Battery Failing Prematurely
I bought a 100 amp hour deep cycle battery about 18 months ago, and it seems to be failing. It will only remain above 12 volts in the camper, for about 12 to 14 hours, with normal camper use. When i...
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Sorry I have not responded to this sooner... much water under the bridge.
It is a MotoMaster Nautilus marine/rv battery -- a Canadian Tire house brand. It was rated 105 amp hours and wasn't cheap. It's warranty was up in April. Canadian Tire can do a full load test, but I couldn't be bothered to remove it, and transport it to the store and back, just to find out what I already suspect -- the battery's days are numbered.
After being fully charged at home, the battery will last the first few nights at an unserviced site without losing much charge. I have a Honda 2000i genny, and charge it about an hour a day, via the camper's built in charger (i.e. the genny plugged into the camper's 110 AC system...). Each day, the battery drains faster, until after a week, I'm charging it twice a day. I suspect this isn't enough daily charge to bring it back to a full charge. I'll almost certainly be looking for a new battery next spring, so we'll have gotten 2 years out of the Canadian Tire battery.
I'm going to invest in a solar panel & controller, so the panel is charging all day long. This will be good for all future batteries in the camper, too.
And I am working on finding out if there is a parasitic draw within the camper's electrical system, that is causing this to happen prematurely...
Many thanks to all for your advice...!
It is a MotoMaster Nautilus marine/rv battery -- a Canadian Tire house brand. It was rated 105 amp hours and wasn't cheap. It's warranty was up in April. Canadian Tire can do a full load test, but I couldn't be bothered to remove it, and transport it to the store and back, just to find out what I already suspect -- the battery's days are numbered.
After being fully charged at home, the battery will last the first few nights at an unserviced site without losing much charge. I have a Honda 2000i genny, and charge it about an hour a day, via the camper's built in charger (i.e. the genny plugged into the camper's 110 AC system...). Each day, the battery drains faster, until after a week, I'm charging it twice a day. I suspect this isn't enough daily charge to bring it back to a full charge. I'll almost certainly be looking for a new battery next spring, so we'll have gotten 2 years out of the Canadian Tire battery.
I'm going to invest in a solar panel & controller, so the panel is charging all day long. This will be good for all future batteries in the camper, too.
And I am working on finding out if there is a parasitic draw within the camper's electrical system, that is causing this to happen prematurely...
Many thanks to all for your advice...!
