Battery bank in 5er

[bacil]

Hi all,

yet another question, how big is your battery bank ?

The reason for the question is simple, if you want to dry camp or boondock and have your fridge/ac/micro (the biggest consumers) that would drain batteries well under one day so how do you go about it ?

I know dont use AC/microwave is a solution but that doesnt apply to the fridge especially if you have one of these residential units.

[retispcsi]

I have 4 6 volt batteries with a 2800 pure sine inverter. Also 6500kw Gen all installed by factory. I have a residential frig also. Will run everything I have except AC. Quite common depending on the brand of fiver you buy. I don't boondock but I have for the convenience as we fulltime. Comes in handy when the power goes out or stop for lunch.

[laknox]

bacil wrote:
I think i should have opened this in the tech part of the forum .... sorry admins 🙂

Anyway 🙂

@ependydad : great video, what exactly are you running on your batteries ? and ins't 1000W inverter too small ? i can imagine, you draw much more ?

As per battery bank, i am coming from sailing yachts world and we have in our charter flotila most boats with 2x starter battery for engines/generators and banks of 4 house batteries (deep cycle marine batteries usually 120Ah each) hence the term battery bank, if its wrong "terminus technicus" i do apologize 😉

This setup usually gives me about 4-5 days on quiet sailing if i only use the electronics and navigational/living quarters lights and have small fridge running. If i go smaller i would have to run engine every 1 or 2 days ti charge batteries

Surprised you don't have solar and/or wind generators...

Lyle

[dedmiston]

azdryheat wrote:
I got one battery, which I use to fire up the generator when needed. Never heard of a battery 'bank' in a trailer, unlike the 4, 6, or more batteries used in class A's. The new Vilano's come with two 12v batteries otherwise it's just one from the factory.

We have four 6v batteries in our 5th wheel. Most of the friends we camp with do too.

[2oldman]

bacil wrote:
hence the term battery bank, if its wrong "terminus technicus" i do apologize 😉

It is not wrong, very common term used all the time on here. A search for 'battery bank' reveals 58 pages. So, yeah.

[bacil]

I think i should have opened this in the tech part of the forum .... sorry admins 🙂

Anyway 🙂

@ependydad : great video, what exactly are you running on your batteries ? and ins't 1000W inverter too small ? i can imagine, you draw much more ?

As per battery bank, i am coming from sailing yachts world and we have in our charter flotila most boats with 2x starter battery for engines/generators and banks of 4 house batteries (deep cycle marine batteries usually 120Ah each) hence the term battery bank, if its wrong "terminus technicus" i do apologize 😉

This setup usually gives me about 4-5 days on quiet sailing if i only use the electronics and navigational/living quarters lights and have small fridge running. If i go smaller i would have to run engine every 1 or 2 days ti charge batteries

[Itinerant1]

azdryheat wrote:
I got one battery, which I use to fire up the generator when needed. Never heard of a battery 'bank' in a trailer, unlike the 4, 6, or more batteries used in class A's.

If your just doing hookups you probably won't see many trailers/ 5th wheels with banks of batteries but for the extended boondocking or extended stays dry camping without the niose from a generator. Something like this which is 500 ah liFePo4 batteries.

[2oldman]

azdryheat wrote:
Never heard of a battery 'bank' in a trailer

You would in the Public lands forum or Tech issues, or if you dry camped or had a residential refer.

[azdryheat]

I got one battery, which I use to fire up the generator when needed. Never heard of a battery 'bank' in a trailer, unlike the 4, 6, or more batteries used in class A's. The new Vilano's come with two 12v batteries otherwise it's just one from the factory.

[2oldman]

laknox wrote:
I'm thinking of using only 7 Leaf modules, which would give me 48v that I'd have to step down, but it would give me 460+ ah of storage in the weight of a =single= 6v golf cart battery!

Amp-hours don't add in series.

[ependydad]

I opted for 4 x 100ah lithium batteries from Battle Born. More information here:
http://learntorv.com/battery-upgrade/

This is the equivalent of close to an 800ah battery bank.

I also have a Youtube video showing my install + inverter setup:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF9N7XK7WJM

[laknox]

bacil wrote:

laknox wrote:

bacil wrote:

padredw wrote:

boondock and have your fridge/ac/micro

The first thing is to realize and accept the fact that using the AC off the batteries is not a reasonable expectation. The battery bank would be far too heavy for a fifth-wheel to be able to run the air conditioner for any significant amount of time. I'd even be very conservative about using the microwave. But the MV is used for short periods of time. If the AC is needed it would be run continuously.

It is the refrigerator which would be a large factor in determining the capacity of the battery bank. (my opinions)

Absolutely agree, i just did my math and i would need close to 800Ah to run the domestic fridge and some other appliances and allow for 50% discharge on batteries between the charges (daily) from geny as i dont think solar is capable to do this alone.

Check out my cousin's husband's bus rebuild at http://www.beginningfromthismorning.com/. They're going with a 98% electric configuration, with propane only used for the water heater. Electrics come from 3500 watts of solar and 3200+ Amp hours of battery storage. Battery is from a Nissan Leaf, plus one extra module to provide the proper voltage. He gives excellent details on everything they're doing. Last project was a complete new dash with an added tach and a GPS-enabled speedometer! :B

Lyle

I love the idea using electric car battery 🙂

for now i am looking at 4x 200Ah Li-ion battery, but they are bloody expensive, but will see it will all depend on the rig we get on the end 🙂

I'm thinking of using only 7 Leaf modules, which would give me 48v that I'd have to step down, but it would give me 460+ ah of storage in the weight of a =single= 6v golf cart battery! :B

Lyle

[Lwiddis]

And checking the water level on 34 batteries? That's 102 caps...would take a while.

[Lwiddis]

"Electrics come from 3500 watts of solar and 3200+ Amp hours of battery storage"

Laknox, no one said it was "impossible" just very difficult. Batteries with a total of 3500 amp hours would weigh....using wet T105s...34 batteries at 210 amp hours (6 volts) to get to 3,500. Thirty-four batteries times 62 pounds each...that's over a TON of batteries. Not practical.

[bacil]

laknox wrote:

bacil wrote:

padredw wrote:

boondock and have your fridge/ac/micro

The first thing is to realize and accept the fact that using the AC off the batteries is not a reasonable expectation. The battery bank would be far too heavy for a fifth-wheel to be able to run the air conditioner for any significant amount of time. I'd even be very conservative about using the microwave. But the MV is used for short periods of time. If the AC is needed it would be run continuously.

It is the refrigerator which would be a large factor in determining the capacity of the battery bank. (my opinions)

Absolutely agree, i just did my math and i would need close to 800Ah to run the domestic fridge and some other appliances and allow for 50% discharge on batteries between the charges (daily) from geny as i dont think solar is capable to do this alone.

Check out my cousin's husband's bus rebuild at http://www.beginningfromthismorning.com/. They're going with a 98% electric configuration, with propane only used for the water heater. Electrics come from 3500 watts of solar and 3200+ Amp hours of battery storage. Battery is from a Nissan Leaf, plus one extra module to provide the proper voltage. He gives excellent details on everything they're doing. Last project was a complete new dash with an added tach and a GPS-enabled speedometer! :B

Lyle

I love the idea using electric car battery 🙂

for now i am looking at 4x 200Ah Li-ion battery, but they are bloody expensive, but will see it will all depend on the rig we get on the end 🙂

[2oldman]

RollandB wrote:
... 4-6v lLofeline AGMs... I relocated the battery bank to an unused area that has plumbing vent lines which were partitioned off and not the easiest to get to for everyday storage.

Good choice for batteries in a hard-to-get-to place.