Battery Compartment with Acid Spills

[boeingme]

My RV has a compartment with 6 6V house batteries (not a slide out).
It has a watering system which had utilized a one gallon container and a lever for on/off to keep batteries topped off.

Well......

Old batteries looked to be leaking, bought new batteries, swapped them out and reinstalled the existing watering system onto them. Prior to actually swapping, I scraped, put baking soda in, rinsed, primed and painted the area. Put the new batteries in.

Well......

I began to see water seepage along the side of the batteries. Come to the conclusion the system itself was leaking, purchased a flow rite system with the ball syphon devise which sucks water in from a bottle and tops off the batteries. Ideally, I loved the self system. Has anyone else had this issue? Has anyone used the Flow Rite system and hooked it up to their existing water bottle as a drip system? Tell me your experience and thoughts.

Thank you,

[GordonThree]

lwasouth wrote:
NAPA has the best AGM batteries, Made by East Penn Battery Company
Cost is about $240.00 each, but will worth it

If you're East of the Mississippi, Sam's Club has Duracell AGM which are also made by East Penn. I paid 159 ea for 12v G31 AGM. GC2 6v AGM were more, don't recall the exact price.

I've read West Marine brand AGM batteries are also East Penn

[lwasouth]

NAPA has the best AGM batteries, Made by East Penn Battery Company
Cost is about $240.00 each, but will worth it

[Mr_Mark1]

Lithium Ion batteries can be rebuilt vs. replaced at a more reasonable cost (from what I'm told).

Our coach manufacturer's explanation of the type of LI batteries they use.. (listed from their site) “The Lithium-Ion system we are now using is a Lithium Iron Phosphate battery which makes it inherently safer and very stable compared to the Lithium Cobalt Oxide which is very volatile".

Our generator is set-up to come when the batteries reach a 30% charge. In almost three years, I'm very happy withe performance of LI batteries.

MM.

[2oldman]

msmith1199 wrote:
Did you have to change out your inverter/charger with the Lithium Ion batteries?

Yes. I have a 48v Li pack, so I'm way different from anyone else here.

I had a Schauer 48v acid/AGM charger, which I sent back to the factory to be recalibrated to the bulk/float voltages of the pack. There is no absorb phase.

[msmith1199]

2oldman wrote:

Mr.Mark wrote:
We now have Lithium Ion batteries that are the ultimate in clean.... But, they are a commitment price-wise and will last at least 10 yrs.

Me too. Darn hard on the wallet, but light and powerful. Charge up very fast. Little voltage drop on large loads.

Yes, AGMs will hit the wallet twice as hard as acid, but they're well worth it for the problems OP listed. The only maintenance I ever did was blow the dust off. Mount in any position. Wonderful batteries.

Did you have to change out your inverter/charger with the Lithium Ion batteries?

[2oldman]

fyrflie wrote:
The OP said he just bought 6 new batteries.

That's ok. Next time.

[GordonThree]

2oldman wrote:
Get rid of the irrigation and acid and go to AGMs. No maintenance.

^^ this. Sell your flooded batteries and water system on CL and put some AGM in place. The peace of mind is well worth the moderate expense.

AGM shouldn't cost double, shop around a bit.

[fyrflie]

2oldman wrote:
Get rid of the irrigation and acid and go to AGMs. No maintenance.

The OP said he just bought 6 new batteries.

[2oldman]

Mr.Mark wrote:
We now have Lithium Ion batteries that are the ultimate in clean.... But, they are a commitment price-wise and will last at least 10 yrs.

Me too. Darn hard on the wallet, but light and powerful. Charge up very fast. Little voltage drop on large loads.

Yes, AGMs will hit the wallet twice as hard as acid, but they're well worth it for the problems OP listed. The only maintenance I ever did was blow the dust off. Mount in any position. Wonderful batteries.

[wa8yxm]

Ok get a 1.5 or 3 gallon garden sprayer

Fill with water and Baking soda, As much soda as you can get the water to dissolve .


Spray it down, Spray it down GOOD You should see some "Fizzing" (Like alka-seltzer) Ideally you want to keep spraying till no more fizz

Now take your basic garden hose with sprayer and SPRAY IT DOWN with plain water, Lots and Lots of plain water.. Go overboard

If you really want to do a great job.. Well let it dry prime it and paint with a chemical (Acid) resistant paint. perhaps Epoxy (Ask a paint expert... Been a few years (re, Decades. 4 of them) since I sold paint.)

[Mr_Mark1]

2oldman wrote:
Get rid of the irrigation and acid and go to AGMs. No maintenance.

X2... it was the best thing that we ever did on our previous coach. I watered those darn batteries for 6 yrs. and enjoyed AGM's for the rest of ownership (1.5 more years).

We had eight house batteries and they sulfated rusting the trays. Once I went to AGM's, I had the trays painted and everything stayed nice and clean.

We now have Lithium Ion batteries that are the ultimate in clean. We have 3 batteries that are probably replacing at least 10-12 AGM's. But, they are a commitment price-wise and will last at least 10 yrs. The prices on them are falling everyday.

Good luck and safe travels,
MM.

[crasster]

Tom/Barb wrote:
remove the batteries then, Wash, wash and re-wash with lots of baking soda. get rid of the acid.

This. Baking soda will fizz. WEAR EYE PROTECTION!

[SCVJeff]

I've used a self leveling bulb system for well over ten years and not one drop anywhere. Not sure where your leak is coming as the battery level is probably an inch below the battery lip. You say it's siphoning out of one of the caps? Dump em'

Ps- that looks like a Meridian? Being from Marysville I suspect you bought it through Robinson? Me too..

[Tom_Barb]

remove the batteries then, Wash, wash and re-wash with lots of baking soda. get rid of the acid.