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Ben Herman
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Joined: 26 Apr 2018
Location: Gr Junction, CO
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Posts: 355
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Topic: Battery Issue Posted: 19 Mar 2021 at 10:06pm |
Originally posted by offgrid
Even if your pod bakes in the afternoon the battery won’t get up to that peak afternoon temp because it has so much thermal mass. It will probably settle out closer to the daily average temp, as long as it’s in the shade. Now if it is in direct sunlight that’s another story... In that case even just painting the battery box white would help a lot. |
yes direct sun unfortunately - and no other way to orient the trailer in my driveway. i'll take your suggestion to paint the battery box white, time to break out the spray paint.
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offgrid
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Joined: 23 Jul 2018
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Posted: 18 Mar 2021 at 6:29am |
Even if your pod bakes in the afternoon the battery won’t get up to that peak afternoon temp because it has so much thermal mass. It will probably settle out closer to the daily average temp, as long as it’s in the shade. Now if it is in direct sunlight that’s another story... In that case even just painting the battery box white would help a lot.
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
2015 Rpod 179 - sold
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Ben Herman
Senior Member
Joined: 26 Apr 2018
Location: Gr Junction, CO
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 355
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Posted: 17 Mar 2021 at 7:01pm |
By and large our weather in Western CO is beautiful. Just so happens that my back driveway, where my Pod sits, is in direct south-facing high desert sun. So the Pod bakes. But it was high 50s an sunny here today, we had a bit or rain earlier in the week while Denver and the mountains got 2+ ft of snow. I prefer going to the mountains to play rather than living in them.
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offgrid
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Joined: 23 Jul 2018
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Posted: 17 Mar 2021 at 6:53pm |
Yessir!
But look at it this way, it could be worse. My family on my mother’s side are Yoopers from Ishpeming. Now that’s some cold country.
I like SWVA. 73 was the high here today. We get enough snow to know when it’s winter, and enough heat to know when it’s summer, without freezing or sweltering for months or everything turning brown all summer. Just my opinion....
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
2015 Rpod 179 - sold
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jato
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Joined: 23 Feb 2012
Location: Kewadin, MI
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Posts: 3255
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Posted: 17 Mar 2021 at 4:23pm |
So there is one advantage to living in northern Michigan where the sun goes in hibernation mode for 5 months and weather is oft times dreary and damp - longer battery life
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God's pod
'11 model 177
'17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost
Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake
"...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free."
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offgrid
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Jul 2018
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Posts: 5290
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Posted: 17 Mar 2021 at 4:13pm |
Heat accelerates almost all chemical reactions, including corrosion rates. A rough rule of thumb is that reaction rate doubles for every 10 deg C (18F). So at 110F you are getting something around a 4x reduction in shelf life of a battery relative to what you’d get at 70.
But the temp effect on chemical reactions causes batteries to have more internal resistance when they’re cold, because batteries undergo a chemical reaction when they charge and discharge. So they produce less current at a given voltage and need higher voltages to charge properly when they’re cold. That’s why people think cold is bad for batteries.
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
2015 Rpod 179 - sold
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Ben Herman
Senior Member
Joined: 26 Apr 2018
Location: Gr Junction, CO
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 355
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Posted: 17 Mar 2021 at 3:49pm |
Originally posted by offgrid
5 year lifetime is normal for a deep cycle battery, whether it gets cycled or not. Batteries have a shelf life, which is shortened by warm temperatures and effected by battery chemistry. The lead antimony alloy used in deep cycle battery plates shortens their shelf life but gives them more cycling ability.
Batteries also have a cycle life, and the number of available cycles depends on depth of discharge and on plate design and alloy. It’s a race to the finish line depending on whether cycle or shelf life is shorter. You can think of deep cycle batteries as optimized more for cycling than shelf life, so you wouldn’t want to use them if you didn’t do much cycling, like for example in a starting battery.
Bottom line is that 5 year old deep cycle batteries don’t owe you anything, time for a new one. |
yes this makes sense. We have very hot summers here and the place where I park my trailer is in full sun. I'm sure the ambient temperature is 110+ inside the battery box. I might consider pulling the battery and storing it in my garage after each use - only takes me 5 minutes to do so. I always thought cold was more damaging but I was wrong!
Thanks again for all of the assistance. All now working fine.
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offgrid
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Joined: 23 Jul 2018
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Posted: 17 Mar 2021 at 3:35pm |
5 year lifetime is normal for a deep cycle battery, whether it gets cycled or not. Batteries have a shelf life, which is shortened by warm temperatures and effected by battery chemistry. The lead antimony alloy used in deep cycle battery plates shortens their shelf life but gives them more cycling ability.
Batteries also have a cycle life, and the number of available cycles depends on depth of discharge and on plate design and alloy. It’s a race to the finish line depending on whether cycle or shelf life is shorter. You can think of deep cycle batteries as optimized more for cycling than shelf life, so you wouldn’t want to use them if you didn’t do much cycling, like for example in a starting battery.
Bottom line is that 5 year old deep cycle batteries don’t owe you anything, time for a new one.
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
2015 Rpod 179 - sold
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podwerkz
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Joined: 11 Mar 2019
Location: Texas
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Posts: 966
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Posted: 17 Mar 2021 at 3:15pm |
Yes, 5 year old battery, and questionable charger.....if it was the CenTech brand from HF those things are JUNK. I would recommend you buy either a Samlex or Battery Tender or Marinco or NOCO charger...they are all decent quality.
Anyway, new battery, it should all be working now cuz it sounds like your RV converter unit is fine.
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r・pod 171 gone but not forgotten!
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Ben Herman
Senior Member
Joined: 26 Apr 2018
Location: Gr Junction, CO
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 355
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Posted: 17 Mar 2021 at 1:10pm |
Originally posted by jato
What did you find out, was one of the cells really low or was a load test given and just shown the battery to have failed the test?
With proper maintenance batteries can last quite a long time. I have a pair of group size 24 Interstates that were built 12/2010 and 3/2011 and get used a lot - we usually boondock. Big thing for us is not to draw down below 60% S.O.C. or 12.2v before charging again as well as keeping an eye on electrolyte levels and fill with distilled water when getting low.
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Battery failed. I'm pretty careful about drawdown, I use a solar 100W panel to keep it charged up (we almost always have sun out here in CO). I think that the weak link may be a cheap Harbor Freight trickle charger that I kept attached to it over the winter. Will get a better battery conditioner for next winter.
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