Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks: Battery Boiling and sulfated

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Battery Boiling and sulfated

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Forum Name: Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks
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Printed Date: 25 May 2025 at 12:14pm
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Topic: Battery Boiling and sulfated

Posted By: chfgraegl
Subject: Battery Boiling and sulfated
Date Posted: 24 Jun 2016 at 11:12am

Can I get some advice please?

On a month long road trip and we have had shore electrical connection at every place we've been .

Yesterday we noticed a rotten egg smell and the battery is hot and acid boiling and some cells dry

I added water and this morning the water was boiling. I am wondering if the inverter is overcharging the battery , it does seem to be humming all night long , one time I disconnected the power cable to reset it and it quieted down.

My rig is a 2014 R177 . Battery will be 3 this October.

Headed out of Kamloops now but will check for responses in a few hours

Thank you

Replies:

Posted By: TheBum
Date Posted: 24 Jun 2016 at 1:36pm

Do you have a voltmeter to check it? It's possible a couple of the plates shorted together, which would cause more current to pass through during charging. It may just be time to replace the battery. A run of the mill battery usually has no more than an 18 month warranty.

Posted By: john in idaho
Date Posted: 24 Jun 2016 at 1:59pm

After it has set, off the charger, check the voltage. a full charge will be in the neighborhood of 12.6v. Your local auto parts store can do a load test. I suspect you need a new battery -- make sure it is a pure deep cycle , not a combo starting battery.

Posted By: WillThrill
Date Posted: 24 Jun 2016 at 9:03pm

I agree with the other posts. It sounds like your battery has shorted out internally, and there's nothing you can do to fix that; you'll have to replace the battery. It's possible that your converter/charger (not inverter) is overcharging your batteries, but I've never heard of a Pod converter doing that before. When you get a new battery, keep a close eye on it for a few days. The voltage should read about 13.6 once the battery is fully charged. If it's much higher than that, your converter is probably malfunctioning.

-------------
"Not all those who wander are lost." Tolkien

2014 Hood River 177
2005 GMC Envoy XL

Posted By: chfgraegl
Date Posted: 24 Jun 2016 at 10:15pm

So I went to Camping World and they were helpful, they first wanted me to put the Pod in the shop but I couldn't do that . So I knew the battery was sulfated / shorted. The customer person said that tap water can cause battery problems and before we left I topped off the cells with tap water. I think I created my own problems. So I replaced the battery and will keep monitoring it. Good to hear the converters are not problematic. Sure have learned a lot about RV'ing and Podding.
Thank you for all of the input. Thank you all 👏👏

Posted By: WillThrill
Date Posted: 25 Jun 2016 at 10:33am

Originally posted by chfgraegl

So I went to Camping World and they were helpful, they first wanted me to put the Pod in the shop but I couldn't do that . So I knew the battery was sulfated / shorted. The customer person said that tap water can cause battery problems and before we left I topped off the cells with tap water. I think I created my own problems. So I replaced the battery and will keep monitoring it. Good to hear the converters are not problematic. Sure have learned a lot about RV'ing and Podding.
Thank you for all of the input. Thank you all 👏👏

Glad to hear you found the source of the problem and got it fixed.

Yes, be sure to only refill batteries with distilled water. When you do refill them, which shouldn't be necessary more often than every 3-6 months, just refill them to the bottom of the little tabs that stick down in toward the acid. Be sure to not overfill them and wear eye protection when you do it. Wear old clothes to as if you get the tiniest of drops on your clothes, the acid will burn a hole right through them.

-------------
"Not all those who wander are lost." Tolkien

2014 Hood River 177
2005 GMC Envoy XL

Posted By: chfgraegl
Date Posted: 25 Jun 2016 at 1:48pm

Good tip on the eye protection , staring at a sulfated battery I'm lucky it didn't blow up in my face

Thank you !!!