Batteries

Maintenance of the battery(s) is the most important. Any quality battery will last for years if taken care of.

AGM (absorbed glass mat), wet cell and gel cell batteries are all good choices. But opinions will vary.

Need to know the uses of batteries (lights, heater, etc)? How long are your trips? There is no need to buy a battery for $300 if it does not fit your needs.

If you do not have a power source to take with you, then you need capacity. That means you need batteries that hold a charge for long periods. And you will probably need to hook batteries in parallel to achieve enough capacity to last the whole trip.

Must be f-i-n-e stoner folks up there in Oregon :)

Why even take the battery out RJ? They'll just set fire to the rig and burn down the National Forest when they find out they can't steal the battery, propane tanks, tires and wheels and everything inside.

A disconnected fully charged battery will have a long shelf life just sitting there. They do need to be checked ocassionally and of course if the charge is dropping back then do some trickle charging... Leaving my batteries hooked up will drain down rather quick from the parasitic drains inside the trailer... I switch them completely off-line and let them sit on the trailer tongues... Being fully charged they will not freeze up on you...

Being no 120VAC power at the camp site almost makes you bring them home with you or setup some sort of solar panels to trickle charge them. If the charger is too much this will boil out the battery fluids over time and destroy your battery...

Roy Ken

Yeah, buy the best, then have it go stone dead for any unknown reason, and scrap it. And that if someone doesn't steal it first.

Like said, take it home w/ you, stick it on a battery tender.

I would just pull the battery when not there, that way you can keep it on a battery maintainer in your garage. That way you know it will work well for you when you go up to deer camp.

Showed up with 100w hinged solar panel for brother that abuses batteries.

He had recently added an AGM/parallel to his flooded. He got the AGM due to low self discharge. 11.4v. Would not hook up extension cord for WFCO or smart charger.

"something must be discharging", not kidding, CO/propane + flooded, use a disconnect "no, maybe later".

Painful.

I'd save my money for 100% recharge method.

Since the poster specified "best battery" and the probability that his rig will be unattended for a great majority of the year it means using a low loss battery or a solar panel. What was not specified was the amount of shading the rig gets nor the likelyhood of dirt or leaves inadvertently blocking the cells.

For battery alone an AGM will fill the bill. Don't know about anyone else but me shelling out 130 dollars for an ordinary Wal-Mart group 29 battery, hurt. Double the money for a lifeline AGM wasn't as painful.

With a panel, the subject of shade and debris needs pondering.

Best would be Rolls-Surrette for flooded and maybe Trojan's for AGM's.

After you regain consciousness from fainting over the price, check out the golf cart batteries at Sam's Club or Costco.

X4 on the solar. It will keep your new batteries in top condition.

Best will be to keep the battery charged year round with solar.

Lifeline AGMs and install a full disconnect switch on the post when you are not there. Solar is another option.