How much of battery weight transfers to tongue?

BarneyS wrote:

RBPerry wrote:
Wouldn't it depend on the length of the trailer? It seems to me the further back the trailer axles are the higher the percentage of weight being transferred to the tongue.

Yep, you are correct.
Barney

While that is technically correct, you will find in calculations that because the batteries are so close to the ball and so far from the axles by comparison, the difference is negligible.

Especially considering that a platform scale is considered exceptionally accurate if it is within 20lbs.

For all intents and purposes, you can consider 100 percent of the battery weight as tongue weight.

RBPerry wrote:
Wouldn't it depend on the length of the trailer? It seems to me the further back the trailer axles are the higher the percentage of weight being transferred to the tongue.

See my formula above. It's the distance from the center of the axles to the batteries and hitch that matters. Assuming the A-frame for the hitch is identical, yes a longer trailer will typically have more of the weight go onto the truck.

RBPerry wrote:
Wouldn't it depend on the length of the trailer? It seems to me the further back the trailer axles are the higher the percentage of weight being transferred to the tongue.

Yep, you are correct.
Barney

Wouldn't it depend on the length of the trailer? It seems to me the further back the trailer axles are the higher the percentage of weight being transferred to the tongue.

Well...done deal.

Thanks for the input.

Costco's GC2 batteries only had a one year warranty. Not the same as the automotive, so I didn't get anything back! I'm fairly confident this was my fault for leaving it plugged in at home for long periods and not keeping up with the fluid. It was low in several cells when I investigated last month.

For our use, I couldn't stomach spending another $165 on GC2's. So I went with a group 27 Marine/RV for $78.

In the last 2 years I bet there was only once that we benefited from the GC2's extra capacity. If it ever happens again, that's what we have the generator for.

I'm not one of the cool guys anymore (if I ever was?), but I'm probably 75 pounds lighter on the tongue and have cheaper/simpler design to keep up with.

If I find that my gamble was bad...I can always switch back and move the group27 over to the tractor. ;)

I can't remember the exact numbers but last year while measuring my tongue weight on a TW scale I set a Honda 2000i generator on top of the propane tanks to see how much it would effect TW. What I remember was it was only about half what Honda says the generator weighs. I expected almost 1 to 1 weight because it was so close to the ball. Most batteries are 2-4 ft back from the ball so the impact may not be as much as a person would expect.

wing_zealot wrote:
It's proportional, if the load is halfway between the axle and coupler it's 50/50, if it's 3/4 of the way it's 75/25. In this case it's probably close to 95/5. (for purposes of this discussion I did not want to muddy the waters and simply disregarded the normal 12 percent tongue load). Sufice it to say you will indeed save nearly 100 percent of the difference of the battery(s) weights in tongue weight.

You kept it very simple and to the point. I agree.

valhalla360, stated the calculation for this, if someone wanted a more precise tongue weight comparison.

Ignoring the weight distributing hitch, divide the distance from the batteries to the center of the axles by the distance from the hitch ball to the center of the axles and multiply the result by the reduction in the battery weight.

The WD hitch will mess with this a bit but not enough to worry about given the weights we are talking about.

We have good luck with our battery banks now that we went to the smart mode converter/charger... I originally had four 12VDC GP24 Interstate batteries on my tongue and lost one of them right away because of boiling out the fluids for having 13.6VDC on for long periods of time. Later changing to a good PD9260C Smart Mode converter/charger setup my remaining three 12VDC batteries are still working since the 2008 install... I still check the levels and they always looks good to go...

For us however we do the off-grid camping alot...

Roy Ken

Thanks all. I have been to a scale. Don't have the numbers in front of me. But I am all on top of payload. Just thought I could help it a tad.

But maybe I have used the reserve in the 6v setup more than I think I did.

I'll probably stay the same. Depends on what credit Costco gives on these. They have been taken care of, but are now reading "open cell". I've tried reconditioning with no luck.