one or two coach batterys

Thanks for the help and if anybody has the two battery setup in front and rear of right rear wheel can you tell how the cables are ran to the second battery in front of wheel where there is an empty compartment for the battery with no pre drilled holes for cables.
thanks SS

The newer 190s - after 2010 have two 6 volt AGM coach batteries - about 220 amp hours. Older 190's also had two coach batteries - I don't know if this was an option in 2004. I have an DC/AC condenser fridge and I have no problem leaving my fridge on DC with my two AGMs while the Roadtrek is parked for the day. I have not tested how long it can go without being driven or plugged in - or running the generator to charge the batteries back up but it has gone past 12 hours as it is. The three way absorption fridge may draw more power and drain the batteries faster. To figure out what you can run and for how long you need to determine how many amps you will draw and then see what that means with the number of amp hours you will gain by adding the second battery.

More is always better.

If I had room for a 2nd battery I would get one. WHen I infrequently dry camp in a park for example, I use the battery for lights mainly. I evening and overnight then the genset is started to recharge the battery. Most of the time I use commercail RV parks with hydro which charges your house battery(ies) via the Converter. So I do get by.

One battery was always enough for us in a PW Excel because we almost always drove the RV every day, which kept it charged up for use at night if we were camping without hookups.

I have one house battery in my current RV. I had two in my 03 PW Excel and miss having two. Now I'm thinking about adding solar. One battery doesn't seem to cut it for me, even if only in terms of peace of mind.

Thanks for the quick responses and quite helpful I just bought a new battery so this would be a good time to buy a second identical battery and thanks again for your suggestions.

You can either reduce your consumption or increase your battery capacity, or do both.

On a 2004, you could change your lights to LED and change your TV and stereo to 12v native units and remove an inverter. With the refer in gas mode, and having LED lights, 12v TV and use of the water pump, I can get by fine on one battery in 24 hours. The furnace blower will kill it pretty quick - overnight is iffy, same with refer in 12v mode.

If you have room for a second battery, I'd go with 2 group 31 batteries - that would give you about 200 ah total, or around 100 ah useable. That would get you thru 2 or 3 days fairly easy.

Your frig is not going to last on DC with one or two batteries if you forget. I imagine a couple of hours at most before you get too low. You'll fast learn not to forget. :)

What two batteries will do is give you some leeway and peace of mind. When I had one battery I was always cutting it close overnight, checking and worrying. Only one night did the low battery chirping wake me up at 4 AM. With two I can go through a night with confidence I will not have a problem. You just learn to battery manage with what you have.

If you do go with 2 batteries,they should be identical and installed new at the same time.This will assure you that the batteries will be of equal power and one wont steal from the other.