# 21Rs Battery Dies After 10 Months



## Ostenhouse (Feb 6, 2009)

Hello, I am still a fairly new owner of a 2004 21rs. When I purchased the trailer I bought a new marine battery from walmart. Whenever we were not camping I had the camper plugged into 110 power for lights and to keep the fridge cold. When I winterized I put a small 12v 1.5 watt solar charger on the battery. I was checking the battery a few weeks back and it was dead. I could not charge it up and ended up taking it back for a replacement.

My question is having it plugged in all spring summer and fall overchange the battery??? Any comments will be appreciated. I do not want to have to replace the battery every year.
Thank You.


----------



## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Since you have an 04 your converter may not be a 3 stage like all the newer ones. That said you still have to monitor the electrolyte levels in the battery. Did you ever have to add distilled water to top up any of the cells?


----------



## ftwildernessguy (Oct 12, 2009)

CamperAndy said:


> Since you have an 04 your converter may not be a 3 stage like all the newer ones. That said you still have to monitor the electrolyte levels in the battery. Did you ever have to add distilled water to top up any of the cells?


My guess was that the electrolyte cooked out of the cells, too.


----------



## Ostenhouse (Feb 6, 2009)

The battery was a sealed battery so i was not able to monitor electrolyte level. How much trouble is it to switch out the converter for a modern one?? I will definitely run some test to see if it continuously charges this spring. I guess i need to read the manual.


----------



## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Deep cycle batteries are not normally sealed so I suspect you may have had a starting battery.

Changing the converter takes an hour at most. Look on line at Best Converters for a good price on a replacement converter.


----------



## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

Yep, sounds like time to update the converter. Like Andy said, it doesn't take that long. It does however help if you are comfortable with basic electricity and handyman type skills/tools. For mine I used a drill, a screwdriver, wire cutter, tin snips, and maybe a few screws.


----------



## thefulminator (Aug 8, 2007)

If you have any doubts about the condition of the batteries, you could take them to a battery shop to see if they can bring them back to life. If the electrolyte is still there using a forming charger may help.


----------



## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

Here's a link to California Jim's detailed repacement thread: Click


----------



## Ostenhouse (Feb 6, 2009)

Thanks for the info and the link to the step by step install of the new inverter. I will put that on the list.

Gary


----------



## Ostenhouse (Feb 6, 2009)

CamperAndy said:


> Deep cycle batteries are not normally sealed so I suspect you may have had a starting battery.
> 
> Changing the converter takes an hour at most. Look on line at Best Converters for a good price on a replacement converter.


Everstart Maxx sealed deep cycle battery, look it up they sell them at walmart.


----------



## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Ostenhouse said:


> Deep cycle batteries are not normally sealed so I suspect you may have had a starting battery.
> 
> Changing the converter takes an hour at most. Look on line at Best Converters for a good price on a replacement converter.


Everstart Maxx sealed deep cycle battery, look it up they sell them at walmart.
[/quote]

Like I said they are not normally sealed. It just so happens yours are but from the name "Everstart" I suspect that they began life as a marine starting battery that they just added the deep cycle part to add to the customer base. Hybrid batteries of this type have a place but are not suited for long life on your trailer. I personally would not get sealed batteries for the trailer unless they were AGM designed batteries and even then the performance does not out weigh the cost of this type battery.


----------



## OutbackPM (Sep 14, 2005)

Ostenhouse said:


> When I purchased the trailer I bought a new marine battery from walmart. Whenever we were not camping I had the camper plugged into 110 power for lights and to keep the fridge cold. *When I winterized I put a small 12v 1.5 watt solar charger on the battery*. .
> 
> My question is having it plugged in all spring summer and fall overchange the battery??? Any comments will be appreciated. I do not want to have to replace the battery every year.
> Thank You.


v
When you winterized did you diconect the 110v and only have the 1.5 watt solar charge on? If you did you would also need to disconnect the battery because the propane dectector will drain it in about 2 weeks. The 1.5 watt would not be able to keep up with that.


----------



## Ostenhouse (Feb 6, 2009)

CamperAndy,
I was out in the shed today doing some maintenance on some other equipment and was looking at the replacement battery they gave me at Walmart. It is not a sealed battery, It has recessed plates that i pryed open to reveal the cell holes for refilling. Thank you for your input.


----------



## hautevue (Mar 8, 2009)

Note: a 1.5 watt charger will not provide any charging to a 6 or 12 volt battery. The reason is that it takes about 3 to 4 watts of power to push those silly electrons through the battery. The minimum you should have for charging is 2 amps, which at 6 volts is 12 watts. For a 12 volt battery, 2 amps is 24 watts.

And the earlier reply is absolutely correct regarding the drain by the propane detector. That unit is "hard-wired" to the battery system, and it will, indeed, drain your battery(ies) in a couple of weeks. That's why I and many others have installed a knife-switch cutoff or a key-locked cutoff on the ground cable. When I park my OB at the storage place (which has no hookups), I just open the knife-switch cutoff and all battery draining stops.


----------



## Ostenhouse (Feb 6, 2009)

My plan for now will be keep the battery in the shed on a float charger over the winter. During the summer I when I have the trailer sitting in the driveway plugged in I am going to use knife switch (since I have one already that I was going to put on my Model A that I have since sold) to keep the battery from overcharging. I have a new converter on the list for the future but it is behind a few things like tires and repacking the wheel bearings and cleaning the roof membrane. Thanks for everyones input!! You guys are great!!!


----------

