Small Camping Trailers

My son just returned from a short RV trip in his small 5th wheel trailer. While camping, there was suddenly?

a very bad smell in the trailer. He traced it to the battery compartment. The battery was extremely hot and was starting to melt. What caused this? A problem with the battery itself, or a problem with the "converter" that takes 110 AC power and converts it into DC power?

Public Comments

1. no doubt there is a direct short some ware, that is making the battery hot
2. It MOST LIKELY is caused by the converter or alternator. You see, batteries are stupid! They hold their charge until it is pulled out by a load. (Light, starter, anything requiring current with no other CHARGING source available). When the truck is running, the alternator will produce current to supply the load PLUS return a charge back to the battery. When the battery is charged, the current is dissipated into the vehicle. A SULFUR SMELL can only mean one of two things. 1.) The battery is sulphates and needs to be replaced. (Have it tested with a load tester and hydrometer. Most repair shops will test for free) 2.) OVER- CHARGED condition. First have the truck tested "Without" the fifth wheel. Next, have the battery in the fifth wheel tested. If everything tests good, hook up the fifth wheel and test with the truck running. It will probably come down to the converter...
3. Ho old is the battery?? if it was swollen and it was giving off the sulfur battery smell you may have a bummer battery. If you have a bad cell in a deep chargee battery and you continue to put charge to it it will always over charg to try to get the dead cell to charge thinking that the battery is not charged to capaticty Any way put a load test on it if it reads low i mean if it is a 12 volt battery and it reads in the 6s or 7s the battery is toast if you are getting a good reading like 9s and 10s and above your battery is cooking because of a over active alternator. as it is charging i would hook up a volt meter to the positive terminal and the other probe to the neg terminal and see what the reading is if it is 16 and above you have a bummer alternator putting a much higher charge then what your battery wants. 12 to 14.5 volts is cool above is iffy at 16 you are cooking the battery water..oh b the way do you have battery water in the battery?? big deal there also good luck