Battery

[RonS]

Just about time for new batterys. I never dry camp. except when the power or water goes off at camp grounds. At present I have two 6 volt golf cart batteries, but think I will be fine with one good deep cycle 12 volt battery. Your thoughts and brand recomendation.

[jas24]

Hi Ron,

They say 2 6volts are much better....
I replaced mine with 2 6volt golf cart batteries from Sam's. Think they were around $ 70.00 each.

[RonS]

Yes I have been told that the two are better, thats why I now have them, however I never boonbock. And now after 5 years its time to replace with something????????

[rdunk]

Obviously either 12v or 6v will work, so, what is your plan, ie cheapest battery that will work, or, or best battery. For sure I would think you want some type of "deep-cycle" for use in the RV.

Based upon all that I have read on the internet, probably two 6v's are better. Regarding battery type, I would suggest that the absorbed glass mat (AGM) type battery is the very best. The AGM's are totally maintenance free. I had to replace my factory batteries because of converter overcharge, and on the basis of the RV technician's recommendations, ordered and replaced with AGM batteries. The AGM battery warranty clearly stated that doing any maintenance on the battery would "void" the warranty. Hooray, not having to check the water in the batteries, or worrying about them going dry was a really great thing for me! .

The AGM batteries are much safer in that they contain no "liquid" acid. For example, if one buys AGM batteries over the internet, they can be shipped by normal ground shipping, because they are so safe. Also, with AGM's there is no problem with post or cable corrosion, which is another really good thing.

Yes, AGM's are more expensive, but you do get what you pay for. I installed two 6v Lifeline AGM's, and at about 4 1/2 years, they were still going strong when we sold the M/S.

AGM's are generally available locally, or, can be found on the internet. Just make sure the replacement battery sizes will fit your space!!!

If you haven't looked at AGM batteries before, do a little research on the internet, and that might help you decide.

FWIW, the dual batteries in my F350 went out, and I replace with Sears Platinum Diehards, which are AGM batteries (not deep cycle). Also worked great!!

Good luck!

[Stripit]

Well, you are going to use a battery much different than someone who dry camps. A set of 6 volt was installed in my trailer when we got it in 2004. Those lasted about 3 years, then a replacement set lasted 4 years, and I just replaced those. We NEVER dry camp and always plug in every night in some campground. In your case, I'd save some money and just replace one 12 volt battery instead of buying the two 6 volt. Had I not "won" a set of batteries at the Lake Havasu rally last month, I would have just bought one 12 and kicked the two 6 volts out.

[Cheif 2]

Prior to leaving last summer for a 6 month trip from Florida to Alaska, where we did many, many days of boondocking I replaced my two 6 volt Interstate batteries with the same. I never was without power between the batteries and my Honda generator. Many nights it was real cold and damp and we ran the heat on battery power. I recently purchased new batteries for my truck camper and I went with Interstate again.

[Motor31]

We dry camp very little. Only when we need to transfer to overflow here at DM AFB in Tucson.

We are still on our first set of batteries going into the 6th year of owning the rig. The trailer came with a single 12 volt deep cycle. I purchased a second right after we got the trailer as I never wanted to rely on the single battery to operate the hydraulics. Since the hydraulics handles quite a bit of weight on the front landing gear I wanted to have plenty of juice.

I felt the dual 12 volt was the better option because if there is a battery failure, usually a bad cell, I can cut out the second battery and still use the hydraulics on one battery. You can't do that on 2 six volt batteries. Why spend twice the money on 2 six volts or a gel cell when a cheaper wet cell 12 volt will handle the job? If you like spending money, have at it. I see no reason to do so when we dry camp so little.

I check the water level on the batteries every 3 months. A gallon of distilled water goes for the trailer batteries, the tow vehicle batteries (4 of them) and the toad (jeep) for almost the entire year. It seems far cheaper to do that than to buy gel cells. That is using the standard converter unit and not one of the "smart" charger style units.

[pmkitchen]

I replace ont 12 volt with two 6 volt Trojan T145 deep cycle units. Very good! I also recoment installing a "Charge Wizard" on your converter. The wizard makes the converter a smart charger that has three differnent charging rates. The wizard will increase battery life and reduce maintanance.

Just about time for new batterys. I never dry camp. except when the power or water goes off at camp grounds. At present I have two 6 volt golf cart batteries, but think I will be fine with one good deep cycle 12 volt battery. Your thoughts and brand recomendation.

