shore power fried my batteries???

tampaliquors · 01-10-2011, 04:19 PM

input appreciated...have had my SMB on shore power for a week, today all the warning sirens were going off and the truck smelled awful. The cover to the batteries was very warm. Could shore power do that to a battery? thanks in advance, Frank

jage · 01-10-2011, 05:00 PM

I'll take overcharging for 100, Alex.

Which batteries (house or starter)? Had it on shore power before? Do you know how low/discharged they were before starting?

The charge controller should account for all this, and it won't charge without a ground. I'd say your charge controller is bad, but it's just a guess.

tampaliquors · 01-10-2011, 05:14 PM

great answer....house batteries, probably a few years old now, have been on shore before ( camping and storage ) and the batteries were probably quite low. charge controller....where is that bugger located? thanks!!!!!!

jage · 01-10-2011, 05:22 PM

Somewhere between the shore connector and the batteries?

If you have an inverter then it handles the charging.

My controller wouldn't/won't charge the batteries if they are two low. Another thought, if you have a short that burned, instead of draining the batteries once you put it on shore power you would have just kept feeding it.

Third guess, something in your 110 system that is not powered when the shore power/inverter is off.

Further investigation in any case. I'd inspect the batteries for damage first, and take care of (remove) them if that's the case, then move on to figuring out what happened. Also wait for wiser members to weigh in!

bluedog225 · 01-10-2011, 10:03 PM

My charger (original SMB, don't remember the name) went bad and formed a massive short across the battery terminals. Took it down to 6 volts in minutes. Not sure why it didn't catch fire. I heard it was a problem with the unit. (circa 1995). If the batteries are not toast, charge them as soon as you can but get the charger off the circuit.

Scalf77 · 01-11-2011, 07:09 AM

Judging from what I can tell in the manuals, the charger does not have a breaker or fuse between the charger and the battery.

There is a 40 amp circuit breaker before you get to the fuse panel. I would think if charger shorted out that breaker would be tripped in the progress, of course that would help out the batteries. It would be a pretty bad design to not protect the battery unless they counted on an external fuse.

What was the smell like? There should be a difference between electronics smoking and a battery be boiled.
You did not say what year, what kind of isolator or separator you have. That would be important to know.

What style is your interior like? As that dictates usually where they put stuff? (50?)

Do you have any voltage readings?

You should pull the ground from the battery ASAP.

-greg

tampaliquors · 01-11-2011, 06:58 PM

thanks for the replies! it is a 2006 with the gaucho along the side. the dual house batteries, inverter, battery separator, and battery fuse are all located under the gaucho. it was not an electrical smell, had to be boiling battery 'cause it was more like sulfur and the battery box was quite warm....no fuses or breakers seem to have been affected, and since airing it out and taking it off shore power, everything seems to be working properly,although it is only showing 10.5 V on the meter. can't tell the brand of the separator.....gonna have to get better eyes and more flexible neck! so, how would one test these components to make sure they are functioning properly? (BTW, inverter is nearly new, was replaced within the last year) again, thanks for the help! Frank

jage · 01-11-2011, 08:29 PM

2006 should have a separator:
viewtopic.php?p=35099#p35099

SurePower 1315

An Isolator looks like a brick with cooling fins and 3 bolts coming out the top.

carringb · 01-11-2011, 10:59 PM

Could the converter been on "Quick-charge" mode? In this mode, it will not sense a full charge, and will keep charging until turned off. My trailer had this feature, and I'd have to remember to take it off quick-charge (30 amps) after a couple hours.

**daveb** · 01-12-2011, 10:41 PM

Your problem can be one or more of a list of issues but I've yet to hear of a AGM battery boiling out like that. You don't happen to have wet cell batteries as the house batteries do you?
That would explain much.
There are several posts about this in the electrical section.