The dirty-little-secret about FLA Batteries

[cmillsap]

The best thing about AGMs is you don't have to replenish the water in 36 cells in 6 house batteries every few weeks including several more cells in the chassis batteries. The PO had just replaced all of the batteries in my bus. Alas, they are all flooded cell. Now the Irish in me wouldn't allow me to change them all to AGMs but I must confess I did consider it. Soooo, I did the next best thing I knew which was to install an AquaPro watering system and live with the new flooded cell batteries for a few years.

Already, I have seen how easily they lose their charge. Given the parasitic drain when the coach sits without being plugged in to 120V like at the repair shop where it currently is. I finally convinced them to keep it plugged in to save the life of the flooded cell batteries.

Yes, I know there are other ways to stop or limit the drain on the battery bank like switching off the main battery disconnect or the 12V switches. The only problem when doing that is knowing how much they are slowly discharging with little or no load on them. Besides, I feel better keeping them float charged.