries are topped off.Does not take very much water. We have 4 batteries and the back 2 are a PITA so this system is perfect for us.

[lwmcguire]

I use good quality automatic trickle chargers with multiple stages if I need to maintain batteries

Multiple boat batteries comes to mind

With FLA a desulphation mode is a nice feature to have

[Chateau_Nomad]

Originally Posted by lwmcguire

I use good quality automatic trickle chargers with multiple stages if I need to maintain batteries

Multiple boat batteries comes to mind

With FLA a desulphation mode is a nice feature to have

Yep... and they're relatively cheap. I keep them connected to My Jeep toad and lawn tractor batteries. Although they aren't as "smart" as an MPPT solar charge controller for conditioning deep cycle batteries, they work great for chassis "starting" batteries.

[RVGeek]

Originally Posted by J.P.

I have 2 six volt house batteries on a trickle charge when motorhome is in storage. How often do I need to check the water level on the batteries?

Hopefully, you're using a float charger, sometimes called a battery maintainer. A trickle charger is a current device and will slowly gas the batteries over time. A float charger will maintain a maximum of 13.5 volts (across the two series-connected six-volt batteries) and should not gas the batteries measurably; hence, there should be no significant water loss.

The candy store, a.k.a., Harbor Freight, has a battery maintainer for around 10 bucks, less on sale. One of these across the seriesed batteries should do the trick.

[lwmcguire]

I use the 40 buck HB version, 4 am0

They are very good