Original Poster Here.
Well.....
We just returned from a 26 day trip where we never plugged into a 110v power source. Battery charging occurred only from either the V10 engine alternator while driving, or running the generator with our Black & Decker battery charger. It is difficult to conclude the new pair of AGM 6v batteries performed so much better than new conventional 12v but I can say all went extremely well. It appeared the V10 alternator provides adequate charging so I am putting that concern to rest because after a long day of driving with batteries that needed a charge, I started the generator and hooked up my Black & Decker charger and it barely did any charging at all.
We did change some electricals and also some habits which I am sure helped. I had converted all lighting from florescent to LED, and ran the generator instead of the whole house inverter to brew coffee. I also recharged the batteries via the generator with B&D charger, the morning after watching a movie on the TV. We basically recharged after knowingly stressing the batteries. I also appreciated never needing to check battery fluid levels again, and never dealing with an acid boil-over.
Even with this positive experience, I plan to install a battery voltage meter or something to monitor battery health better because the green/yellow/red meter on my 2007 model year control panel isn't saying enough for me. In years past when that meter went from green to yellow, the batteries were already discharged to the point of concern.
Can anyone recommend a decent and affordable panel-mount battery monitor?
