Batteries - What do you use

[RoamingGnomes]

Have a 32' 5th wheel - the dealier looked at me as though I was crazy when I made him add batteries when I bought it, configured for (1)12v upgraded to (4)12v in all. He did it with 4 Exide dual purpose batteries. They're Ok for now.

Looking down the road at adding solar and extended boondocking, full timing in about 2-3 years.

Looking to change them out the batteries.

thinking about options...

just buy run of the mill deep cycle batteries and swap them out when necessary, or...

Look for a true deep cycle batteries as high a capacity that will fit my current batteries boxes.

Thinking about US or Trojan for the replacements

What do you use?

[pianotuna]

Hi,

That's a dead easy answer.

If salt water enters a flooded battery Chlorine gas is created. It is rather poisonous. Therefore sealed batteries are not a bad idea.

Veebyes wrote:
Why do cruising boaters favour AGMs?

[Veebyes]

Do the research to find the system which will suit you best. All batterys are not the same. Most folks are not even aware of the three major types, never mind explain the differences & the advantages & disadvantages of each type.

The most common answer is "Go to Walmart & get deep cycle batterys". Anyone can slap 'deep cycle' on the side of a battery. What is it? What is the difference between deep cycle/house batterys & 'starting' batterys?

What is the difference between wet cells, gel cells & AGMs? Why do cruising boaters favour AGMs?

There is a heap to learn & understand. Solar charging is nice but it is very expensive & cannot produce anywhere near the amperage that a charger can through a small genny. The solar vs genny is a whole nuther can or worms to open & understand.

[tegu69]

A couple of years ago, I was having trouble with the battery in my fw, not holding a charge. I needed a battery and decided to look at my 2 batteries in my boat as well. One battery in the boat was still in good shape, but was 7 years old. Since I would rather have a dead battery in a campground than in the ocean, I bought a new one for the boat and put the 7 year old one in the trailer. The battery was an Interstate marine cranking battery with 1000 cc amps. I don't know if it was the correct thing to do, but the slide and landing gear worked great without hooking up to power or tow vehicle. I have since traded fw and kind of wished I kept the old battery.

[laknox]

RoamingGnomes wrote:
Have a 32' 5th wheel - the dealier looked at me as though I was crazy when I made him add batteries when I bought it, configured for (1)12v upgraded to (4)12v in all. He did it with 4 Exide dual purpose batteries. They're Ok for now.

Looking down the road at adding solar and extended boondocking, full timing in about 2-3 years.

Looking to change them out the batteries.

thinking about options...

just buy run of the mill deep cycle batteries and swap them out when necessary, or...

Look for a true deep cycle batteries as high a capacity that will fit my current batteries boxes.

Thinking about US or Trojan for the replacements

What do you use?

I went cheap, as that fits our needs. 2 6v golf cart batteries from Sam's replaced my 2 12v marine batteries; ~ $80 each. About 220 ah reserve gives me 3 days from full charge with "normal" usage. I have a 45w solar system that =almost= makes me power independent with judicious light use. No 110v use, obviously. I'd love to upgrade to a decent 100-200w solar system, but even a better charge controller would help me out with the 45w system. You just have to figure out how long you want to be off the grid and if you want/need generator backup to run the A/C.

Lyle

[1492]

Moved from Forum Technical Support

[Sandia_Man]

If $$$ isn't an issue get 6 volt Trojans or any other high-end battery brand. Me, about every 6 years I just go down to Costco or Samsclub and pick up whatever 6 volt golfcart batteries they have at the time. Currently have a pair of Interstate GC batteries I purchased from Sams and they are doing fine with 4 years of service on them. How well batteries are cared for, wired, and charged is much more relevant (for boondocking) than the brand plastered on the side of the case. Since performing a full LED conversion a couple of years ago batteries last so much longer before requiring a recharge from our Iota IQ4 converter. Will do solar in the future but running the genny a couple of hours every other day to restore consumed amphours works well for us when boondocking.

