Flooded Batteries in the Bus

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Jones'n4chrome
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Post by Jones'n4chrome »

Thanks Jim.
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Post by Stealth Camper »

Maybe you won't be able to hear peals of laughter, but we can say "LOL, LOL, LOL..." a lot.

But we won't! (You should see my old Cutlass that I am planning to restore - won a "rat" car contest at work hands down.)
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Post by Tim Clevenger »

Some EV'ers paint the inside of their battery box with Rhino Liner to stave off the corrosion. Sharkey, your opinion?
Rudy
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Post by Rudy »

I have questions.

I have four 6 volt golf cart batteries in one of my storage bins. They have been sitting idle for two years. They were getting charged by the solar panel when I removed them from the Dodge class C motorhome.

I haven't taken a voltage test on them since. I will take a test in a few days.

My question is: Do these batteries have any hope of experiencing a new life?

If so, what are the techniques to restore life into them?

I have a battery charger that has automatic shutoff as well as the ability to always stay on, if I put the switch on that position.

Thanks for your input.
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dburt
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Post by dburt »

I have brought batteries back to life by putting them on the special 'deep cycle charging' circuit on my battery charger. It is a slower, on and off and on again charge cycle at about 12 amps. It seems to work well on batteries that have been uncharged for long periods of time. It's worth a try! :)
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ezrablu
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Post by ezrablu »

ezrablu
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Post by Sharkey »

Rudy, if those batteries havn't been charged in two years, do yourself a favor and haul them to a recycler and get rid of them. Expect to be paid $4-8 apiece for them, maybe more, depending on commodity prices.

Dead lead acid batteries will ~never~ recover from such abuse. Any apprent revival will be just that, an illuision. Even if you did manage to get them to hold a charge (doubtful), the capacity would be so severly diminished that they wouldn't be worth hauling around. 260 pounds of batteries with 10 pounds worth of capacity, not an even trade.

Go out and buy some new batteries and don't neglect them, that's the solution to the question you are asking.
Rudy
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Post by Rudy »

Sharkey, I also thought that would be the best solution. I can use the spare room in the storage bay for some other things.

I have two big batteries that are connected together that start the motor. They are in good shape.

Thanks for the info.
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Dennis The Bus Dweller
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Post by Dennis The Bus Dweller »

Rudy, You really don't want to use your starting batteries as house batteries for a couple of reasons. 1 is there not deep cycle batteries and you'll reck there if you drain them down over and over again. 2 is that you could find yourself stranded because at some point they may not have enough bunch to crank the bus over. I know you'r tight on bucks right now but if you can find a sams club or something like that around maybe you can just pick up 2 / 6 volt gulf cart batteries to use as house batteries. I know Sam's club get's 60 bucks each if you leave the old dead one there. Another idea is if you have any local gulf courses near you, take a ride over and ask them if they have any that are ready to be swaped out soon and maybe you can get a deal on a couple for the trip. Just my 1.5 cents :roll:
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Rudy
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Post by Rudy »

Dennis, the 12 volt system for the bus is not even hooked up. There are a bunch of wires. I just never hooked them up yet.

The 120 volt system is just a temporary breaker box with a four-way wired to it. I also rigged the feed to the air conditioner to one of the circuit breakers.

When I go on my trip, I will use camping lanterns and candles for light.

The propane system is installed so I can have heat and fridge.

I'll do the final house electrics when I get to my new place. I will also hook up the generator. There is a bundle of wires in the generator bay.

I've got to somehow get a gas tank to run the generator. Either that or get a kit to make it run on propane.
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Post by Sharkey »

Rudy, you ~are~ keeping those 8D engine staring batteries charged regularly, aren't you? There is no excuse for allowing batteries to die due to self-discharge. Think of them and expensive electric pets. You have to feed and care for them of they will curl up in the corner and die.
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Post by Rudy »

Sharkey wrote:Rudy, you ~are~ keeping those 8D engine staring batteries charged regularly, aren't you? There is no excuse for allowing batteries to die due to self-discharge. Think of them and expensive electric pets. You have to feed and care for them of they will curl up in the corner and die.
Since I have had the bus, I have charged the batteries often. It was usually every two weeks by starting the motor. I understand that running the motor without being under a load is not advised.

Recently I got a marine type battery charger. The batteries are hooked up to the charger on the automatic function.
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Dennis The Bus Dweller
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Post by Dennis The Bus Dweller »

Yep, What he said 8)
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ezrablu
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Post by ezrablu »

Those automatic battery chargers are GREAT. When I pulled the batteries out of my bus for the winter and brought them home, I've kept them on that "Smart Charger" I bought a few months ago THANKS to suggestions here on the forum....it trickle charges them with overcharge prevention function, etc.....so no more battery worries - works like a charm :thumbup:

I'm going to get a little 2.5 solar panel to run it as soon as I can instead of relying on plugging it in.
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somewhereinusa
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Post by somewhereinusa »

This was just for information.

For what it's worth, I'm a battery abuser.
In the semi, there are 4 starting batteries, group 27 or 29 I forget witch. All they do is start the engine. I have 2 more batteries for extras. Refrig, computer, etc. The big problem is those 2 get run down quite far every night, then get possibly 120 amps every morning when I start the truck. I started out with normal deep cycle batteries, got about 6 months max. Then I spent a lot of money on Odyssey AGM's looked good on paper, free shipping good warranty the whole nine yards. Worked good for a while until one went bad. still under warranty, they would replace it. I had to pay shipping both ways.
Next I went to Optima yellow tops and have been happy with them. In 6 years I've only replaced 3, one was warranty.
In the camper/photo studio, I have 5. Two run computers, and three for house power. The computer pair are 5 years old and the house are about 2.None of them get abused like the truck batteries.
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