# Battery Keeps Getting Hot And Have Add Water



## Duanesz (Jul 10, 2009)

I just got a 06 25rss and we plugged it in for a couple of days and there was a foul smell coming from the battery. So it looked like the battery needed water so I added some. Now one day later the battery is making a bubbling sound and very hot. I checked the voltage at the battery and its 12.88volts. The fan runs on the power supply all the time. Anyone have this issue?

Duane


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## Rip (Jul 13, 2006)

Had the same !!! Bad battery!!!!


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## Duanesz (Jul 10, 2009)

just checked the batt with the charge controler off the batt is 12.32 volts. Do I have to take the battery to the auto supply store and have it checked?

thanks
duane


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## 2500Ram (Oct 30, 2005)

If you just bought the TT I would take the battery back to the dealer if they are close. This is a warranty issue unless you bought it from a private party. Either way the battery is bad if it dropped to 12.3v already. Just buy a new one from Costco or Sams if private party sale.

Good luck.


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## BoaterDan (Jul 1, 2005)

Could also be a bad charger, but let's hope for the best. Because that is a possibility, I'd take that battery to one of the places that will test it for free. You're probably not going to buy from Autozone or the like though because they probably don't carry true deep cycles, so buy some oil for the car or something while you're there.


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## battalionchief3 (Jun 27, 2006)

Or buy a hydrometer and test the cells yourself, you find out real quick it you have a bad one. Thats the ol' school way.


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## Airboss (Jul 14, 2007)

I thought the 06's and better had a respectable converter? If so, my guess is the batt.


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## Duanesz (Jul 10, 2009)

Thanks I will pull the battery and have it checked

Duane


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## Duanesz (Jul 10, 2009)

My next question is this camper has a electric tongue jack what if the battery went completely bad and I had to jack up the tongue. Could I take the wires off the battery and tie them together and use the converter to power the tongue jack or do I have to ground the negative side and hook the jack up to the positive?

Duane


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Duanesz said:


> My next question is this camper has a electric tongue jack what if the battery went completely bad and I had to jack up the tongue. Could I take the wires off the battery and tie them together and use the converter to power the tongue jack or do I have to ground the negative side and hook the jack up to the positive?
> 
> Duane


Don't do that...just get the manual crank and raise/lower by hand. Then get batteries replaced and you're back in business without having to reconfigure your wiring.


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## Scoutr2 (Aug 21, 2006)

Duanesz said:


> My next question is this camper has a electric tongue jack what if the battery went completely bad and I had to jack up the tongue. Could I take the wires off the battery and tie them together and use the converter to power the tongue jack or do I have to ground the negative side and hook the jack up to the positive?
> 
> Duane


There should be a manual crank handle to raise and lower the tongue if the jack should go bad or if you have no battery power. I wouldn't try to circumvent all the protections built into the trailer's electric system by jumpering around things.

That's what they make the manual crank for.

Mike


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## Duanesz (Jul 10, 2009)

Will the 12volt system work without the battery in place? I am the second owner of this rv so I am not sure if it has a manual crank for the electric tongue jack.

Duane

I am going to have battery checked in the am. I was just wondering so if ever I am camping and try to pull up camp and hit the road and the battery fails I could get the jack to work.


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## 2500Ram (Oct 30, 2005)

Duanesz said:


> I was just wondering so if ever I am camping and try to pull up camp and hit the road and the battery fails I could get the jack to work.


As stated leave all wiring in place, you don't want to blow other components in the TT. Figure out the make and model of your jack and buy a new manual crank.

But just in case your battery IS dead and don't have a manual crank, just back in the TV and plug in the trailer. You have instant 12v power to jack your trailer


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## Duanesz (Jul 10, 2009)

Ok cool now I know if I hook my truck up I will have power to the jack. This is why I love forums they provide great info.

Thanks
Duane


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## Rip (Jul 13, 2006)

Just don't disconnect the wires from the battery leave the trailer plug into 120 volt power and use the jack or plug the 7 way plug into your truck and use the jack!!!!! All of these 12 volts sources tie together in the 4x4 box on the trailer !!! Then you can disconnect the battery!!!


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## Duanesz (Jul 10, 2009)

Ok I just looked online and saw the jack I have its a Ultra Fab 3000 lb Eletric Trailer Tongue Jack. It says in the info that it has a emergency hand crank. I did not get that form the original owner. They pretty much cleaned it out the only thing they left was the awning hook to pull the awning down with. I will have to look tomorrow and see where this emergency one would go in at maybe its a 3/8 extension end or something

Duane


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## BoaterDan (Jul 1, 2005)

Airboss said:


> I thought the 06's and better had a respectable converter? If so, my guess is the batt.


I think it's quite unlikely that the converter/charger is the problem, but the battery is very easy to test before just buying a new one.


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## battalionchief3 (Jun 27, 2006)

That jacks manual point is on top under that little black plastic cover, just pop it off. Just in case you didnt know.


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

I agree that the battery is likely bad. However, if you put a voltmeter on the battery while the converter/charger was running it should have read at least 13.6 volts or more likely about 14.2 or so because it would have seen the low voltage and been actively charging. Just wondering.


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## Duanesz (Jul 10, 2009)

I took the battery to auto parts store to have it checked and they said it was to low to test and need to be charged to be tested. So I was short on time so I just got a new one. got home and put it it and now seems to work fine. before the fan was running all the time on the inverter (probably trying to charge the dead battery) Now the fan does not run all the time on the inverter.

