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Levidada's avatar
Levidada
Explorer
Jan 25, 2016

Battery Run Time

I'm curious how long my battery should run before dying while dry camping. Here in CA, the state campgrounds, you can only run the generator between 10am and 8pm, which leaves a substantial amount of time to be on battery only. The last weekend my battery could not withstand the duration. Im wondering if this is normal, or if I have a weak battery. Only thing running would be interior lights, awning LED light, and heater during sleeping hours (10-7).

14 Replies

  • It's impossible to say how long your battery should last. How long it will last depends on its overall capacity and condition and, of course, how much demand you place on it. There is a small current draw all the time for parasitic loads (such as CO detector and clock/sound system). The refrigerator will draw a small current for the control board and the gas ignition. The refrigerator also draws current continuously to power a heater in the door to prevent condensation in humid weather. Some refrigerators have a switch to turn off this heater. Turn it off to significantly extend your battery. The furnace fan draws a lot of current. If your interior lights are incandescent, they will draw a lot of current. Switching to LED's will save a lot of power.

    Something else to consider: The length of time it takes to recharge a depleted battery not only depends on how depleted it is, but also how much charging current your charger produces. Many campers have WFCO converters as OEM equipment. Many of these don't seem to work as they should. They have a tendency to work only in the absorption mode (rather than automatically switching to boost mode). If your converter is not working correctly you can replace it or use an inexpensive stand-alone battery charger that outputs 10 Amps. If your converter is stuck in absorption mode it can literally take days to recharge a depleted battery where as a 10 amp charger will recharge it in a matter of hours.
  • You can save a good amount of battery run time by converting your 12 volt interior lighting from incandescent bulbs to LED. You may not save all that much by going to a smaller battery if it is a little used size. Do some pricing first.
  • a lot depends on the type of battery you have on the TT. and of course how many amps you are drawing from the battery. a lot of us either use two six volts or two twelve volt batteries connected properly together or if you are using a regular car starting battery or a deep cycle battery. generally one night is about all you will get out of one 12 volt battery.