bad battery?

ron55 · 04-24-2010, 12:43 PM

I am on my fifth engine starting battery, going dead and will not charge.
My last was a optima marine deep cycle starting battery because I knew it would dischage but I didn't know it would not recharge. What would cause this battery in 2 weeks from a fully charge to die, to where it wil not charge back up( beening a deep cycle?), another bad battery? My diehard charger works on all my other batterys, I have 6 Optima marine deep cycle
My other two house batterys which are two more deep cycle Optimas are just fine.
My batter boost has never worked it just clicks? dumb, but could these selnoids kill a battery where even a deep cycle will not charge?
thanks

ron55 · 04-24-2010, 03:37 PM

please forget my post. I feel dumb. My battery charger is bad, all the little light are working as if it's ok, but I tried my neighbor's charger and the battery ok. I probably threw away a good battery or two. I going to stay off here!

Dmiles · 04-24-2010, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ron55

please forget my post. I feel dumb. My battery charger is bad, all the little light are working as if it's ok, but I tried my neighbor's charger and the battery ok. I probably threw away a good battery or two. I going to stay off here!

Nah, keep coming back. The vast majority of us have done things that seemed right at the time, but with the advantage of hindsight, well...

You're no "dumber" than the rest of us. But by having the guts to share your experiences, odds are you've helped someone.

CJ7ole · 04-24-2010, 06:37 PM

Ron55,

But don't you still have a problem with why the battery goes dead in 2 weeks? I have had the same problem and even the engine would not charge the battery. Thought the battery was dead, but when I checked the battery distributor (DEKA) he said if the voltage is too low it will not charge with most automatic chargers unless you put in parallel with a good battery. I jumped it to the house batteries for 12 hours and it worked. But I am still trying to find out what is draining my engine battery.

MrTransistor · 04-25-2010, 02:32 AM

Hi ron55,

Without a good meter, how were you to know? Your charger is probably okay, just that the battery was too low for it to operate. As to the discharging, there are several threads here that address this issue. I can’t tell you what to search for but anything having to do with ‘chassis’ battery or ‘battery discharge’ should do. Most of the discharge threads have to do with diesel engines but the discharges are probably still there on the gassers as well.

The clicking you here when the battery boost switch is activated is likely the battery boost contactor and if it doesn’t work, then the contacts are probably bad. Again, do a search for ‘tie contactor’ to read all about it. For a little ‘hands on’, you can repair the old one, or find out how to replace it with a new one (about $30.00) from Trombetta or your local Winne dealer.

It ‘is’ something that should be working since it allows the engine to charge the coach batteries while you drive. If you use coach battery power while driving, say, to run the inverter or the refrigerator, the tie contactor allows the power to be provided by the engine’s alternator instead of draining the batteries. Good luck.

wa8yxm · 04-25-2010, 06:02 AM

Actually.. I've had several batteries go dead in 2 weeks just from "phantom loads" that are always present (parasitic is another word for them) Engine control computer, Radio Memory and other stuff.

ON a motor home the electrical system comes in basically two flavors. Either the house charges the chassis or not.. If it does, your battery should not go dead but... A dirty connection on the battery terminals can make it look dead (Mine does charge and does have that bad connection issue from time to time)

Simple cleaning restores full function

On others, the house does NOT charge the chassis battery and a Trick-L-Start or Xantrex Echocharger adds that function

As for the optima.. It has some impressive surge ratings (peak cranking amps) but it goes dead faster than any other battery out there of the same size. WHY? Because it is 3/4 battery (The remaining quarter is air) at 4/3 the price of course, A battery that holds 100 amp horus, if re-designed in the OPTIMA style will be slightly less than 75 as I recall (I did the math)

And it's not peak craking amps that matter.. It's amp hours, when it comes to holding a charge for 2 weeks. I recommend against Optima less you really need them.

NeilV · 04-25-2010, 06:34 AM

Ron - If your solenoids are bad and won't boost then they could be preventing your altinator from charging your engine battery. Unless you have installed a secondary device to allow for it, your converter/charger that is built into the coach only charges your house batteries when your plugged in. You still probably need to find out what is going wrong with the boost switch and engine charging systems.

If parasitic loads bring my engine battery down to where it will not start the coach then starting it with the boost switch will allow the altinator to charge it back up within a very short time.

Keep investigating, you'll get to the bottom of it and running right.

hamguy · 04-25-2010, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ron55

please forget my post. I feel dumb. My battery charger is bad, all the little light are working as if it's ok, but I tried my neighbor's charger and the battery ok. I probably threw away a good battery or two. I going to stay off here!

Ron, don't feel bad! I would trade "dumbs" with anyone and prolly win. I have even "dumbed" the same "dumb" on occasion.

John Hilley · 04-25-2010, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeilV

Ron - If your solenoids are bad and won't boost then they could be preventing your altinator from charging your engine battery. Unless you have installed a secondary device to allow for it, your converter/charger that is built into the coach only charges your house batteries when your plugged in. You still probably need to find out what is going wrong with the boost switch and engine charging systems.

If parasitic loads bring my engine battery down to where it will not start the coach then starting it with the boost switch will allow the altinator to charge it back up within a very short time.

Keep investigating, you'll get to the bottom of it and running right.

The alternator should be directly charging the chassis battery. The isolation solenoid isolates the two batteries except when the engine is running or the boost switch is pushed, it then bridges the two batteries.