johnlc Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 I know there have been loads of threads on this and I have read quite a few but I'm not sure of the answers to my questions so here goes - one week in to motorhoming. My van has two 85ah batteries fitted. After using hook-up for 48 hours, and driving 350 miles home after collecting the van I checked the leisure battery status on the Plug-In Systems PMS 3 panel and it indicated full. Doing some jobs inside the van I found the two 12v van lights I was using went out after half an hour. The compressor fridge had been turned off before driving the long journey. I'm not aware of any other 12 v drain taking place. The van has a 60watt solar panel fitted which was indicating full, on the panel in the van. I checked the batteries and found them both dry. It took a litre of distilled water to fill each of them to just above the plates. I'm guessing that the batteries have had it. The van is 5.5 years old and I'm assuming they are the original batteries. The previous owner always used hook-up, but it does have the compressor fridge. Is it safe to try charging these batteries on hook- up at home? Should I leave the cell covers off when charging? How long should I charge for? The PMS unit says it is a13.8 Volt DC fully stabilised charger with over current protection and thermal protection with a constant current limit at 18A. Does that mean that I should charge for 10 hours (x18A) to achieve a charge covering 180ah or is that not the way to calculate it? I'm primarily concerned about safety here given that the batteries were so dry. Thanks for your help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spospe Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 johnlc - 2014-02-23 1:45 PM Is it safe to try charging these batteries on hook- up at home? Should I leave the cell covers off when charging? How long should I charge for? The PMS unit says it is a13.8 Volt DC fully stabilised charger with over current protection and thermal protection with a constant current limit at 18A. Does that mean that I should charge for 10 hours (x18A) to achieve a charge covering 180ah or is that not the way to calculate it? I'm primarily concerned about safety here given that the batteries were so dry. Thanks for your help In brief: Yes Yes Give it a full 24 hours at least Normally an on-board type of power unit will not be a battery charger (you need to go up to 14.7 volts for that), but it will give a reasonable charge. The batteries are probably goosed, but you have nothing to loose by trying; just make sure that you use distilled water and that the plates are covered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RogerC Posted February 23, 2014 Share Posted February 23, 2014 When you're charging the batts if they start to smell like rotten eggs stop charging and vent the area before undoing the charging connections. The 'gassing' is dangerous in a lot of ways.....it can be explosive in concentrations. If the caps are off and the electrolyte bubbles or spits out of the top it is corrosive and will cause acidic burns to whatever it touches. Also check they don't get hot. Charging previously boiled dry batteries can be done but with care though it's rarely successful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keninpalamos Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Before you spend any money on battery chargers and batteries read what Charles Sterling of Sterling marine has to say on the subject. Also I can recommend Trojan industrial batteries as supplied by battery Megastore and Sterling's own 4 stage battery to battery charger (121245) an excellent bit of kit that gives a bulk charge of 14.8 volts which will double the life of your battery pack. Water based batteries are the best bet unless you intend to drive your 'van upside down then I would go for 'Gel' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arthur49 Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 keninpalamos - 2014-02-24 8:42 AM and Sterling's own 4 stage battery to battery charger (121245) an excellent bit of kit ' Hi Could you confirm the model number you quoted above please? I see 121240 but not the other Many thanks Arthur Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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