Duane


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Duanesz said:


> I took the battery to auto parts store to have it checked and they said it was to low to test and need to be charged to be tested. So I was short on time so I just got a new one. got home and put it it and now seems to work fine. before the fan was running all the time on the inverter (probably trying to charge the dead battery) Now the fan does not run all the time on the inverter.
> 
> Duane


Glads you got things working.


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## BoaterDan (Jul 1, 2005)

Sounds like you got it. A day later is the battery still 100% charged and the charger fan not running?


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

I'm still curious about the voltage while the camper is plugged in and the converter is on. You should see:

14.2 or 14.4 when the battery is low and the converter is in rapid charge mode
13.6 when the battery is almost fully charged
13.2 when the battery is finished charging

You can also check this from inside the camper by opening up the fuse panel and looking for the converter (+) wire and the (-) ground. Just want to make sure that you got the whole issue corrected.

Jim


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## BoaterDan (Jul 1, 2005)

I'm with Jim. Something may have killed the battery, so make sure it all checks out 100%


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## Devildog (Sep 8, 2005)

Guys I have a very similar problem myself. I bought my TT new in 06, and looked like my battery got fried sometime back in the spring so I replaced it at the beginning of June with a new one. We went on a week long trip to the beach the first week of June, so it was plugged in the entire week. Shouldn't this have been enough to give it a good, deep charge?

I went this evening to pick my TT up from storage for a couple day trip we are going on tomorrow, and everything was dead, the lights weren't working, nothing. I plugged it up and of course it works fine. I am leaving it plugged in a few hours tonight to see if it gets a charge back which will be the ultimate answer for me.

But I also noticed that my slide is running very slow when I go to slide it out or in, which I am going to search the forums for an answer on it to see if it is a totally different problem.

Any suggestions are always appreciated!


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Devildog said:


> Guys I have a very similar problem myself. I bought my TT new in 06, and looked like my battery got fried sometime back in the spring so I replaced it at the beginning of June with a new one. We went on a week long trip to the beach the first week of June, so it was plugged in the entire week. Shouldn't this have been enough to give it a good, deep charge?
> 
> I went this evening to pick my TT up from storage for a couple day trip we are going on tomorrow, and everything was dead, the lights weren't working, nothing. I plugged it up and of course it works fine. I am leaving it plugged in a few hours tonight to see if it gets a charge back which will be the ultimate answer for me.
> 
> ...


Yes it would have been good and charged but they will be drained in 3 or 4 weeks by the various parasitic loads in the trailer. You want to charge then disconnect the batteries if you want them to hold the charge during storage.


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## Devildog (Sep 8, 2005)

Thanks CamperAndy,

Looks like the battery recharged after hooking to power this weekend. I didn't think those various loads would be enough to totally drain the battery, but I guess I was wrong. I will see how it does on the next trip, if it has any charge left after sitting in storage for a few weeks.


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

Devildog said:


> Thanks CamperAndy,
> 
> Looks like the battery recharged after hooking to power this weekend. I didn't think those various loads would be enough to totally drain the battery, but I guess I was wrong. I will see how it does on the next trip, if it has any charge left after sitting in storage for a few weeks.


Disconnect the battery if it's going to sit for a couple weeks. It will just be dead again and every deep discharge will damage the battery.


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## Devildog (Sep 8, 2005)

I may have to put a quick disconnect in there so i can do it after each trip. I have read posts where leaving it plugged up all the time is not good on the battery(I think that is ultimately what fried my last one), and obviously these small loads discharge it too much as well to leave it connected after every trip. I have at least 4 weeks or so between trips so I definitely need to disconnect


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## KosinTrouble (Jul 18, 2005)

Devildog said:


> I may have to put a quick disconnect in there so i can do it after each trip. I have read posts where leaving it plugged up all the time is not good on the battery(I think that is ultimately what fried my last one), and obviously these small loads discharge it too much as well to leave it connected after every trip. I have at least 4 weeks or so between trips so I definitely need to disconnect


I would be curious to hear what others say about this as well. I have heard both sides, saying it is best to leave batteries connected if you are keeping trailer at home and others say you should disconnect the batteries.

Kos


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## Airboss (Jul 14, 2007)

KosinTrouble said:


> I would be curious to hear what others say about this as well. I have heard both sides, saying it is best to leave batteries connected if you are keeping trailer at home and others say you should disconnect the batteries.
> 
> Kos


A battery disconnect is such a simple and inexpensive mod that I often wonder why they don't come with the TT. Honestly, for $5-6 and 20 minutes time you should just do it. Heck, you can even get them at Wally World.

Then, once the batteries are charged after their last use - DISCONNECT THEM! There is no good reason that I can think of to leave them charging on shore power for an extended period of time. Any little bit of charge they may lose before your next camping trip will be quickly topped off when you plug in to cool the refer the night before you leave.

I know that some like to use their TTs as a place to hang out (or if you're like me..._hide out_), let the kids play, put the in-laws up in their own suite while visiting







or whatever. Everything still works with the batteries disconnected while on shore power. So again, I just can't think of a *good *reason to leave them connected.


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## BoaterDan (Jul 1, 2005)

It depends on a lot of factors. Batteries will gradually discharge even when disconnected, so it's simply not always correct that a disconnect is always better than leaving them connected to the charger. Keep in mind we're talking about fairly long periods of time by definition. My double 12v Wally World batteries have sat connected for 2-3 weeks dozens of times and still at 75% charge (I'm talking batteries connected but no shore power).

One big factor would be the age of the system. I would say batteries and shore power connected is probably preferred with a new 3-stage charger, battery disconnect definitely preferred with an older system.


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