BAttery replacement.

[grizz272]

How often do you replace the fifth-wheel dual batteries.
This will be the fourth yr for out camper. In previous campers I was never able to get more that 2 yrs before I replaced the original dealer batteries.

What is the go to battery for a fifth-wheel?

[StirCrazy]

grizz272 wrote:
How often do you replace the fifth-wheel dual batteries.
This will be the fourth yr for out camper. In previous campers I was never able to get more that 2 yrs before I replaced the original dealer batteries.

What is the go to battery for a fifth-wheel?

depends how much you discharge them and how well you maintain them. I have four 6V GC batteries and just finaly changed them after 14 years. last year they were showing some signs of needing to be changed so this year I did it. but I have a high quality charger, only normaly use about 30-40% of the capacity or less, top up with water 4 times a year and so on. also they were high quality batteries. I bought cheep ones to replace them so I am only expecting 5 to 8 years out of these ones, but I will be switching over to LiFePo4 well before then.

Steve

[corvettekent]

When I bought my 5th wheel it had two 6 volt golf cart batteries that were dead. I replaced them with the same type of batteries. After seven years I decided that I should have more battery power so I bought four 6 volt golf cart batteries, that was five years ago and I expect to get another three - five years out of them.

[mr__ed]

I had an unusual indication of a bad battery some years ago in my fiver. It contained two 12 volt batteries connected in parallel (typical wet cell types).

For some unknown reason the propane leak detector kept going off for no apparent reason. Upon checking both coach batteries I discovered one was essentially dead. Replacing that battery stopped the propane detector from misbehaving.

I’m not sure why the propane detector was going off, but possibly it wasn’t receiving the proper voltage because of the bad battery and maybe the remaining good battery had become marginal. Anyway, there were no further problems after the replacement.

[stickdog]

Our present 5er came with garbage batteries. It was a '17' model clearance,'16' build, 14 months give or take on the lot.
First time I ckecked the water it looked like lead soup which I had never seen in a battery.
They seemed to hold a charge and we spend the majority of our time on shore power.
They were good enough to take us to Alaska and back in '18' but I replaced them at Costco with 2 6v GC in '19'.
Ckeck them regularly and have added water once in 2 years.

Previous 5er a used 6 yr old came with 2 12v of undetermined age. 5er was well taken care of so the batteries may have been replaced they did require bi monthly watering.
The converter died 10 months after purchase. It was replaced with a PD
Converter don't recall the # but it was an upgrade over what it had.
It did cut down on water usage for the batteries.
Replaced those batteries with Costco 12v batteries water useage virtually a non issue. We traded 4 years later.

[pianotuna]

4x4ord,

I live in Regina, SK. There is enough wind to keep the panels clear.

[4x4ord]

pianotuna wrote:
Grizz272,

Sorry to hear of the freeing issue.

My solar keeps my batteries in great shape during the winter.

Do you climb on the roof and sweep the snow off regularly or do you have some panels set up more vertical for storage?

[grizz272]

pianotuna wrote:
Grizz272,

Sorry to hear of the freeing issue.

My solar keeps my batteries in great shape during the winter.

I have had a camper with at least one battery since the mid 1990's this is the first time I have had this problem.

[obie311]

After the covid downtime both my batteries were gone. I don't know if they were the factory installs or replacements from a previous owner. (coach is a 2014) They were nothing special just group 27 Interstate FLA "marine" batteries.

My price point was around $300. I'm not in the Battleborn league.

I did a lot of research and was leaning toward a pair of Trojan T-105's but ultimately decided I didn't want the maintenance responsibility of checking and replenishing the water levels. (Yes I know they have gadgets to do this)

Ultimately I decided on 2 group 27 Duracell AGM's from Sam's Club (about $325 out the door). I've used East Penn/Deka's in my motorcycle and they have been good but not exceptional like the Panasonic AGM.

Wife does not like to boondock so that influenced my decision to pass on the Trojan GC's. Otherwise I would have gone that way.

We'll see how these do over the winter. I think my solar and converter do a pretty good job of keeping these batts charged and I doubt I will discharge them below 50%. Time will tell.

[StirCrazy]

I just replaced mine that I installed in 2007. to be honest they needed replacing last year but with covid and such there wern't any big trips for me with out power.

That is longer than I expected, but under normal circumstances I would expect to get at least 5 years, but I would also be dissapointed if i only got 5 years if you know what I mean.

if you get a good replacement charger, size your bank properly, and do you water checks frequently there is no reason to not go 5 years min and most likely closer to 10 years on a good quality 6V GC2 battery.

I had four 235AH 6V in my 5th, with 480 watts of solar and my normal depth of discharge was about 30%, befor that they were on my trailer for 10 years and they would see diacharges up to 50% once and a while.

what do I recomend now, if you can aford to spend a bit more up front, and don't have the extreem cold camping habbit, get LiFePo4. the price has come way down in the last year and size and weight wise I could get the same useable AH with about 1/4 the weight and 1/3 the size (aprox) and not have to worry about depth of dischare as they do 3-4000 cycles at 100% discharge. so that would easily last you 20 years cycling them every weekend also because of the 100% discharge capability you dont need to buy way more than you need, just buy enough to cover the normal camping trip plus a few days, or put solar on them.

Steve

[pianotuna]

Grizz272,

Sorry to hear of the freeing issue.

My solar keeps my batteries in great shape during the winter.

[grizz272]

I found out what was wrong with my batteries. They had frozen over the winter and the cases were cracked. The one was cracked in 4 places and the other was cracked right where the top and sides came together. This battery would charge up but be dead in about 36 hrs.

I replaced both batteries with deep cycle rv batteries.

[Thermoguy]

Do you have a meter? Test them - charge them, then check every few days with no load to see if they are depleting. Then if that is good, put a small load on them and check to see if they are depleting too fast. If they are not holding a good charge, you should replace them if you want them to be reliable. You boondock, do you have a generator?

[RambleOnNW]

I got 9 years out of a pair of Sears DieHard Platinum AGM 12V marine batteries. Now on 2nd year with BatteriesPlus X2Power AGM batteries with 4 year full replacement warranty. Batteries are made by Northstar. I use a 4-stage charger by Progressive Dynamics. Good battery price, they had a $30 mail in rebate per battery plus a 10% online ordering discount.

[MNRon]

As others have said, how you care for your batteries has a lot to do with longevity. If you drain them well below 50% SOC, they won't last as long (FLA and AGM). If your charger isn't a 'smart' charger, they won't last as long. If you use regular 'car' batteries, they won't last as long.

You can get good FLA from Sam's or Costco for about $1/AHr (6v GC, had on last 5er), I'd expect those to last 5-6yr+ if treated well. For about $3/AHr you can get Lifeline AGMs (no maintenance hassle, have on current 5er); expect those to last 10+yrs if treated well. Li batteries are lighter and can be discharged further without harm but also have some special charging requirements. I don't have experience with these *yet* but price keeps coming down, and is below $10/AHr now.