New Golf Cart Batteries, Died quicker than anticipated...

[Diesel_Camper]

I recently upgraded from 2 12 volt marine cranking batteries to 2 6 volt golf cart batteries rated at 210AH. I was dry camping last week and it seemed like the batteries died out faster than they should have, but I'm hoping it had more to do with the temperature (about 40F) and the fact that I didn't reinstall the battery cut out switch and I powered the landing gear and slide from the house batteries while setting up...

Questions:

1. How much capacity will I loose at 40F?

2. I'm guessing the landing gear and the slide probably cost us a couple of days of battery power for our LED lighting and occasional use of the inverter for a DVD player; along with the regular loads of the frige and the LPG monitor?

[PFitt]

Go to Handy Bob's and read up on batteries and chargers to see what you really need. 2 6 volt batteries Fully Charged will last a long time with a little care on what you use. https://handybobsolar.wordpress.com/

[SkiSmuggs]

I upgraded my fiver from the original Grp 24 with 75AH to a Costco Grp 27 with 110AH in my 2nd season and dry camped at Grand Teton for 3 days. I had no volt meter at the time, but had converted to LED lights and set the temp for 50 because it was dropping below freezing at night. The slides came in and the stabilizers and landing gear came up, but I had no idea what life I had left.
Have since upgraded to dual Trojans and looking at a volt meter when the furnace comes on is scary as it sometimes drops below 12v. However, once the furnace shuts off, it gradually rises to over 12.6v. Running minimal lights and my CPAP all night from a 12v outlet usually leaves me at 12.5-12.6 in the morning, so I don't worry about it much anymore. My Trojans, when fully changed, show 12.7-12.8 as opposed to the single 12 that peaked at 12.6.
I now have 200w of solar on the roof and an additional 100w portable and only occasionally glance at a volt meter.

[JiminDenver]

Our 8-D Lifelines are 225 Ah and 12v, you could get four 6v for the money.

[korbe]

We prefer to dry camp - and without a generator. Watching our batteries and understanding our amp hour use has given us a bit of knowledge on our 12-volt system.

A $6 volt meter with the ability to test Amp-hours is a true friend.

BTW, when we dry camp in conserve mode, we use about 20 AH per 24-hr period (no furnace draw).

[Happy_Prospecto]

DownTheAvenue wrote:

And therein lies your problem. With 12 volt batteries, you double your amp hours when connecting two batteries. With 6 volt batteries, the amp hours of both batteries remains constant while the volts double.

So, if you had two 210AH 12 volt batteries, you had 410 AH of juice. With the two 210AH 6 volt batteries, you had 210AH of juice.

IMHO, 12 volt batteries are always a better choice.

A 210 AH 12 Volt Battery? That's one big battery.

I do believe Downtheavenue may be Educated Beyond His Intelligence.

[Golden_HVAC]

Your RV will consume 35 AH daily just to run the CO meter, propane detector and refrigerator. The load is 0.8 amps per hour 24/7 and goes up to about 1.2 amps for the hours that the refrigerator is running.

Your furnace is an additional 6 amps each hour it runs.

The old lights add 1 amp per hour they run, but new LED's are only about 0.2 amps per hour. I have changed many of my light to LED now.

So I would not be surprised if your battery went dead after two days without recharging it. Best thing to do is run the generator about 2 hours during the day, and run the furnace while it is on when you need to warm up. Another 2 hours near bedtime (wary that other nearby campers want to have it quiet at night) and run the furnace while this is on to make it toasty warm inside, so that power is drawn while the generator is on.

Or change to solar power. A pair of 140 watt solar panels will each put out about 50 AH daily, and keep you above 50% state of charge daily.

SunElec.com has a 12 volt with aluminum frame for $229 each. Add to this a 20 amp controller, some UV resistant grey wire from Home Depot, and some mounting brackets (2" aluminum angle 6" long with 5/16" hole for a 1/4" bolt into the panel and 3 - 3/16" holes for #10 screws into the roof) and you have a great system for less than $750.

The way I figure it my $3,000 solar system and inverter saved me $10 a night camping well over 300 times in the first 8 years, paying for itself. Saving that much 3 times since that time - while I was full timing much of 2005 - 2013.



Good luck,

Fred.

[Diesel_Camper]

smkettner wrote:
New deep cycle batteries need to be cycled several times before reaching full capacity (25-100 cycles, depending on type). Capacity will be limited during this period

http://usbattery.com/info-center/care-and-maintenance/

Thanks, I learned something new!

[time2roll]

New deep cycle batteries need to be cycled several times before reaching full capacity (25-100 cycles, depending on type). Capacity will be limited during this period

http://usbattery.com/info-center/care-and-maintenance/

[Diesel_Camper]

How many cycles do new batteries need before they get to their rated capacity?

[laknox]

sfpcservice wrote:
I recently upgraded from 2 12 volt marine cranking batteries to 2 6 volt golf cart batteries rated at 210AH. I was dry camping last week and it seemed like the batteries died out faster than they should have, but I'm hoping it had more to do with the temperature (about 40F) and the fact that I didn't reinstall the battery cut out switch and I powered the landing gear and slide from the house batteries while setting up...

Questions:

1. How much capacity will I loose at 40F?

2. I'm guessing the landing gear and the slide probably cost us a couple of days of battery power for our LED lighting and occasional use of the inverter for a DVD player; along with the regular loads of the frige and the LPG monitor?

A couple things come to mind. Were your batteries fully charged before your trip? An initial charge can take longer than you might anticipate. If you ran your furnace while camping, =that= is likely your culprit. Fans are notoriously inefficient and a furnace fan can kill a set of batteries in short order. FWIW, whenever I set up while boondocking, I always leave my FW plugged in to the truck, running, until I'm level and the slide is out. My disconnect doesn't cut off the slide and jacks, anyway. Solar is also a good idea.

Lyle

[Diesel_Camper]

smkettner wrote:
Two group 27 vs two 'small' (210ah) golf batteries is about a wash.
I hope you did not turn in perfectly good 12 volters.
The GC2 may need a dozen cycles actually to get max capacity.
What are you charging with?

Landing gear and slide is nothing. Is solar on you list yet?

Yes I intend to get some solar, not done yet. The 2 12 volt batteries I replaced were about shot anyway. And I only have about 2 cycles on the new batts.

I charge with the on board converter, speed charges at about 14.5 and maintains in the low 13's.

[time2roll]

Two group 27 vs two 'small' (210ah) golf batteries is about a wash.
I hope you did not turn in perfectly good 12 volters.
The GC2 may need a dozen cycles actually to get max capacity.
What are you charging with?

Landing gear and slide is nothing. Is solar on you list yet?

[Me_Again]

Were you running your furnace? That is a big draw on the batteries. As someone said maybe they were not fully charged. Chris

[wilber1]

azjeffh wrote:

sh410 wrote:


Finding 12V 210AH batteries can be a problem, if they even exist. Can ou provide a link for a 12V 210AH battery?

Didn't try to purchase them, but they may be available here. Great price as well 😉

Nice batteries and AGM's to but 4 6V's will give more AH, weigh the same, take up the same amount of space and cost less than half as much as two of these 12V's.

[Naio]

The temperature probably wasn't significant, unless 40 degrees was the high.

My personal rule of thumb is: If storing batteries outside in free air (not in a compartment, but also not on cold concrete), heat them when nighttime temps are below 40, and especially below 30.

But yours are probably in a compartment, and big batteries take a long time to get cold. They are very dense. I don't think one night with a low of 40 would get you unless you were very close to the line already. You probably took a SMALL hit from temperature, but not a big one.