Batteries dead and gone?

[Mikendebbie]

The ice storm in central tx this week knocked out our power to the house. They will have to rebuild 4-5 miles of 2 wire overhead primary + poles to get us and 175 neighbors on this circuit up and running. Based on the areawide ice damage it might be 3 weeks before they get to us…just my guess.

I thought we were going to have couple of cold days + a little bit of frozen precip…no big deal. I winterized the RV with air compressor back in december. I planned on setting the furnace on 50* just to keep splendide washer warm. I did not put pink stuff in it. The power went out Wed 5 am. I let the furnace do its thing thinking power would come back after a day or do. It did not come back andcit will be a while. Now my 1 yr old diehard AGMs from Sams are dead.

I assume AGMs are DEAD and gone if they get run down to nothing (like lead acid batteries). Is that correct?
Time for new batteries ?

[Todd & Mary]

AGM's drawn to 0 are usually shot, unless you can quickly recharge them, and even then they won't hold a charge like they did before the event. Sorry for your loss!

[dieselguy]

Over the years when I was on the farm during the winter, we plain forgot about tractor and combine batteries a couple of times. They were graveyard dead when we realized it, but luckily not cold enough to freeze and bust. We hooked a good battery in parallel with the dead one each time so they would take a charge. It probably shortened their lives some, but they worked for another year or two. I'd say charge them up and go from there.

[Mikendebbie]

Thanks! Stuff happens i suppose…no idea when i might be able to charge them. We are contemplating trying to find an RV park in the area so we can take showers and watch some TV - but the slides are out and we cant go anywhere until i get batteries.

[Daryles]

If you don't have a generator...
Maybe...
Start the truck, don't turn it off, be damn careful next step...
Take the truck batteries (cover the cable ends to prevent sparks!!!) and put them in the rig.
Put the rig batteries in the truck.
You will be able to run the slides etc.
Be aware the hydraulics will run really slow being cold. You can run the furnace and put a hair dryer blowing on the hydraulic reservoir to warm the hydraulics for 30 minutes.
Maybe the truck might charge the dead batteries.
Doubt it... maybe an auto parts store might have a charger that can bring them back to life?
Either way I see a generator in your future.
BTW, if the house is without power, drain your pipes to prevent freezing and splitting.

[AZ Traveler]

Originally Posted by Mikendebbie

Thanks! Stuff happens i suppose…no idea when i might be able to charge them. We are contemplating trying to find an RV park in the area so we can take showers and watch some TV - but the slides are out and we cant go anywhere until i get batteries.

Get a genny instead of a RV park assuming you can stay in the rig.

[RMcNeal]

Mike, not sure what truck you have but be very careful with putting in dead batteries or removing yours. I replaced a low battery in my DW's Expedition several years ago. The old battery was out maybe 30 minutes at most. Car never ran right again. I ended up having to trade it in and replace the whole car. Mechanic said the computer should reset and start working properly, but it never did.
It's not like the old days where you could start your car and remove the battery as long is the car stayed running. The newer cars' computers don't like that and you'll end up with a fried computer system.

[phillyg]

I'd recharge and try to use the existing batteries first. They sometimes come back.

[Ram Montana High Country]

Can you jump from truck?

[DutchmenSport]

I have a 2014 Chevy Silverado diesel dually. It has 2 batteries. If the batteries are removed, (even if fully charged and the engine NOT running), the entire truck goes ka-put and "it" has to be reset. Heck if I know how to do that. Last time I had batteries replaced in that truck, I let my dealership repair shop do it.

Picking up a generator sounds like the better option and charging the trailer battery. If you don't have one and don't want to buy one, maybe you can rent one from a local tool rental store. Considering all your neighbors are out of power too, they'll all probably have their own generators working overtime already.

Do you know anyone who lives outside the "outage" area that has a generator you might borrow to get those batteries charged up again? Or better yet, take the batteries to their house, where they have electricity, and put them on a charger for a couple days? (This is the time when that great-uncle or grandpa's house comes in real handy!)

[Mikendebbie]

Update: the weather here in central TX has moderated and will be in the 50s-60s for the next several days. Thankyou all for the help and advice!

I have 3 generators.
10 yr old Champion 4000 contractor generator - currently running a fridge+freezer and charging our phones when needed.
8 yr old Champion 3500 inverter genny. It was running good couple of days then it sputtered and quit. While i was trying to get it going again the pull string broke. Home Depot has pull strings so i fixed it and the thing fired up and is powering TV, my work laptop and our wifi but internet provider is currently down.
2 yr old Onan 4500i…i screwed up and have not cranked and run it for maybe a year and it sputters and dies. I gave up trying.Bad on me.

Right now my champions are - well - CHAMPIONS!

We took a ride this morning and was encouraged to see that those guys replaced 4 broke poles and replaced the wires on about 3 miles. Still need to fix about 2 miles. We may get power back before my pessimistic prediction.

I will call a few of the Sams Clubs in the area tomorrow to see what marine AGMs they have in stock. Mine are group 27 and they are $199 at Sams.
DW says we will give them until Monday noon to get power then we need to pull out and go somewhere….the limit on sponge baths and rats in the hair is 5 days!

Thinking about people that have been thru hurricanes and tornadoes - it could be worse. We are blessed to only be missing electricity.

Question about the champion 30 amp inverter genny. I have never used it on the Monte…never used any genny on it. We have not travelled much in past two years for medical reasons but that is behind us now.. If i decide to plug it into the champion - should i NOT use my hughes power dog? I do have 30-50 amp dogbone….any tips are appreciated.

