battery life
2011 keystone, whats the usual life of a battery? I am usually plugged in
Forum Discussion
- 2010 Keystone still going strong.
- I can only ASSUME you are asking the question because either;
a) yours is starting to fail and you're curious if this is normal
or
b) you're starting the season wondering if your battery can support you another year
If (a), you got 5 years on your original battery, not bad. If you abused it by deep discharges, not keeping it fully charged between uses and never did a single condition charge you did GREAT!
If (b), buy a hydrometer and measure the specific gravity of each cell. If a little low or uneven buy a charger capable of performing an equalize charge. HERE is some good info on how to maintain your battery. - it is original, I know it needs a disconnect
SoundGuy wrote:
rode2nowhere wrote:
2011 keystone, whats the usual life of a battery? I am usually plugged inHuntindog wrote:
Asking others how long there battery lasts, only tells you one thing. How long theirs lasts.
It has nothing to do with how long yours will last.
There are too many variables in how each of us uses a battery for such a survey to have any meaning.
There's nothing wrong with asking others for an opinion. :R. The OP has a 5 yr old rig with what is probably the original battery and is likely just wondering if it's time he should be thinking about replacing it even though it's been serving the purpose to date just fine. He's already told us he normally camps on electric sites, in which case anything different than what he already has, probably a garden variety G24 or G27 lead acid RV/marine battery, is entirely unnecessary. I'm in the same boat as well, simply continue to run my single G27 Interstate and will until it will no longer hold a charge, no matter how many more years that might take ... I'm only planning to upgrade to a pair of G31s because I want to be able to better utilize the capabilities of my 1000 watt inverter those times we lose campground power, otherwise I'd just stick with the G27 alone until it quits - no biggie.
You are making some assumptions about the OP that may not be correct. His battery may or may not be original.. He may not even be the original owner.
And you are reading something into my post that was not it's intent.. I was not reccomending any type of battery. Just illustrating that his specific question really has no answer to HIS situation.
Others testimony has no bearing on what his battery life will be... And it has more than being plugged in the majority of the time to do with it. His use will be different than your use or my use. His tempertures will be different. His charging will be different. His loads will be different. Therefore his battery life will be as well.
These threads always get a ton of responses.. But they are meaningless.- I fall into the group that only uses the battery when the power fails or we need to camp overnight at a non-electric sight. Othewise it is an electric campsite.
I have left the TT unplugged at home to see how long it would take for just the parasitic loads to make a noticeable change in the incandesent light brightness, a rather crude indication a significant voltage drop.
In our case it took 4 to 5 days.
Our longest power outage was 11 hour with no problems and we have since changes to LED lights. rode2nowhere wrote:
2011 keystone, whats the usual life of a battery? I am usually plugged inHuntindog wrote:
Asking others how long there battery lasts, only tells you one thing. How long theirs lasts.
It has nothing to do with how long yours will last.
There are too many variables in how each of us uses a battery for such a survey to have any meaning.
There's nothing wrong with asking others for an opinion. :R. The OP has a 5 yr old rig with what is probably the original battery and is likely just wondering if it's time he should be thinking about replacing it even though it's been serving the purpose to date just fine. He's already told us he normally camps on electric sites, in which case anything different than what he already has, probably a garden variety G24 or G27 lead acid RV/marine battery, is entirely unnecessary. I'm in the same boat as well, simply continue to run my single G27 Interstate and will until it will no longer hold a charge, no matter how many more years that might take ... I'm only planning to upgrade to a pair of G31s because I want to be able to better utilize the capabilities of my 1000 watt inverter those times we lose campground power, otherwise I'd just stick with the G27 alone until it quits - no biggie.rode2nowhere wrote:
Asking others how long there battery lasts, only tells you one thing. How long theirs lasts.
2011 keystone, whats the usual life of a battery? I am usually plugged in
It has nothing to do with how long yours will last.
There are too many variables in how each of us uses a battery for such a survey to have any meaning.
You will do better or worse than those that respond. Maybe by a LOT.
Now a different question may have some value.
Asking someone that has used different types of batteries what their lifespan was with each type.. That can have some value unless they changed their usage when they changed type.
As an example: I have never gotten more than 2 years out of a standard marine/starting battery. Going to Golf cart 6 volts increased that to over 5 years.. Not sure just how long they will go for me. I have never actually had any fail yet. One set was exposed to the AZ sun, and the caps disintegrated at 5 years, and the next set was sold with the TT. My current set is about 2 years old.
This testimony has no value as for what your actual lifespan will be with batteries like I just spoke of,,, but COULD have some bearing on which of the types would last the longest for you.rode2nowhere wrote:
2011 keystone, whats the usual life of a battery? I am usually plugged in
We normally camp on electric sites as well, only dry camp if we can't get an electric site OR campground power has failed for one reason or another. My current G27 Interstate battery is now 8 yrs old and continues to work just fine, will even power a 1000 watt inverter, 'though this spring I do plan to upgrade to a pair of G31 batteries and keep the G27 as a spare.- If it's abused: run down frequently and left that way, overcharged, etc. maybe less than a year.
If it's taken great care of: always charged properly rarely deep cycled, never overcharged, etc. maybe as much as 8 years. - My batteries are 5 years old and still working great. I unplugged the converter when I installed the solar panels two years ago.
