Bad Battery Overheating/Causing smell

[el.aggy]

Hello everyone! First timer here.

I need help! Please. I’m currently living out of my camper and traveled all the way from California to Alaska with my FWC Raven 2020. I got it checked before my departure and we left off with saying upgrades will be made but the shop was booked up, so I took off and will be getting the new lithium batteries placed soon!

Saying that, I’m currently in Alaska and my battery has begun to overheat and develop a smell. I Disclaimer: Idk anything about circuitry or battery’s. This the reason I was having a shop do all of it for me.

My question is (I can’t seem to find a video on how to do it properly) how do I remove my batteries and can I remove them without putting anything in there to replace them. I’m wanting to remove them but there’s a couple more wires than I’m use to and don’t know the proper steps to these guys but what I do know is inhaling battery fumes bad.

Attached are pictures of the set up. The battery on the right (closer to the bulk of wires) is the culprit.

 

[Jon R]

You may have simply overcharged your batteries causing some outgassing, but it’s possible the battery has failed in some way. Others may have replies on troubleshooting the battery itself, but I don’t feel confident trying tell you how to do that without a voltmeter.

If you have decided the battery on the right is a problem, you can in the near term disconnect it and just operate with one battery at half the energy storage capacity.

If you want to disconnect the right hand battery, you would first disconnect all power sources to the camper and within the camper, and shut off sll loads by pushing in the round silver switch. Do you have an installed solar system? If you do, I would need more information about it to tell you how best to shut off its output.

Assuming you have no solar, have disconnected from shore power, have disconnected the camper connector to the truck, and have pushed in the round silver switch, make the following changes to the wires at the battery terminals. You can’t receive a dangerous shock from 12 volts dc working in the camper, but you can make pretty good sparks fly if you touch the wrong things together; so wear safety glasses.
1). Locate the black wire that connects the two negative poles of the two batteries. Disconnect it at one end, and wrap that end in a rag or secure it so it can move and touch any other exposed metal conductor. Disconnect the other end of the wire and remove it. Save it in case you decide to reuse it.
2) Repeat the above to remove the red wire connecting the two positive terminals of the two batteries.
3) Disconnect all the remaining wires that are connected to the positive terminal of the battery on the right and connect them to the positive terminal of the battery on the left.
4) Torque the positive and negative terminals on the left battery wrist-tight with your wrench. They should be firmly tightened but don’t crank them down so hard you risk damaging the threads or the terminal anchoring in the battery case.
5) Reconnect the truck connector and shore power if you are using it. Turn on the silver switch. Everything should work normally, but you now have half the energy storage you had and your battery wil be depleted twice as fast as the two-battery bank was at a given load.

It may not be necessary to physically remove the battery for now if it hasn’t leaked. You would have to assess how it is secured in place. It appears it is just held down by a velcro strap. Leaving it where it is may be the safest thing if you are still traveling.

 

[pawpaw]

Good post Jon......

The only other recommendation I can add is to tie each group of cables together that attach to each battery post and label them. You may want to consider taking both batteries to an auto parts store and have them tested. Take lots of pictures for reference.

 

[ckent323]

Your batteries appear to be Deka Intimidator 8A24M AGM 12V 79Ah Deep Cycle Battery SKU 8A24M. I think these are dual purpose starting/deep cycle batteries. Generally speaking for house batteries it is better to use true deep cycle batteries rather than hybrid start/deep cycle batteries because true deep cycle batteries have thicker plates and last longer when charged and discharged properly.

QUESTIONS:
0) Is the Battery install and charging system install all factory original from FWC? If not what has been changed/added?
1) Do you have a shunt based battery monitor (Victron, Redarc, etc) - I don't see a shunt so I think suspect the answer is no.
2) Do you limit discharging to no more than 50% or the rated battery capacity and then fully recharge before charging again? Wired in parallel the 2 79 Ah batteries supply approx 160 Ah at 20 deg C (less if they are colder) so you have 80 Ah of routinely usable power which should be fully recharged everyday to minimize sulfation of the lead plates in the batteries (sulfation decreases life of the battery).
3) What battery charge controller are you using? Is it the OEM Iota DLS-30? Does it have IQ-4? (look at your manual or better look at the charger box for the part information.
4) What is the recharging process? Are you continuously plugged into shore power or are you constantly discharging and recharging? What is the primary source of recharging i.e. truck alternator shore power , something else (like a generator?)
5) What is your vehicle?
6) IS there an isolator and/or fuse between the truck battery and the camper batteries?
7) It appears that there is a Blue Sea ACR on the right side of the picture or is it something else.

Initial Recommendations:
A) Get a decent $30 or so volt meter if you do not have one.
b) Check the voltage of each battery after charging (disconnect one terminal and check then reconnect and check) - write this information down keep track of which data goes with each battery
C) Check the battery voltage while they are being charged
D) Install a shunt based battery monitor - this is the first upgrade you should do.

Maybe more recommendations after seeing answers to the questions.

Do not install lithium Ion batteries yourself - you may need a charge controller upgrade.

The fumes are not good to be inhaling. Whenever you smell that stop charging and air out the camper. First feel the batteries to see if one or both is hot to the touch.


Craig

 

[Tom n N]

In the upper right corner of the battery compartment the red wire appears blackened. Not sure what’s going on there from the picture, but a loose connection will cause the insulation to overheat and that could be the smell. May not be the battery at all.

 

[ckent323]

In the upper right corner of the battery compartment the red wire appears blackened. Not sure what’s going on there from the picture, but a loose connection will cause the insulation to overheat and that could be the smell. May not be the battery at all.

Good catch! Looking at his post on FB it looks like there may have been a short between the red and black connections at that location!

 

[Vic Harder]

VERY good catch!

 

[Tom n N]

Thanks guys. Spent a large portion of my electrical career as a troubleshooter, so kind of in tune to that kind of thing.

Would be great if the OP would post more pictures of the problem area and ultimate solution. That’s the best way for us all to learn about how to avoid these problems (I learn something new whenever I log on to this forum).

From my experience, the vast majority of electrical problems are the result of loose connections. The resulting heat is what destroys equipment and starts fires. Counterintuitively, this risk generally INCREASES as voltage goes down. Most people are justified in being very nervous about high voltages, but are not as concerned with good workmanship at low voltages because “it can’t hurt you”. Those cheap hardware store crimp connectors are not always the most user friendly solution, especially when you add the constant vibration of a vehicle and (required, but harder to work with) stranded wire. You should not be able to pull apart any connection you make, even while pulling as hard as you can. As I like to tell people, in low voltage power applications, your connections need to be perfect- or better!

Anyway, hope this helps. Nothing spoils a great trip like an electrical meltdown.
Happy and safe travels,
Tom