Alright, we bought a cyclone 4100 a few months back and always noticed the battery doesn't last not time at all. I can damn near barely run the front jacks down to unhook it from the truck let alone use the leveling system without the battery dying. We just realized that it comes with one 460 cca amps battery from the factory, no wonder. Just wondering if the other brands, voltage, fuzion, etc. did this as well. Also, for those of you who have paralleled batteries for more DC power how many did you add and what cca where they? I would at least be able to go a day with out turning the generator on to charge the battery up.

Hi,If you are looking at a battery with CCA rating, and not a high "Reserve Capacity at 25 amps" then your battery might have been switched with a car battery sometime after leaving the factory and before you bought the trailer.Sometimes a experienced RV owner will demand two batteries from the dealership in order to make the sale, and the salesman might say "I will take one from trailer over there, nobody will know the difference" and you ended up buying that trailer. Here is what I would recommend, based on my battery life of 13 years when I checked the water regularly, and I was able to give those batteries to a friend, who kept using them. Golf Cart Batteries. My second set only lasted about 7 years, mainly because I was not keeping them full of water. But still that is much longer than the average 12 volt battery will last. I was using Trojan T-105 that came with my Fleetwood Bounder RV. I installed a second pair of batteries. THis gave me 440 amp hours at 12 volts, or about 5,000 watts total. Now I am using Costco deep cycle golf cart batteries, as Trojan does not have a large distributor near here. I also have a pair of solar panels on the roof. The CO and propane detectors use about 0.8 amps per hour, and along with the refrigerator will use about 35 AH daily, or about what one 120 watt solar panel will put out.Furnace can use another 35 AH daily too, if you are camping in cooler weather. Lights are about 1 AH per hour, per light. LED lights are much more efficient, about 0.2 amps per hour per light. Water pump is about 7 or 8 amps per hour. Don't worry much about the water pump, it can pump 2 GPM while drawing 8 amp hours and empty a 120 gallon water tank in that time. So my suggestion? IF you like to dry camp, get a pair of golf cart batteries. If you like to dry camp a week or more at a time, then 4 golf cart batteries. A pair of 120 watt solar panels can help you recharge daily, and you can get away with only 1 pair of batteries. SunElec.comFred.

Golden_HVAC wrote:Hi,If you are looking at a battery with CCA rating, and not a high "Reserve Capacity at 25 amps" then your battery might have been switched with a car battery sometime after leaving the factory and before you bought the trailer.Sometimes a experienced RV owner will demand two batteries from the dealership in order to make the sale, and the salesman might say "I will take one from trailer over there, nobody will know the difference" and you ended up buying that trailer. Here is what I would recommend, based on my battery life of 13 years when I checked the water regularly, and I was able to give those batteries to a friend, who kept using them. Golf Cart Batteries. My second set only lasted about 7 years, mainly because I was not keeping them full of water. But still that is much longer than the average 12 volt battery will last. I was using Trojan T-105 that came with my Fleetwood Bounder RV. I installed a second pair of batteries. THis gave me 440 amp hours at 12 volts, or about 5,000 watts total. Now I am using Costco deep cycle golf cart batteries, as Trojan does not have a large distributor near here. I also have a pair of solar panels on the roof. The CO and propane detectors use about 0.8 amps per hour, and along with the refrigerator will use about 35 AH daily, or about what one 120 watt solar panel will put out.Furnace can use another 35 AH daily too, if you are camping in cooler weather. Lights are about 1 AH per hour, per light. LED lights are much more efficient, about 0.2 amps per hour per light. Water pump is about 7 or 8 amps per hour. Don't worry much about the water pump, it can pump 2 GPM while drawing 8 amp hours and empty a 120 gallon water tank in that time. So my suggestion? IF you like to dry camp, get a pair of golf cart batteries. If you like to dry camp a week or more at a time, then 4 golf cart batteries. A pair of 120 watt solar panels can help you recharge daily, and you can get away with only 1 pair of batteries. SunElec.comFred.Thank you great info

You have the wrong type of battery. The CCA indicates it is a starting battery, you need a deep cycle. The choises would be 2-6 volt or a single large AH 12 volt deep cycle.The larger the amp hours, the longer between recharges, but it all depends on the power usage.

6 Volts. Only way to go. 2 of them will be night and day difference over 12 Volts. Costco or Sams Club.

lincster wrote:6 Volts. Only way to go. 2 of them will be night and day difference over 12 Volts. Costco or Sams Club.Please explaiin your reasoning.

Large toy haulers stock batteries | Good Sam Community

17 Replies

nayther
Explorer
May 30, 2014
lincster wrote:
All I know is I look out my window in the morning at the dunes in January and see my buddies jump starting their 12V batteries from the furnace killing them at night.
My 6V's are still in the green after running my furnace all night.
That is all the explaining I need........

