6 volt vs 12 volt batteries for boondocking

[placergold]

Hi all, While waiting for our new 28' Stealth toy hauler we're trying to figure out the best batteries to get for when we're back in the hills camped off the grid.

We ordered the optional 200 watt solar panel & regulator with Power Boost. And a 1,500 watt Go Power Inverter.

I've been told the golf cart type 6 volt batteries will last much longer than the 12 volt deep cycle batteries available. Mainly because of the constant discharge/charge cycle that occurs.

But, I really have no experience in this area, so any and all input from those familiar with this subject would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you.

[jplante4]

With a little planning, 2-6 volt wet cell batteries, 200 watts or solar and a genny will work well for 3-4 days of dry camping, which is about the limit of your tankage. Off grid, sustainability, hippy style Burning Man camping, you'll want way more solar.

The trick is to not use the high current AC appliances - microwave/convection oven, Keurig coffee pots etc. Think back to your tent camping days. Pull all that stuff out of the basement and use it.

[time2roll]

GC2 is the lowest cost deep cycle battery.

[wa8yxm]

What is so special about six volt batteries might be a better question.

SO, I will try to present the answer and why I recommend them.

Six Volt (GC-2) style batteries are designed for Golf Car (hence the GC designation) use, which is a long slow (Compared to total capacity) discharge to a level as low as 50 percent state of charge.

They are also the single. MOST PRODUCED Lead acid battery in the US and likely the world as golf courses order 'em by, depending on the course, the pallet load or the truck load.. Now that's a lot of batteries Each golf car takes at least six.

RV use is the same, a long slow discharge (Compared to total capacity)


NOw starting batteries on the other hand are designed to dump current at 2 or 3 or more times their C/20 capacity rate (I will explain) But only for 30 seconds, THey need to be kept fairly full, like 80% or more state of charge This means there is not a lot of power to use.

MARINE/deep cycle can go a bit lower, say 75% but that's still only half the DEEP CYCLE GC-2

Finally capacities

C/20 means the 20 hour capacity if you discharge the battery so it hits DEAD exactly 20 hours from start, HOW many amps did you use... Times 20
Understand not all companies rate their batteries that way Wal*Mart for example uses the 1 amp rate.. This gives their batteries a much LARGER number when in fact.. they are not any better than others.

Capacities
Group 24 is about 75 AH at the C-20 rate
Groups 27 and 29 are just below and above 100
Group 31 is about 120-130
"
But these are MARINE/deep cycle so you can use 25%

Now. the CG-2 is 210-230 and you can use half of that.

I mentioned earlier the it is the single most popular lead acid battery.
Well that means the production lines do not shut down and re-tool as often so the unit cost is far smaller per unit due to the cost of re-tooling frequently to make different sizes.

Now you have the reason I LIke GC-2 Most BANG for your BUCK.

[camperguy99]

Pop the case off your WFCO9855 and find the adjustment pot R2. Tweek it up to something like 14 volts and your good to go. It will do the 55 amps for a discharged battery but have difficulty getting that last 10%./

[corvettekent]

With a 1500 watt inverter you should think about using four 6 volt batteries and another 200 watts of solar.

[Lwiddis]

200 solar watts may be a bit light depending on your battery purchase. Minimum is one solar watt per battery AH.

[ktmrfs]

Answer:

depends on what you intend to do.

Yes, good GC batteries will take over 500 discharge cycles down to 25 percent state of charge (75 percent discharged).
And they will last a decade if taken care of and charged properly.

BUT, they also have at least one big disadvantage. They do not take kindly to high discharge rates. to get the long life and deep discharge they have thick plates, which means higher internal resistance than 12V batteries.

Try to run a 1000W inverter on a pair of GC and at around 80 percent SOC, the inverter will say.... opps low battery. 12V no problem. partly due to the much lower internal resistance and partly because you likely have a pair of 12V in parallel so each is only providing half the load.

We boondock a lot, I have 4GC in a 7 year old trailer, discharge them to between 25 and 40 percent SOC before recharge and the SG and everything says they have many years to go. but I also need 4 to run my 1000W inverter to power the microwave.

So..... pick your poison. If you seldom have a big draw, keep it down around 30A or less, and dry camp a lot, GC wins. But get a good charger and keep them fully charged after a return trip and keep them watered.

Hint, likely your trailer will come with a WFCO converter. IMHO it is NOT repeat NOT a good converter for dry camping. First it is almost impossible to get more than about 10-15A charge current out of them no matter what they say about it being a 50A charger, Second, it almost never goes above about 13.6V so it NEVER will get a battery fully charged.

replace it with a Progressive dynamics or Iota drop in replacement or a big PD, Iota or boondocker 80 or 100A deck mount converter which will give you lots of current for charging and will get the batteries close enough to fully charged.

If you don't dry camp a lot, like to run big inverter loads etc. a bank of 12V may do you better.

Footnote; On my small trailer I have a pair of GC batteries, similar situation on many many deep discharges, approaching 400 or so, and now after 14 years they finally got to the point this spring needing to be replaced.

In both cases the batteries are Trojan T125's.

[Sandia_Man]

Congrats on your new Stealth TH, when we first got our new TH a decade ago we had the dealer install a second battery, both of which were 12 volt Interstates. They seemed to perform OK, we have an onboard generator and could use our Iota IQ4 smart converter to quickly replenish consumed amphours on our often depleted battery bank as needed.

After a couple of seasons of utilizing the dealer installed battery bank, I saw some Interstate GC2 6 volt batteries at our local Samsclub for $60 each, picked up a pair and installed them the next day. Wow, the difference is certainly noticeable, and they lasted 7 seasons. They were still functioning when we traded them in for a new set of 6 volt golf cart batteries.

Our preferred method of RVing is dry camping and boondocking, we do just fine with a pair of 6 volt GC2 batteries utilizing solar for most of our recharging needs. We installed a large, whole house inverter along with a smaller, 300 watt inverter in our entertainment center that easily runs our 40" hdtv, HD satellite, bluray gaming systems, and Bose.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Cutting to the chase...
The 3 cell battery offers more cycles and can take more abuse.

[placergold]

Thank you both for the posts! Will be gone until the p.m. reply then.
Thanks!

[stickdog]

I like the weight but the price? 8-10 life, nice they would not be part of a trade.

[2oldman]

A bit of light reading for your Wednesday afternoon:

12v vs 6v.. which charge faster? 2014
12v or 6 Dec 2013
2- 12v or 6v June 2013
12v vs 6v batteries 2013
12v vs 6v batteries 2006
More 12v vs 6 2006
12v vs 6v 2010
Why 2 6? 2006

[SidecarFlip]

If you have deep pockets, get a pair of Battle Born Lithium-Iron-Oxide batteries. They make any flooded cell or AGM look like a rock.