As it turns out, he was right. My battery was the original one that came with the coach and had more than surpassed the average lifetime for a battery (seven year lifespan vs. twelve year old coach, hmm)... Also, it had probably not been maintained by the POs, and I discovered tonight that the cells were bone dry. Yup, this was definitely not a project I could postpone.
The first thing he advised me to do was replace my standard 12V battery with two 6V golf cart-type batteries to get more usage time between charges. I found some that he said would be satisfactory at Canadian Tire. Then I came to the issue of installation. Canadian Tire quoted me 400$ to install them and an RV place 300$. Croft seethed at that! So, he gave me two lists. One detailed the steps that I needed to take to replace the battery myself and the second gave me all the components I needed, including the Canadian Tire inventory number for some of them. Can I say thank you too many times in one post?
Once I knew what to do, I had to get permission to do it at this campground and I had to find myself a helper who could lift 136lbs, the weight of just one of my new batteries!
I had to ask for permission because there are a lot of rules here, one of which is that you are not allowed to work on your coach. I spoke to the manager and said "May I change my coach battery here?" She said that that was fine as it's neither a messy nor noisy job. I then asked her if she could recommend a strong guy to help me. She volunteered her husband!
Today, I went to town (Calgary) to get all the parts I needed, including some lumber to reinforce the compartment floor. I was lucky to find what I needed in the scrap bin, so my costs for wood were negligible, and I scored some 3/4 plywood for the floor!
I'd called Canadian Tire ahead of time to make sure they had two of the batteries in stock and to put them aside for me. They did have some and they were on sale now! I saved 20$ per battery. When I arrived, all the items I'd asked about were waiting for me as were a few other things the clerk had assumed I'd need (he was right) and someone made himself available to bring the batteries to the car. WOW. Canadian Tires out west sure aren't like the one in Gatineau! My shopping list there included the batteries, a voltmeter (on sale from 40$ reduced to 10$!), a battery watering thingy that looks like a turkey baster, a 9V battery for the voltmeter, and a gallon of special battery water (same price as I'd seen for the same quantity of distilled water at Walmart, so I figured I might as well go with battery-specific water).
I got home mid-afternoon and set to work cutting the wood for the floor and corresponding back and forth some more with Croft working out other little details and questions that came up. Let me say that it was so nice to work on my home like that. I sure missed being a homeowner in respect to doing fun projects!
My helper arrived at 6 as promised. Getting the old battery out of the coach was tougher than I'd expected. It was in a tote... that was bolted to the coach floor. It took about a half hour for him to get the tote out of there, put in the plywood, and put in the two new batteries. He kept on needing tools and laughed each time I pulled out what he needed. And some people said I was an idiot to bring all my tools (save the miter saw)!
He accepted only a thank you for all his effort. Some people are just so nice.
It didn't take me long to hook up the batteries as per Croft's specifications, test them with my shiny new voltmeter, and hook them up to the charger which informed me that the batteries were already fully charged. I then installed some 2x4's to keep the batteries from moving, opened a beer, and set to work putting all the stuff that I'd taken out back into my coach. That was the longest part of the process!
Total cost of the project, including the beer, but not including the hardware bits I had at home: 270$.
Here's a picture of the final result. The way I cut those 2x4s leaves me with a little compartment in front of the batteries that is just the right size for my container of water, the voltmeter case, the battery baster, and a couple of rags. Croft says that everything looks good, so I'm having a beer now and calling it a day!
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15 comments:
Rae was an eager student on this and picked everything up instantly! I am sure she could have done the job with no help at all and I am glad to have been able to help. The job she did looks very professional.
Good job Rae and you are very welcome for whatever help I was able to give. Now you are better equipped to help the next person. That is what our lifestyle ios all about!
Good Job!
I LOVE doing (and learning) this sort of stuff! I could have probably done it with the print resources I had, but I wouldn't have had the same sort of confidence that everything was done correctly.
I love this lifestyle and the people I'm meeting!!!