Edit: i am posting this from my phone/verizon. No idea if my signature shows up - it does not show up on my phone.
Truck is 2019 Chevy 3500 DRW
2018 Montana 3921FB

Edit #2…Daryles - Texas had a mini-Freeze-marathon Feb 2011…4 days of 19*. Power failures and brownouts across TX. We lost power and water for 3 days then. Pipes froze. Had the house repaired using long runs of pex. I installed a low house drain. Now I can drain everything like the RV.

Edit #3…9:00 pm the power just came back on! Very thankful for those linemen and bucket trucks. How do they do this work at night in the dark? I am amazed!

Edit #4...I need to hit youtube and figure out how to work on generators and how to get the Onan 4500i running. Customer service thought it might be gummed up carburetor. Times like this remind me that I have a lot to learn. Thankful for this forum.

[Daryles]

Mike, regarding the Champion 3500w generator.
We have a Champion 4000W model 100302-1.
It has a 30A RV receptacle. I tested it running the rig without the surge protector because when you measure with a multimeter from:
ground to hot you get 62vac
Ground to neutral you get 62vac
Hot to neutral you get 124vac.
This is normal for most generators.
I'm not sure how the surge protector would view that.
Everything in the rig works normally. Air conditioner (just one), microwave, TV, Dish Satellite, fireplace. You can only run one high Amp appliance at a time.

[DutchmenSport]

I also have an Onan 4500i. When turning the generator off, I always kill the gas and let the gas run itself out of the carburetor. I always do this when I know any of my gasoline powered machines are going to sit idle for more than a couple weeks. (including lawn mowers and my log splitter and self-propelled snow blower). I've never had problems with anything gumming up this way. The only one I had problems with was an older generator I got from my mother. She let it sit for so long and it had no gas cut off. I paid to get it repaired, but I also let it sit too long and it quickly gummed up again as there was no way to drain the gas. I ended up discarding that generator.

So the secret is to run the carburetor dry and then drain the gas out of the gas tank or use a gasoline preservative additive for a little longer storage.

Now, about that generator and your camper. More than likely, your Power Watchdog will not run with the generator. Plug the trailer in directly to the generator. Now that you have your power restored, take the time to get familiar with running your camper on the generator so (if and when) you experience another power outage, you'll know exactly what to do and how to do it.

[twindman]

I have a Boliy generator and the first year I tried it for 2 days and stored it. It sat for 1 1/2 or 2 years and wouldn't start. Cost me $150 or more to have someone take it apart and clean the jets, etc out. So I now run it out of gas and drain the carburetor before storing. Also tried non-ethonal gas one summer but don't know how that impacted anything. Long story short, I have used it maybe 7 times in almost 10 years! Don't boondock much. Tried it for 2 days in the Big Horns with reservation ahead. Started raining driving up the mountain. Rained all night and next morning. I just packed up and left a day early. Dang - my favorite area to camp too.

[dieselguy]

So, you don't have a battery charger to run off the gennys? You're not going to even try hooking the discharged battery to a good one in parallel and see if it takes a charge assuming you have a charger? Like I mentioned, they may take a hit on lifespan, but they will come back ... at least that's been my experience. Besides running the carb dry on a generator that sits a while, use Seafoam or Stabil in the fuel tank to slow down the gas deterioration.

[Todd & Mary]

Obviously the sooner you get the batteries charged, the more likely you will get some life out of them. Borrow a generator if you have to, or a lot of equipment rental stores have them for rent as well. If you dont have one.

[Mikendebbie]

What is the procedure to check the batteries? I am sub-rookie with a multimeter.

Power came back late last night (Saturday night).
This morning I turned off the breaker and hooked batteries back up then turned the breaker on.
I went inside couple of times today and the converter fan was running full speed and I assume it was charging the batteries. Presently…
InCommand panel reads 13.6
Level up panel reads 13.1
Fridge inverter reads 13.3

Recap: We lost power early Wednesday morning. Furnace was set to run at 50* and I suppose the inverter was still trying to power the fridge. I did not turn the fridge off because we were not expecting this weather to be as bad as it turned out. I unhooked the negative pole on the battery maybe Friday morning when I heard some “beeps” coming from the Monte, and I realized the batteries had run down and something was sounding an alarm…not sure what was beeping.

[AZ Traveler]

Originally Posted by Mikendebbie

What is the procedure to check the batteries? I am sub-rookie with a multimeter.

Power came back late last night (Saturday night).
This morning I turned off the breaker and hooked batteries back up then turned the breaker on.
I went inside couple of times today and the converter fan was running full speed and I assume it was charging the batteries. Presently…
InCommand panel reads 13.6
Level up panel reads 13.1
Fridge inverter reads 13.3

Recap: We lost power early Wednesday morning. Furnace was set to run at 50* and I suppose the inverter was still trying to power the fridge. I did not turn the fridge off because we were not expecting this weather to be as bad as it turned out. I unhooked the negative pole on the battery maybe Friday morning when I heard some “beeps” coming from the Monte, and I realized the batteries had run down and something was sounding an alarm…not sure what was beeping.

The best test is watch and see if they hold a charge and do their job with regular use.

[Carl n Susan]

The 13.n Volts is the converter output to charge the batteries. You can look at the Charge Wizard LED to get an indication of the charge phase the converter is in but I haven't found that to be to dependable.
Let it do its thing for a few days, then disconnect the shore power (or converter), let the batteries rest for 30 minutes or more, and then check the voltage at the InCommand panel.

[wed]

If they get down to 10amp they are probably gone