Our Battery Change Out Day.

WHERE ARE WE? Victoria City RV Park, Victoria, Texas

Today is the second part of the battery change over.  This is the day we get to throw out our 8-year-old batteries and put in almost brand-new ones.  These ones are only 98-amp hrs. each but that will provide for our needs for now.  We actually only boondock for 2 months of the year now so good batteries are not quite as important in the grand scheme of things. I got them all cleaned up and set them up in the configuration they will go in the Motorhome.

I did this so I could measure what length of wire I needed to run them in parallel.  These ones are 12 volts so no need for series.  I am making all my own wires with the crimper I bought a year or so ago.  I can make a connector wire for about $8 as compared to $25 to $30 to buy them premade.  Also, I can use 1/0 wire which is thicker than you would get premade.   I did have to buy a 25-foot roll of wire at $5 a foot so I will have lots left over.

I enjoyed making up the wires and am confident that they are all great connections.  

Once the wires were all made up, I removed the old batteries and washed them down.  Because of their age they were leaking around the posts and there was lots of acid and corrosion everywhere so a little hose off before loading them into the Jeep would help spreading acid all over.

We took them to the local scrap dealer and unloaded them onto a trolly to be weighed.  We found out that a Canadian can't drop off scrap to a dealer, so Ed had to give his ID to complete the transaction.  They wrote a cheque to him for 65 bucks which wasn't that bad!!  He gets the money because theoretically these are his scrap batteries. 

Back home again to clean up the mess and put some new ends on the positive and negative lead wires.

Ed gave some much needed supervision.  It is nice to have someone to chat with while you're working.

The new batteries fit in to the space just perfectly.  I put some grease on the connections because I'm told that helps fight corrosion.  After the power was turned back on, I had a quick shower and changed my clothes and we headed out for supper with Ed and Lessie.  The girls had gone shopping earlier in the day and how can you tell I got new shorts??  I took no pictures of the supper.

Archie had to stay home and nap.  He is a good dog while we are away and never gets into anything.  A little TV when we got home and then off to bed.  Goodnight!!!