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Old 08-12-2022, 09:22 PM   #1
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Battery, rotten egg smell, Renogy EO1 codes

I opened the side door to the van (2001 Ford E350 v8) this morning to the beeping of the carbon monoxide detector, a nasty chemical/electrical odor, an EO1 code (over-charge) on the Renogy Rover Elite charge controller and a hot house battery leaking stuff on the driveway; it was plugged into 110 shore power overnight. My mechanic was trying to diagnose remotely, thinks the solar controller is okay but suspects the Intelipower 9100 power converter, which he says deals with the shore power coming into the van but is independent of the solar charge controller. Never had an issue like this before but did have an EO1 code recently. In spite of the over-charge code, other indicators show an under-charged battery, so low I think it's toast.

The van's been sitting unplugged from shore power all day, battery cooled down to almost ambient temperature, but now when I turn on the van engine, I soon detect a sulphury rotten egg smell which seems to be coming from the vicinity of the battery, which makes me not want to drive it at all; I have not left the engine running this way long enough to see if the battery heats up, as well. I'd just recently had a new battery, solar panel and Renogy solar controller installed.

I've heard suggestions that the Intel 9100 failure is the likely culprit.
Thoughts?

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Old 08-12-2022, 11:15 PM   #2
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If there’s a house battery cutoff switch or disconnect breaker, find it and use it.
Other than the fact that something might be going on with your charging system, the house battery is toasted and will continue to receive charge from the alternator when the van is running, hence the smell.
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Old 08-12-2022, 11:27 PM   #3
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Thanks REF. Trying to locate now, not prominent in the manual. Maybe I'll give SMB Texa a call.
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Old 08-13-2022, 03:41 AM   #4
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Right, sure sounds like your battery is toasted…leaking, smell, etc.

The 9100 also charges so it sounds like the source of over charge. Do you also have the charge wizard? One could test the voltage to make sure.

You have an E350, batteries are often under the van. If not, under the gaucho?
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Old 08-13-2022, 06:53 AM   #5
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Battery is surely toast now, most likely a shorted cell now.

It may not be the 9100 itself, while not being the best of shore power chargers. A lot depends on the length of time plugged in, the actual sub model of the 9100 e.g. 9130, 9145, thru 9180, The xx would be the amperage the unit puts out a 9130 is a 30 amp unit.

The next part of the equation is the size and type of the new battery. We would want to match the current output to the size of the battery and actually the type. An AGM can handle a higher charge current than a wet cell .

The next part of the equation is your solar controller and panels, the capacity of the charge controller would be the max current output it could provide, although this will be most likely limited to the size of your solar panel array.

So when plugged in with solar active, we could easily provide more charge capacity to the house battery when combining the two systems. My general recommendation would be to disable solar when plugged in.

I would also check the settings on the Renogy solar charge controller to make sure they match the battery chemistry you have installed.

-greg
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Old 08-13-2022, 10:42 AM   #6
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Not saying this is your problem but is the battery off gassing a wet cell battery? In my case, I went through several sets of wet cell starting batteries when the van was new. My thoughts were the wet cell batteries getting a constant solar charge during the day simply dried out the battery over time until one cell finally shorted. This continued to happen (3 sets of batteries over the course of 3 years) until I replaced all the starting batteries with AGM types. I was surprised to see my inverter charge pumping out over 60 amps trying to bring the bad battery up to charge. The shorted battery kept the charger from going into the float mode and instead ramped up the charge. As long as the separator saw a charge voltage it kept closed and the inverter boiled the bad battery. Obviously as soon as I shut off the charger, the separator opened up right away. After switching to AGM's I never had an similar issue. I also worried the high charge rate might of damaged my AGM house batteries but they were fine.
I have yet to see a AGM battery off gas although I've been told they can. Every AGM that has gone bad on my bass boat or SMB has just slowly lost capacity over time but none have never got hot due to charging.

I don't use the shore charger unless I actually need to charge the house battery system and rely on solar to keep them topped off. I also don't leave the shore charger on without monitoring the charge as much as feasible. If I had of just looked at the charge rate the charger was putting out, I would have seen the charge rate never tapering down to an amp or so during the charging session. It was a big red flag I missed.
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Old 08-18-2022, 12:09 PM   #7
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Disconnect at the terminals

Continuing to charge that battery can end in an explosion. Don't worry about finding an official disconnect. Disconnect it at the terminals. You'll have to do that to replace it anyway.
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Old 08-19-2022, 10:20 AM   #8
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Thank you everyone for your input. Much appreciated.
Scott
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