This is kind of like the tire threads. You either believe the guys that have switched to LT tires and that their blow outs have gone away or you don't and keep running ST tires and having issues.

Right on the head Linc!

I did roll back to 2 12v deep cycles last year though...............they were FREE! When I kill them I'll probably go back to 6v as that connection is no longer.
lincster
Explorer
May 30, 2014
All I know is I look out my window in the morning at the dunes in January and see my buddies jump starting their 12V batteries from the furnace killing them at night.
My 6V's are still in the green after running my furnace all night.
That is all the explaining I need........

This is kind of like the tire threads. You either believe the guys that have switched to LT tires and that their blow outs have gone away or you don't and keep running ST tires and having issues.
harold1946
Explorer
May 29, 2014
mrw8i wrote:
Very few if any true 12V deep cycle batteries. You don't want a combo battery or a marine battery as they are not true deep cycle. They might be able to discharge and recover a few times, but not many. A true deep cycle battery has a better chance of recovery; although you should not completely discharge them. The cheapest way to go for true deep cycle is a pair of golf cart batteries (most are 220AH). Two 6V batteries take up more room than a single 12V, require maintenance (add distilled water); but are not expensive, easily found, and work well.

Mine are 5 years old Interstate golf cart batteries. Always maintained them (almost, got a little low on water a few times) keep them charged (put 200W of solar on the roof a few years ago). Specific Gravity readings are still good in all cells.

If the ability to add water was a real pain in the arse, I'd think about AGM.

I suggest you do some more research. You are giving information that is not factual. There are "true" deep cycle 12 volt batteries made by most all manufacturers. There are also deep cycle/starting batteries that are a hybrid, not a "true" deep cycle.
mrw8i
Explorer
May 29, 2014
Very few if any true 12V deep cycle batteries. You don't want a combo battery or a marine battery as they are not true deep cycle. They might be able to discharge and recover a few times, but not many. A true deep cycle battery has a better chance of recovery; although you should not completely discharge them. The cheapest way to go for true deep cycle is a pair of golf cart batteries (most are 220AH). Two 6V batteries take up more room than a single 12V, require maintenance (add distilled water); but are not expensive, easily found, and work well.

Mine are 5 years old Interstate golf cart batteries. Always maintained them (almost, got a little low on water a few times) keep them charged (put 200W of solar on the roof a few years ago). Specific Gravity readings are still good in all cells.

If the ability to add water was a real pain in the arse, I'd think about AGM.
Y-Guy
Moderator
May 29, 2014
Kick back and do some reading. Understanding 12v takes a bit of time and soon you'll know all you need to know. A good place to start is The 12volt Side of Life
big_buford
Explorer
May 29, 2014
Running the electric motors on low voltage is hard on um. Start your genny so converter can assist until you get your batt upgrade in place.
taken
Explorer II
May 29, 2014
A single battery is small capacity for a large unit, but as said above, should not die so quickly. It's probably just a bad battery. Some guys never add additional capacity on a toyhauler because most come with generators that get run every day which keep the battery topped up. We have the cheap interstate deep cycle/ starting half arse battery along with a second I transferred from my last trailer that is a 4 year old Walmart special cheapo. The two in parallel will take us all night with the heat on and still have plenty of capacity to get us through til morning generator hours and then start the generator. So, the fact that yours is dead while half way through unhooking means one of two things. It's shot or your truck is not charging it while traveling.
Shadow_Catcher
Explorer
May 29, 2014
All things considered if construction is similar there is NO difference between two 6 and a single 12V battery. I chose a single 150 amp hour Lifeline AGM battery. I don't have to add water and does not require venting.
Now home work time http://www.solar-electric.com/deep-cycle-battery-faq.html
Strabo
Explorer
May 29, 2014
Id return the rig, you were lied to by the sales staff... That battery should last atleast 3 days.
1L243
Explorer II
May 29, 2014
When I was confronted with building my battery bank ,when I found that I could not use the furnace for even one night on a single 24 series 12 volt battery. I did not want the spend the money for Trojans so I went to Costco. Costco has 12 and 6 volt deep cycle batteries. Price was pretty close for both batteries. I was going to go with four 6 volts but when I learned that the warranty for the 6 volts was only one year and the warranty for the 12 volts was two years I went with the four 12 volts with about 340ah. I figured with the lesser warranty on the 6 volts they must know something I didn't. Yes you will get more ah with four 6 volts about 440ah but they are taller and heavier and take up more room.. My opinion if you do any real dry camping go with four..