Replacement batteries
We were in the TT last night when it was unplugged and noticed the lights were dimming after a short period of time. We are heading out west in September and will be dry camping for a couple of days ...
Forum Discussion
Pam,
We have done quite well with our 255AHs battery bank. This lets us do almost all the things we want to do camping off the power grid except using the Air Conditioner and high wattage things like the microwave. I will run down my batteries to around 50% charge by 8AM the next morning and then have to re-charge back up to the 90% charge state using my 2KW generator setup...
It does take planning on what you can do. It took us some time to make our trailer ready for camping off the power grids. Smart mode charging technology, LED lights, more batteries with bigger charging cables, use of 2KW generator with RV30A-15A long "dogbone" adapter, etc... Adding SOLAR panels is the next I want to do to able to re-charge my batteries during the times when the sun is high... AS you are probably aware we are not allowed to run our generators anytime we want to here on the East side of the US so this means we have to build-up things that will let us use the generator to re-charge the batteries in the quickest time we can to fit into the camp ground generator restriction times. Three-five hours a day of generator time is best you can do alot of camp grounds here on the East side. We have never found a place where we we could run our generator in a public camp ground after 8PM let alone all night long...
The simplist thing you can to do to help big time is change out all of the high wattage incandescent automotive type lights on your trailer to LEDs. This is actually a 80% power saving for your batteries. Each bulb in the incandescent light fixures draws one amp each on average. You can run 12AMPS of battery drain real quick just by using your trailer interior lights.
I have this DC Monitor Panel Installed inside the trailer to monitor DC Voltages of my two battery banks and how much current is being drawn when being used and put back into the batteries when being charged. After time you can see what to expect from the batteries.
Taking care of the batteries is not to be taken lightly... I monitor mine all the time, check the fluids, and general upkeep with corrosion on the connectors etc... I cycle my batteries from 50% and 90% charge states when camping off the power grid and know i can only do these charge cycles for a limited amount of time before doing damage to the batteries. I know when I should re-charge my batteries to a full 100% charge state.
My batteries are just now starting to show less performance after around five years of pretty hard use camping off the power grid like we do. These are the cheap standard issue 85AH 12VDC Interstate batteries that came with the trailer.
My next upgrade I think is going to get around 300AHs of batteries with one bank in the back of my tuck and the other bank on the tongue of my trailer. My other hobbys has me running the back roads in my truck only with high wattage radio equipment for my duties in Weather tracking from SKYWARN, RACES, and Navy MARS program. Then when I connect up with my OFF-ROAD trailer I will have a good 600AHs of battery capacity available to use.
Just keep thinking how to stay successful when camping off the power grids...
It does take some planning and some PLAN Bs to use to be successful...
Roy Ken
We have done quite well with our 255AHs battery bank. This lets us do almost all the things we want to do camping off the power grid except using the Air Conditioner and high wattage things like the microwave. I will run down my batteries to around 50% charge by 8AM the next morning and then have to re-charge back up to the 90% charge state using my 2KW generator setup...
It does take planning on what you can do. It took us some time to make our trailer ready for camping off the power grids. Smart mode charging technology, LED lights, more batteries with bigger charging cables, use of 2KW generator with RV30A-15A long "dogbone" adapter, etc... Adding SOLAR panels is the next I want to do to able to re-charge my batteries during the times when the sun is high... AS you are probably aware we are not allowed to run our generators anytime we want to here on the East side of the US so this means we have to build-up things that will let us use the generator to re-charge the batteries in the quickest time we can to fit into the camp ground generator restriction times. Three-five hours a day of generator time is best you can do alot of camp grounds here on the East side. We have never found a place where we we could run our generator in a public camp ground after 8PM let alone all night long...
The simplist thing you can to do to help big time is change out all of the high wattage incandescent automotive type lights on your trailer to LEDs. This is actually a 80% power saving for your batteries. Each bulb in the incandescent light fixures draws one amp each on average. You can run 12AMPS of battery drain real quick just by using your trailer interior lights.
I have this DC Monitor Panel Installed inside the trailer to monitor DC Voltages of my two battery banks and how much current is being drawn when being used and put back into the batteries when being charged. After time you can see what to expect from the batteries.
Taking care of the batteries is not to be taken lightly... I monitor mine all the time, check the fluids, and general upkeep with corrosion on the connectors etc... I cycle my batteries from 50% and 90% charge states when camping off the power grid and know i can only do these charge cycles for a limited amount of time before doing damage to the batteries. I know when I should re-charge my batteries to a full 100% charge state.
My batteries are just now starting to show less performance after around five years of pretty hard use camping off the power grid like we do. These are the cheap standard issue 85AH 12VDC Interstate batteries that came with the trailer.
My next upgrade I think is going to get around 300AHs of batteries with one bank in the back of my tuck and the other bank on the tongue of my trailer. My other hobbys has me running the back roads in my truck only with high wattage radio equipment for my duties in Weather tracking from SKYWARN, RACES, and Navy MARS program. Then when I connect up with my OFF-ROAD trailer I will have a good 600AHs of battery capacity available to use.
Just keep thinking how to stay successful when camping off the power grids...
It does take some planning and some PLAN Bs to use to be successful...
Roy Ken