There is an expression I like that covers situations like this perfectly:
"Take what you need and give what you can"
If we all went through life following this simple rule, the world would be a much better place.
The Golden Rule also applies. :-)
Yes, this will do you MUCH better. We went through the exact same thing, replacing the 7 year old batteries with two new Group 27 12volts (not enough height for 6v). When boondocking, make sure your new batteries are never drawn down below 12.1 "resting" volts.
Now the only question remaining is what kind of charger/converter do you have... :-)
Sorry, I forgot to get the info for the converter last time I was in there and it's way too much work to get to this morning.
As for the charger, it's item number 11-1576-8 at CDN Tire (I got a really good deal on it and didn't pay anywhere near the advertised price).
Okay, but I'm a little confused.
The Canadian Tire charger...what do you use that for?
In other words, when you are plugged into 120V AC at a campground, what is supplying recharge current to your coach batteries?
All of this applies to my old, crappy, battery, of course.
When I'm plugged in, my converter and solar panel do the job of recharging the batteries.
When boondocking, I plug in the Canadian Tire charger during the hour or so that I use the generator during the day and it keeps the battery topped up much more efficiently and quickly than does the converter.
The charger also helped me monitor battery levels much more accurately than with the inverter (although I now have a multimeter that is even more accurate).
Ahhh, okay. This all leads me back to the quality (or possible lack thereof) of your built in converter/charger.
I know I keep on about this, but if your built in charger/converter is the same as mine, then leaving it plugged in at a campground all winter MAY do possible damage to your new batteries. That, plus as you've found out, the built in charger/converter does not do a very effective job of charging up your batteries.
The charger I have did a more than ample job keeping my old battery fully topped up when plugged in. But when running the generator, the charger I bought did a much better job, of course.
My converter is a Magnetek series 6300A.
Well Kevin, we do know the converter did not do a very good job of charging the old 12 year old battery with no water in it ;), but it has not had a chance to prove itself with good batteries. There are two bad things a converter can do: 1) overcharge and 2) undercharge.
Undercharging will result in lower than optimal voltage from the battery and will be displayed on the inverter or the multimeter readings. Frequent use of the stand alone charger will be required to keep the battery at 100% charge (12.6 Volts at rest). The solar panel will help here as well.
Overcharging will result in too high a voltage being forced into the battery and will result in boiling of the cells and/or an unusual loss of water from the cells.
Either of these conditions will be quickly noticed during regular battery maintenance. Upgrading of the converter may become necessary in the future but I do not believe it is an expense necessary for preventative maintenance. At least not until a problem is noticed.
The ONLY time I had an actual battery failure was because of my own ignorance. It had nothing to do with the converter. I'd been boondocking for four nights, using the desktop computer, and otherwise being oblivious to the number of amp hours I was devouring.
When I've been plugged in, my battery has never gone lower than an 90% charge, and that's because I was doing tests and had turned on all the lights. And that's with a bad battery. So, I'm guessing that if I'm going to have any issues with the converter+new batteries, it will be overcharging. Beyond keeping an eye on the voltage readings and the water levels, is there anything I should be doing when plugged in for any length of time?
As I expected, your charger/converter is the same as mine. The Magnatek 6300 series is very basic, not only because of its ability to "boil" the batteries, but because it is only a single stage charger. This is all fine if you are not going to be plugged in very often. I have not yet upgraded mine, because I am not plugged in very often and have 160W of solar power now.
The 6300 series will only supply a 15A charge when plugged in, and if your batteries are half discharged they will take a very long time to come up to full charge, if ever. Every story I have read about the 6300 series comes to the same conclusion.
There is an upgrade kit available from bestconverters.com
http://www.bestconverter.com/45-Amp-Converter-Replacement-Kit_p_64-46.html
"The 6300 series will only supply a 15A charge when plugged in, and if your batteries are half discharged they will take a very long time to come up to full charge, if ever."
Which is why I use a dedicated 30-stage charger for that sort of charging. I don't charge my battery with the converter; I just maintain the current charge level.
I meant THREE stage, not THIRTY stage! LOL
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