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rfuerst911sc's avatar
rfuerst911sc
Explorer
Sep 27, 2013

question about battery power/electric lift jacks

I have a vintage truck camper that originally came with manual lift jacks. They have been replaced with a used Stable Lift system that I just installed last weekend. I bought the camper as a restoration project so have not camped in it or used it yet. Originally it came with one battery nearest I can tell. To test the used lift motors I'm using an old 12 volt wet cell marine battery and of course it runs the lift motors just fine in the garage with no weight on it. Today I'm going to lift the camper for the first time using the lift and that battery. I have not made up my mind if I'm going to go with two 6 volt or 12 volt batteries so open to suggestions. My real question is how much battery power is needed to drive three electric lift motors to lift a camper that weighs aprox. 2800 pounds ?

3 Replies

  • doughere's avatar
    doughere
    Explorer
    Sep 27, 2013
    The jacks on my 5th wheel draw 15-20 amps lifting the 1500 Lb front end of the trailer (slowly). A "swag" would be double that for your three. If you're not planning on doing much dry camping you single 12 will probably be fine; if you plan much (most of what we do), then I'm in the 2 GC camp.

    Regards,
    Doug
  • westend's avatar
    westend
    Explorer
    Sep 27, 2013
    Hey, that's a cool retrofit!
    I would guess a guy could either measure the amps used when running the jacks out or get a ball-park estimate off the motor's rating plate to find out how much power is used.
    I'm in the 2 X 6V camp. There is just too much right with the golf cart batteries for my use. If I had an all-terrain rock climber, knew I was going to be in some severe duty situations, or had a money tree, I would probably opt for 12 v. AGM's.

    I actually have both 12v AGM's and 6 v GC2's in my rig, presently. Both are doing the job.

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