[GlennWest]

I don't boon dock but last December I went to my home in NC for that month. First time doing this in 5 years. I had planned very carefully my installation for my 50 amp hookup but life throwed one if those curves. It got down to 14 that night. 1 12 volt interstate battery was not able to run my furnace all night. We got cold. After about 3 hours it was used up. I will have at least 2 of the largest batteries I can fit in my MS before winter again.

[RonS]

Motor31 - I like your idea of the two 12 v wet batteries. So how do you set them up, I dont want to do it wrong and send 24 v to anything.
Thanks in Advance.........Ron

[Motor31]

Ron,

Sorry I missed your post and took so long getting back to you.
It's simple. Go to the auto store and get a couple battery extension cables. They will have a loop on each end to fit over the battery terminals.

First isolate the battery by pushing in the disconnect switch in the jack switch box. Disconnect the ground cable from the battery to the trailer breaking the circuit. Connect the extra cables you just bought positive to positive and negative to negative. This puts the batteries in parallel rather than series. In series you would have 24 volts so make sure it's + to + and - to - when hooking up. In any case confirm voltage with a multi meter before connecting the last ground cable back to the trailer.

I also took the ground cable going to the trailer and moved it so it connects to the second battery rather than leaving it on the original one. That just makes it easier to make the load and charge equal to both batteries rather than going to one first then the other.

This gives you 12 volts but double the amp hours since both batteries are being used simultaneously. That makes the load less on each one when used so they do not get discharged as deeply as if there were only one battery. If one battery should drop a cell and go bad, I can disconnect it from the bank and still have 12 volts for the hydraulics to get on the road.

So far the same batteries have been working on our rig since Aug of 05 when we got the trailer and I installed the second one. I can check each independently by removing the ground cable from one. Then I use my multimeter to check the charge status of each battery. In my case they have been within 1/10 of a volt of each other.

I check the batteries each quarter year (we are full timers) for water and terminal cleanliness. No big deal and takes just a few minutes using a mirror and flashlight to look into the cells. I do not dismount them from the tray for this. If one battery does go bad I will replace both of them at the same time.

[RonS]

Motor31 - Thanks for the info, when I replace will go with your posts. Did you have to do anything to get the two 12v to fit into the tray.

[rdunk]

Well Ron, I would not even try to change your decision to go with the liquid acid cell batteries, but..............., I do have one more thing to say about why I would never have that type of battery(s) again in the same "room" I was living and sleeping in. And neither especially would my DW!!

Yes, the liquid cell batteries are mainly cheaper, as several have pointed out! And yes, they do give some of the fulltimers "something to do" relative to the required regular maintenance checks. lol lol But there was/is a huge safety element that we had the unfortunate opportunity to experience, and just absolutely would not put ourselves in a position to go through that again.

We took delivery of our new 2005 Mobile suites in April 2005. In late October that year, and on the way to the RGV for the Winter, we were spending a week at Buckorn's RV in Kerrville Texas. Late one evening, we at once notice a hugely offensive gaseous smell, and all of our alarms started going off. I mean this was extremely offensive!!! We had to get out of the 5er, and I quickly made a call to a 24 hour mobile service guy, that got to us in about 10 minutes. He quickly assessed the problem, and determined that the converter had failed, and was drastically overcharging the batteries. So, he quickly got the battery "outgassing" stopped, but the fumes inside the 5er were still so bad that we had to spend the night in a Kerrville Motel.

Long story short, the factory guys were great. They overnighted a replacement converter, took care of the on-sight labor requirements for the change out, and later reimbursed me for the comparable cost for replacement batteries. It was at this time that the RV Tech strongly recommended that we go to the AGM non-liquid acid cell batteries, which would drastically reduce the possibility of such a heavy outgassing if we had a similar reoccurrence/converter failure.

And that is how we came to install the Lifeline AGM batteries. Yes they were very expensive, and there are many AGM's available that less expensively deliver the AGM product. But.........................to not have to go through the above very traumatic experience again, almost no price, WITHIN REASON, would be too much for the assurance that we were in a far better situation, in our tiny fulltime home, with the AGM batteries!!!!!

Again Ron, I am not trying to change your mind, but there may be others who are still trying to decide on their next batteries, or on optional batteries for their "New Suites" order. And they may decide for personnel reasons, to go with the more safe AGM batteries!!

Good luck!!

[ponch]

Ron we also chooose the lifetime batteries. Installed mine in 06 and they have been fine ever since.

Both ways are much betterr than a single battery.

[Motor31]

Motor31 - Thanks for the info, when I replace will go with your posts. Did you have to do anything to get the two 12v to fit into the tray.

Nope. plenty of room there in the tray for the two batteries.