[donn0128]

There are basically two battery manufacturers in the US. Johnson Controls is one. They about 99% of the branded batteries sold in the US. So, based on that, pick any of the golf cart batteries you can find. The differences will be minimal unless you go with a really high end product like Rolls batteries. There are a lot of charts giving you panel size vs battery capacity, so just do a search and balance you needs to capacity to budget and go.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

Sounds marvelous. Have you thought about adding solar and cutting the cord totally?

Are they 12 two volt cells in series? Do you have dual banks so you can use one while charging the other?

MCIbus wrote:
My house battery bank is 1,272 pounds of Rolls Surrette wet lead. 820 amp hour (20 hour) at 24 volts.

Were set up for event parking or crashing at a family members house and end up with 15 amps of power to use.
When we do boon dock we pick up and move every other day or have to run the genset for a couple of hours.

[pianotuna]

Hi Roaming,

I have seven house marine batteries from Walmart, in two banks. I also use a marine battery as the starter battery.

If you want the bank to last a long time make sure the battery wiring was done in a balanced manner. If you wish to understand the "why" surf here:

correctly interconnecting multiple twelve volt batteries

RoamingGnomes wrote:
Have a 32' 5th wheel - the dealier looked at me as though I was crazy when I made him add batteries when I bought it, configured for (1)12v upgraded to (4)12v in all. He did it with 4 Exide dual purpose batteries. They're Ok for now.
What do you use?

[moonlightrunner]

I use deep cycle marine batteries with a three stage smart charger. They have lasted over seven years now, the last four years have been under fulltime conditions. When I replace, it will be with deep cycle marine batteries again.

[time2roll]

4x Costco GC2. Get 200+ watts solar and LED lighting before you upgrade any batteries.
If you will be charging by generator you should review and verify the converter actually charges a low battery at 14.2+ volts.

[2oldman]

8 -12v Lifeline AGMs.

[the_bear_II]

I have two sets of two 12v deep cycle batteries (Sears Die Hards). The first set is used for the normal 12v house battery type stuff (lights, pump,frig..etc)

The other set is used to power our 2000 watt inverter for when we are boondocking.

Both sets can be tied together if needed.

I carry two Honda 2000i generators with the parallel kit. If I need A/C I use the two, otherwise we just use one of the generators.

I have found this to be the best solution for our needs. I've ruled out solar since we usually stay where it's OK to run the generator during the hours that we need it (rarely beyond 10PM or before 8AM). We park away from any neighbors so they won't be disturbed.

[RoyB]

To get the most bang for the bucks the two 6V golf cart batteries in series will give you around 220-225AHs capacity for around $200. Two groups of these will give you 440-450AHs capacity.

I originally went with 4EA standard issue GP24 Interstate 12V batteries and lost one pretty quick until I changed out my converter/charger for a smart mode charger. I have been running the remaining three Interstate batteries 255AHs now for over five years.

I really want to go with two groups of Two each 12V Trojan T1275 150Ah capacity batteries with one group in the back of my truck and the other group on the tongue of my OFF-ROAD POPUP. This will give me 300AH capacity at each location or 600AHs when connected together when in camping mode.

Thats my future plans for my two-way radio ops for Emergency Radio operations and covering my OFF-ROAD POPUP trailer camping as well...

A 300AH capacity battery setup is also well within what I can mount on my off-road POPUP trailer for solar panels to be re-charged during the one SUN DAY...

Future projects...

Roy Ken

[MCIbus]

My house battery bank is 1,272 pounds of Rolls Surrette wet lead. 820 amp hour (20 hour) at 24 volts.

We have dual Outback inverters that gives me 30 amps at 220 volts. My house bank has it's own 280 (might be 320) amp 24 volt alternator. Were able to live life normally with a single 15 amp outlet and a good battery charger.

Were set up for event parking or crashing at a family members house and end up with 15 amps of power to use.
When we do boon dock we pick up and move every other day or have to run the genset for a couple of hours.