Switching from 12 volt to 6 volt batteries
After our third time out dry camping with our new travel trailer, we started running into battery bank issues. Our first two times out, we had no issues at all with running down our battery bank overn...
Forum Discussion
Look into the portable lithium ion batterie units - about $500. They are lighter and portable, so take them in the house in the winter/off-season, or move them wherever you need battery power...
These portable things typically have a built-in inverter and charge controller. I would go this route if I had to start over.
Or get two Golf Cart batteries. Best value for a true deep cycle battery. Marine batts are not a true.. They are inbetween a starting batt and a deep cycle battery, which is the definition of Marine. Marine cannot be discharged as much or as many times as a true deep cycle batt and survive as many cycles.
For either Marine or Deep the less you discharge the longer it will last, so running your power consuming things at night when there is no solar charging the batts is not ideal. Best to run power early in the day so the sun can keep the voltage topped off and have time to recover or fully charge batts before bed, but I understand wanting to do TV at night...
What DC fridge are you referring? Hopefully not like a Coleman.. Those are junky power hogs. A compressor fridge (danfoss compressor) should not deplete the batts too much overnight unless there are many other demands for power, like TV or the heater blower motor. Consider a Buddy heater which uses zero power (but puts out a lot of moisture and potential for CO).
As far as wiring, nothing needs to be changed. The only difference is you connect 6v batteries in series, not parallel as you would 12v batts.
GC batts can be purchased from a national chain auto parts store, so if issues on the road you can get replacements or warranty anywhere in the nation easily.
Do upgrade your solar. I typically say that 200 watts is ample for most charging. Sounds like you use your power at night so 200 (with good MPPT charge controller) will have your batts topped off going into the night time power hungry time period you describe.
These portable things typically have a built-in inverter and charge controller. I would go this route if I had to start over.
Or get two Golf Cart batteries. Best value for a true deep cycle battery. Marine batts are not a true.. They are inbetween a starting batt and a deep cycle battery, which is the definition of Marine. Marine cannot be discharged as much or as many times as a true deep cycle batt and survive as many cycles.
For either Marine or Deep the less you discharge the longer it will last, so running your power consuming things at night when there is no solar charging the batts is not ideal. Best to run power early in the day so the sun can keep the voltage topped off and have time to recover or fully charge batts before bed, but I understand wanting to do TV at night...
What DC fridge are you referring? Hopefully not like a Coleman.. Those are junky power hogs. A compressor fridge (danfoss compressor) should not deplete the batts too much overnight unless there are many other demands for power, like TV or the heater blower motor. Consider a Buddy heater which uses zero power (but puts out a lot of moisture and potential for CO).
As far as wiring, nothing needs to be changed. The only difference is you connect 6v batteries in series, not parallel as you would 12v batts.
GC batts can be purchased from a national chain auto parts store, so if issues on the road you can get replacements or warranty anywhere in the nation easily.
Do upgrade your solar. I typically say that 200 watts is ample for most charging. Sounds like you use your power at night so 200 (with good MPPT charge controller) will have your batts topped off going into the night time power hungry time period you describe.
