Not there yet.

NinerBikes wrote:

If you mainly pedestal camp with full hookups, a 12V battery with your existing charge controller would be in your best interests.

If you mainly dry camp, off the grid, a pair of 6V batteries would serve you better, along with proper recharging equipment to get them near fully charged, which will take a charger capable of delivering 14.8V in bulk charging mode,

Now we are getting into "part 2" - extending the battery life.
Remember, the OP doesn't know about series and parallel, so talking about charging modes would be a little too much.

But - yes, if the goal is getting more life out of it AND most of the time it's not on hookups - then he needs a proper/better converter and/or other charging equipment. If he camps with hookups mostly, then no need to change anything, and when his current battery dies, just get the cheapest 12V bank that there is, no matter if it's a single 12V or a pair of 6V.

Readers Digest Condensed version.

If you mainly pedestal camp with full hookups, a 12V battery with your existing charge controller would be in your best interests.

If you mainly dry camp, off the grid, a pair of 6V batteries would serve you better, along with proper recharging equipment to get them near fully charged, which will take a charger capable of delivering 14.8V in bulk charging mode, for best results DRY CAMPING. Your stock charge controller may or may not be capable of this, in particular if it is a WFCO or Progressive Dynamics model.

Battery charging maintenance is a whole another subject you'd need to do a search on here.

Thanks for all the replies. I wasn't planning on changing out the 12 volt ones that I have at this time. I was just thinking about the future and whether it would be advantageous to do the change. If I could get more "life" out of the 6 volts, it might be worth it. I'm not electrically inclined, so I would have someone hook them up for me so I don't blow up everything connected to the batteries. But, that's for the future. Right now we can dry camp without hookups for about five days before having to use the generator to bring them back up to charge.

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If you have group 24 12v batteries now, you will increase your amp hr capacity by converting to the taller 6v. Otherwise there is no good reason to convert to 6v.

Read and heed the 1st 4 replies, as they answered your question completely
Disregard all the confusing and uncalled for replies after that.

If you got good service out of your 12v batteries, there is no good reason to change to 6v. If you want more amp hr capacity, you can do that using larger 6v or 12v.

When comparing 6 and 12 volt batteries, it is worth remembering that it takes TWO 100 amp hour 6 volt batteries in series to simulate a 100 amp hour 12 volt battery. The voltages add but the amps and the amp hours do not.

Any storage gains from switching to 6 volt batteries comes from finding batteries with heavier plates. Everyone says those made for golf carts have heavier plates and lower cost because they are produced in large numbers.

After that "Screwy 31" thread with all the trouble LY had with it until he tamed it, I would not get one. I like my T-1275s, which are true deep cycle batts - but they also have their "requirements"

I also have 6s. I would say you could do as well with T-1275s as 6s given the same charging equipment, etc. The 12v T-1275s would do better under high amp inverter loading. But the T-1275s are big and heavy!

If I can't stick an hydrometer in it, I don't want it at all! :)

Asking here shows an intention to learn, I guess.

So, for those who are trying to learn, a translation: 3-cell battery = 6 volt battery.

My take on it is that the "buzz" is largely caused by lower cost of a pair of 6V, compared to same 220 AH capacity pair of 12V. Crowds that killed their single 80 AH battery happily provided by the dealer with new RV, are looking to replace and discover 2*6V :)... They buy a pair of cheapest no-name 6V and live happily, - or not so happily.

I don't think that I will replace my 3*12V AGM bank with 2*6V any time soon, since it works for me, while 2*6V flooded will not.

jalichty wrote:
I will be entering my fourth season with the original 12 volt batteries in my Jayco and perusing this site I notice a bunch of you have proposed replacing the 12 volts with six volt batteries. If a person were to do that, does he have to replace the original convertor or will it work on the 6 volts ones like it worked on the 12 volt ones?

Old converter will work the same.

No need to replace original 12V batteries on the 4th year if it still works well.

When you hook the pair of 6v batteries in series, you have, in essence, a single large clunky 12v battery. That is what the converter/charger sees, a 12v battery.