Forum Discussion

shasta24's avatar
shasta24
Explorer
Mar 07, 2014

Battery or batteries

Im getting ready to istall a battery or 2 on my trailer. Im not for sure what size of fuse I need to install just after the battery. My converter is 45 amp. And I was wondering how important it was to have a shut off switch for the batteries. Thanks for your help, and any pictures you can share.
  • If you never camp without hook ups one battery is fine. We dry camp often and can go 3-4 nights watching a movie every night on our TV running through a power converter. We use twin group 27 deep cycles bought at Costco. All depends on your style of camping. A cut off switch is great for several reasons. I use a simple push pull switch mounted atlo the battery box.
  • The fuse should be sized to protect the wires from the batteries to the 12V distribution panel.

    A battery master disconnect switch should be installed in every RV, IMO. Most newer RV's have parasitic draw that is drawing down the battery 24/7. Those devices are things like alarms, circuit boards, radio and TV memory/standby, etc. It's a good idea to wire the emergency brake power lead bypassing the switch. If you forget to select the "on" position before hitting the road, the E-brakes will still work.
  • Go with two batteries
    Use at least a 30 Amp circuit breaker instead of a fuse. You can get the circuit breaker at auto parts stores.
    A cutoff switch is a good idea. When storing the trailer the cutoff will prevent parasitic draw from some appliances to run down your batteries.