Battery questions for a newbie?
I apologize beforehand for my beginner or dumb questions. I have a 2014 TT that I purchased last year. It came from the dealer with an Interstate battery..model SRM-24. Now I admit that I never ever dry camp. infact this season I will be a seasonal weekender but my camper will be hooked up to shore power all summer long even when im not there, so in other words, I assume my battery wont get much use.. right before I purchased my camper my buddy gave me a brand new Interstate battery model HD24-DP which is even smaller then the battery that came with my camper is...
Here are my main questions. I noticed last summer that the Srm-24 did not hold power very long.. I would keep it hooked up on side of my house and the battery would drain in around 4 days.. I am assuming due to parasitic drain, but since I never dry camp I never thaught anything of it and would hook up the shore power and charge it once a week. Now that the camper is in storage and the two batteries are home on my front porch I can monitor them better with my small trickle charger and my voltmeter.. I noticed that when I charge the batteries they would end up around 13.5 volts or so, but after a couple days the SRM-24 would always drop to around 12.49 volts which if im correct is around 75-85% capacity, the cheaper HD24-DP would always stay around 12.93 volts or so... neither one of these are hooked up... so for some reason the srm-24 wont hold a 100% charge...
I found out last week that the battery has a one year warranty so I took it yesterday to dealer.. dealer hooked it up to a load tester and it stayed in green... he said that this shows the battery is good and that it does not need to be replaced. Im not sure how true this is though, I would assume if battery was good that it should stay around 12.90 volts or so like the smaller HD24 when not hooked up to load..it wont stay there.
When I do finally go camping end of month, if I leave this battery hooked up all week to shore power does this mean if it wont hold 100% charge that the charger in my camper will always be charging at full power and not go down to trickle charge since it wont hold a full power? and if so, will that hurt the converter in the long run if its always sending full power to that battery? im sorry if this is dumb question, I just don't know this answer.. if so, maybe im better off just leaving the cheaper HD24 hooked up as I know that will hold a full charge...
Very last question, since I don't dry camp, is it true the only thing I need battery for is the Slide? and why is this? shouldnt shore power put out more amps then a 12v battery and more then sufficient to run the slide? I don't understand how when you dry camp the slide motor is fine with just a battery, but yet when you are hooked up you should run the slide with 12v hooked up also to help with the slide motor.. I would think that shore power has more power then the battery.... and with reading this post, is that cheaper HD24 battery sufficient to open and close the slide without hurting the motor? or should I get a bigger battery for that slide? once again, I don't dry camp and have no need for battery other then the slide and the rare occasion if I lost power for somereason at campground. I see no reason to run out and by a new battery if these two are ok... does that SRM-24 sound shot???.. I thank you for taking the time to read this...
Here are my main questions. I noticed last summer that the Srm-24 did not hold power very long.. I would keep it hooked up on side of my house and the battery would drain in around 4 days.. I am assuming due to parasitic drain, but since I never dry camp I never thaught anything of it and would hook up the shore power and charge it once a week. Now that the camper is in storage and the two batteries are home on my front porch I can monitor them better with my small trickle charger and my voltmeter.. I noticed that when I charge the batteries they would end up around 13.5 volts or so, but after a couple days the SRM-24 would always drop to around 12.49 volts which if im correct is around 75-85% capacity, the cheaper HD24-DP would always stay around 12.93 volts or so... neither one of these are hooked up... so for some reason the srm-24 wont hold a 100% charge...
I found out last week that the battery has a one year warranty so I took it yesterday to dealer.. dealer hooked it up to a load tester and it stayed in green... he said that this shows the battery is good and that it does not need to be replaced. Im not sure how true this is though, I would assume if battery was good that it should stay around 12.90 volts or so like the smaller HD24 when not hooked up to load..it wont stay there.
When I do finally go camping end of month, if I leave this battery hooked up all week to shore power does this mean if it wont hold 100% charge that the charger in my camper will always be charging at full power and not go down to trickle charge since it wont hold a full power? and if so, will that hurt the converter in the long run if its always sending full power to that battery? im sorry if this is dumb question, I just don't know this answer.. if so, maybe im better off just leaving the cheaper HD24 hooked up as I know that will hold a full charge...
Very last question, since I don't dry camp, is it true the only thing I need battery for is the Slide? and why is this? shouldnt shore power put out more amps then a 12v battery and more then sufficient to run the slide? I don't understand how when you dry camp the slide motor is fine with just a battery, but yet when you are hooked up you should run the slide with 12v hooked up also to help with the slide motor.. I would think that shore power has more power then the battery.... and with reading this post, is that cheaper HD24 battery sufficient to open and close the slide without hurting the motor? or should I get a bigger battery for that slide? once again, I don't dry camp and have no need for battery other then the slide and the rare occasion if I lost power for somereason at campground. I see no reason to run out and by a new battery if these two are ok... does that SRM-24 sound shot???.. I thank you for taking the time to read this...
