Dry camping batteries

elivi8 wrote:
Sometimes I wonder where you guys get your information. Costco has 115 Amp batteries for $90 each. This is the best deal by far and the way to go. 6 volts are nice but require lots of discharge cycles to actually maximize the usage. Typically this is 20-30 cycles which is way more that what most people use their RV, so now you are talking about multiple years unless you use a battery charger at home. Also, if you lose a 6 volt battery, you are done. You can't run anything.

I can't speak for the other folks here, but my "information" comes from 20+ years of dry camping and trying out several different combinations of 12v and 6v batteries, monitoring the batteries and power usage with a Xantrex battery monitor wired across a shunt. I do take multiple trips a year, as it seems the OP does when he states, "We spend most of our time dry camping in National Forest Land in Colorado. Will i get more discharge life out of the 6v or should i stick with current 12v batteries."

I have indeed found that, comparing the same general size batteries, two 6V true deep cycle batteries WILL give more discharge capacity, and a much longer useful life, than two 12v batteries that usually aren't built for true deep cycle service even when labeled as such. And I do use a Xantrex three-stage charger at home to top off my batteries and keep them charged. While out in the field, even a couple small solar panels will really boost the time you can stay out without a generator, if you are frugal with your power use. If you have two pairs of 6v (remember the OP said he had four 12s), you can "lose one" to a very rare catastrophic failure and still have another working pair. Besides my two 6s, I have one Group 24 12v that will last a couple days as a backup plan.

That's where I get my information; how about you?

Safe travels,
Regan