Deka DC31DT battery? Deep Cycle?

westend wrote:
I have a storage box on the tongue...

That looks like a nice way to organize things!

Our will be similar, but bigger and with some more "stuff" in it ;)

We have only one really large storage area and I do not want to clutter it with a charger/converter and the inverter. Not smart to leave it exposed to the elements or other risks, either.

So the box will hold it all. The big ol' mystery box. Of Doom. The big ol' silver mystery box of doom :p

But for now, some front electrical box and management pics would be more appreciated so we can steal...ahem...consider those ideas.

I have a storage box on the tongue:

It has been painted black.

Inside the box there is a terminal strip for trailer exterior wiring, a dedicated battery for the break-away brake system, and the rest is used for storage.


I chose to locate my batteries and electronics inside the trailer, for weight distribution and security. I can fit two grp 31's in the right side partition should I choose to do that.

Take a Lifeline. Regarded (incorrectly) as the most voltage sensitive battery on the market.

Stare and stare and stare and stare at Concorde's recommended BULK CHARGE and FLOAT VOLTAGE / temperature charts, for the Lifeline.

Eyes Crossed? Good.

Whatever Lifeline recommends as the ideal voltage for the temperature

Add one whole volt

Yeah, bulk max or float..

ADD A WHOLE VOLT

1.000000000 volts

14.4 Bulk to 15.4 bulk

13.3 Float to 14.3 float

Got it absorbed? Calculated?

Now take a WILD GUESS

Maintained at that incredible high level of voltage

How many lifespan cycles will be taken AWAY from optimum Lifeline lifespan cycles published data?

Careful now. We're talking about CYCLE LIFE. Not Tick-tock clock time.

Cycle life could care less about wristwatches or Big Ben.

Gimme a percentage. How many cycles are lost.

It's time this went to bed...

pnichols wrote:
By the way for the OP ... you have stated that you like the idea that one can merely add more 12V voltage batteries in parallel to increase capacity as needed. This shouldn't be done "too simply". Two or more 12 volt batteries need to be wired together in parallel in a balanced configuration so each battery supplies the same current into loads or so each battery accepts the same current when being charged. Here's an article that helps to explain balanced interconnection methods for batteries in parallel: http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/batt_con.html

You're right about the balancing. I was reading heavily into that yesterday.

Now that I have learned the GC2's at Sams Club are Deka/East Penn Mfg, I think we're going to go that direction.

Cost wise:

3- 12v @ $120/ea = $360 = 315ah
4- 6v @ $ 85/ea = $340 = 430ah

Wiring and storage box will be more complex, but we'd like to put the Inverter and new PD charger/converter in there, too. It's going to be a real project (!)

Our batteries will be stored in a single row, not a square as some people can do in their storage compartments. Think "truck tool box" style.

The plan is to have the batteries in the middle section, partition it off and vent it, use one of the sides for the inverter, charger/converter, switches, etc and use the other side for tool storage.

Here is a pic of the tongue area



I can move the Propane storage forward 4.5"-6" and not interfere with the electric jack (well, require moving the regulator if I ever have to use the manual override).

I can move or remove the current battery mount.

I cannot move the WDH linkages and must have unfettered access to them for the pipe/bar I use to set them when hitched.

I've seen toolboxes that are stepped in the front, so that could be an option, but I'm strongly considering making a custom box.

I like the idea of recessing the batteries (and weight) down in side the tongue.

The front edge of the camper is rounded, so as we come up vertically, we eventually lose about 6" of space between the propane bottles and the front edge of the camper.

I'm considering building a reinforced frame inside the box that would support a "shelf" on top to store the generator as some have done.

If we choose to later, the generator storage area could eventually be a generator box to provide for running it in place and connect to the electrical systems and chargers in the box below.

That's the "grand plan" anyways. Not sure how far we'll go with it, but as long as we don't inhibit the possibility for the future.

But for now, some front electrical box and management pics would be more appreciated so we can steal...ahem...consider those ideas. :C

Mex ... you definitely seem to be a Lifeline fan. I would be too if Lifeline would have been more worthy of having fans by telling me over the phone what you keep saying - essentially - that their 70-80 deg. F float voltages can range from ~13.2 volts to ~13.8 volts without harm. But ... Lifeline would not say that. They kept insisting that prolonged storage floating above 13.4 volts would slowly over time evap away their H20. Perhaps you and Lifeline's spec writers could coordinate a bit?

By the way for the OP ... you have stated that you like the idea that one can merely add more 12V voltage batteries in parallel to increase capacity as needed. This shouldn't be done "too simply". Two or more 12 volt batteries need to be wired together in parallel in a balanced configuration so each battery supplies the same current into loads or so each battery accepts the same current when being charged. Here's an article that helps to explain balanced interconnection methods for batteries in parallel: http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/batt_con.html

It all depends on the ambient temperature with regards to storage. I have not researched the small flooded maintenance chargers to see how they curve out versus converters.

A good AGM underhood will endure 10-12 years unless it is in Frostbite Falls or Phoenix AZ.

To choose an AGM for power princess pole duty is rather poor to begin with. Fine China for a Power Lunch. Forgot how many but I have recommended the cheapest warehouse engine starting battery for many users. 1% antimony, less electrolysis, less quiescent loss and well able to endure rest area duty once or twice a year. Money well saved.

But to dither over minuscule variations in float voltages is less than worthless. Many have obviated AGM because of seeming float temperature ambiguity. This is just plain nuts.

I'm going to give up on this. Facts have been presented and people are going to be people. I don't get paid to argue these points. But I do have hope that folks who can reason this out can arrive at their own conclusion.

I will say this: Stuff a Lifeline under the hood of a car, and compare lifespan to any flooded battery. Cost per year. That's the only thing that matters. Why is reality (perspective) so hard for some folks?

Speaking of heat and ventilation....

Who has a battery box for 4 GC-2 batteries, inverter, and deck mounted converter/charger?

Pics?

Want to save the storage space proper and use/make an addon box for the tongue to handle these things.

Yes Mex
But there area many on here that have the battery on charge in storage, only go to hookup sites, have solar that charges for weeks or months before they go out glamping

Not everyone who reads and responds to these threads is a dry camper
Or like you and me a tech who full times

For the hookup resort users, or the week end only
The mfg recommended way, seems to them the best route
They will try to get that ten or twelve years of mainly stand by duty

Me I work them hard

As stated many times very one use is different
Besides that battery under hood is not asked to go down to 50 percent day after day,
Nor do many of them last ten years, that heat and the awful voltage regulation you mentioned does take its toll on the the battery

Most of us who need and USE our battery power understand

They want absolute perfection. For a flagship product that they have flopped the company cajones on, it isn't surprising, now is it?

Many of these products rest in UPS duty. Years and decades. When battery company X's AGM battery lasts 12 years instead of 13 years battery Y's AGM because Battery X goofed and recommended two tenths of a volt excess float potential...

Management goes berserk.

This gets transcribed where Joe Average and his RV encounters this information. It is inevitably regarded as an Eleventh Commandment. Sacred and inviolate.

To hell with common sense. All those vehicles running around cooking underhood AGM batteries SUCCESSFULLY do not count. They can't. It isn't presented in a shiny format that has an imprint of the company logo. Ignore it. It cannot exist.

I take it all back. Plug N Play. Press button and resume comatose regimentation. Because the alternative would be to create customers who who who (gulp)

Analyze...

SoundGuy wrote:
Interesting - at least a volt difference in temps many of us would expect to camp in. But hey, what would East Penn know?

Lifeline temp differences are similar but what would Concorde know? :@