What battery? - if we never dry camp

As always, good timely advice. On the way to Costco at lunch to look at marine battery options.

The solar charger options sound interesting. I've looked a few, but most seem to be designed for the "interior" of the car. Is there a good choice for using in the weather (on the battery box - removed while trailering)?

I will also look for a battery tender and remove the battery to the garage for the winter.

Thanks.

orggardn wrote:
Since we won't use it much, what would be the best way to maintain it?

Battery really prefers to stay 100% charged. Best to stay plugged in or add some solar. Could dismount and use a small Battery Minder.

Or just make sure you are 100% and disconnect the terminal to prevent any parasitic drain. This is good for about three months.

If the battery becomes a bit discharged it is subject to freezing and permanent damage. Fully charged is good to -70F.

I agree with many of the other comments. get a marine deep cycle battery, whatever fits the battery tray. Don't buy the cheapest, but not the most expensive either. One from Costco, Sam's club, etc. will do fine. But for it to last you don't want it to run down very many times, so you need a battery disconnect or disconnect the positive terminal when not in use. If it is storage for more than a few months, either put on a solar charger or put a charger on it for a day or so.

Get the cheapest hybrid marine deep cycle you can. Every time you put it in storage, put the battery on a battery tender. Should last darn near forever.

Check out the prices at Costco. Look for the smaller and lighter, and less expensive battery. Anything over 100 CCA will work fine to run the brakes for the 45 seconds it will take to stop the RV in event it comes away from the truck. And also be large enough to run the power jack.

You might also be using it to power lights in the RV while getting it ready for a trip, or when you get home, before plugged into shore power.

A group 24 battery would be around 85 amp hours, and probably well over 400 CCA's. That is about the smallest battery for your application.

Good luck,

Fred.

Any inexpensive hybrid marine-starting battery would be my choice. You will want a disconnect switch to interrupt the current from the battery to the trailer while in storage if you don't remove it or disconnect a cable. The parasitic draws of the trailer will draw the battery dead within a week or two.

You'll probably also want the battery to be connected to the vehicle's charge wiring so the battery is recharging while on the road. That will make up for any fridge load or the parasitic loads and afford a fully charged battery for the emergency braking system.

Beyond that, check your built in converter and that it is charging the battery correctly when connected to shore power.

A hand held multimeter makes checking all of the above easy.

any marine deep cycle will suffice.
bumpy