Battery Acid Smell Inside Coach Seneca 2016

[Joe1mc]

Changed out all 4 house batteries 2 months ago, took a weekend trip, then the other day I opened the coach door and smelled battery acid exhaust fumes. Checked new battery’s none where warm to the touch. Unbolted the inspection pannel on the drivers side to see if coach batteries might be the problem, but no smell coming from them. Those batteries are so bundled in there, even if you wanted to check the water you’d have to remove them from that tight area. How much life have you gotten out of your coach batteries (the ones that start the engine)? And is their an easier way to access those two batteries, or should I let Freightliner handle that electrical nightmare. Any and all input and suggestions are welcomed. Thanks

[Robbbyr]

My chassis batteries are original, they were load tested last Fall and still were better than 90%. My unit is a 2014. You correct, there is a bit of a mess under there. When it is time I will change mine, but I am used to tearing things apart! One caution if you do it yourself - disconnect both the coach and chassis batteries just to make absolutely sure nothing is still "hot" under there

Did you replace the original coach batteries with flooded batteries or did you go to something else? If they are flooded, are you certain they were not overfilled and might be gassing a bit? Any evidence of wetness on top?

[Joe1mc]

There was no wetness on top of the new batteries and they weren’t warm to touch.

[Robbbyr]

If your chassis batteries are original, they are an automotive "maintenance free" type. The cell covers will come off, but they aren't really designed to do so easily since (theoretically) they don't need to be watered.

The chassis batteries do charge off the coach converter when 110-volt AC is present. But if your converter was overcharging the batteries I think it would also be evident in the coach batteries since the battery isolation manager gives charging priority to the coach batteries. But that is just a guess. Now if a chassis battery was defective/damaged it might gas more even if charging voltage is normal. But you noted the smell wasn't present under the cab area.

Any chance it was coming from a nearby camper? It wasn't an ammonia smell was it, is your refrigerator working fine?