How Do I Charge, and Maintain 2 New 6 Volt Batteries???

[falconman515]

I just purchased 2 new 6 volt Premium 232ah Sams Club Energizer batteries that I will be installing in my rig this weekend.

Now I want to know more about them and how to maintain them.

Can I run them dry (I'm sure I will after night 2 or so running the heater)

When and how should I charge them? (can I use my Shumacker charger? Do I just put the + on one battery then the - on the other battery to charge or is there another wy of charging 6 volt batteries by them selves?)

i have an older on board Power Source 40 Amp PC40 charger ... is it better to not sure the external shumacker battery charger and just plug in a 110 to the outside and let the on-board charger do it? Concerned about how that charger will work (and I don;t have the money yet to replace it with the Progressive Dynamics 60 amp charger I want to buy)

Anything I should know and do to maintain them for the most life possible?

Just trying to get all info I can so I make sure I charge, take care, and maintain these new batteries correctly (6V are new to me).

Thanks so much for the help and inof guys! 🙂

Chris

[HiTech]

I bet they will work great. After a few runs down to 50% and then good recharges, their capacity will actually increase. And you have the genset so I think you are in good shape.

The truck recharge is a great option too, but it will probably burn more gas than the genset.

If he has a portable charger he can charge his 24 while you are charging your batteries too.

Do you have any way to measure amps coming out of your converter, or total amps into the battery?

Jim

[falconman515]

Okay ... I will see how this goes!

Hopes it a good 5 days and not a bad 5 days.

Will report back Tuesday. 🙂

[HiTech]

You can use both. Try plugging them both in working on a battery needing some charge and see how they do.

Jim

[falconman515]

Father in law has a camper trailer and uses a single old group 24 and has no charger in rig or anything so I am down to using what I have.

Running off shore power to the generator and letting my onboard 40 amp old charger charge.
Or
Using my portable 10 amp Schumacker.
Or
Can I use both from the generator?
Or running my 25' 4gauge jumpers form the truck to the batts.

I don;t have any other options then those right now for this trip we're headed out on tomorrow,

What is my best bet here for the most Amps in the less time? Can I use the generator with both the portable and also plug in the shore for double duty?

Thanks so much, just getting my ducks in a row before I leave in the morning.

[BFL13]

You might have a way this trip if your father- in- law's rig has a better converter than yours has. You can yank out your batts and take them over to his rig and put them on the ground close enough, and hook them in parallel with his batts using your jumper cables, while he plugs into the Honda.

If you need 12v in your rig meantime, jumper to your truck or use 7-pin.

One problem with gen charging and a charger is-- How do you know when it is ok to shut off the generator? A good rule that forum member smk uses, is watch till battery voltage reaches 14.4v and then let things run for another hour, then shut down.

If you look at the graphs I posted earlier, you can see how that would work out fairly well.

[mena661]

When you get the opportunity, I suggest buying the BD1093 portable charger.



It is a 40 amp charger and does equalizations too. I have one and BFL has an older version. Works great and will be a LOT quicker than that 10 amp you have. Some may suggest upgrading your converter but you might have to upgrade your wiring too in order to get the best use from it.

[BFL13]

OP, your 10amp charger at 14+ is your best option. You also have the Honda's 8amp to 16v if you have the cable set for it, but since you can't use that and run anything else from the Honda at the same time and that will take a long time too, suggest forget that. When the Honda is running take advantage of it being on to run things instead of waiting till you have to do the same things on battery where possible.
---------------
If you have an extra pair of batteries, you get Way More AH value if you put them in parallel with the other pair while camping and they are drawing down. Peukert rules! Doesn't matter if they are different batteries and all that--it is just for a few days.

Instead of using each pair one at a time like that, park the truck close to the trailer and use jumper cables to parallel the two sets of batteries. Or better still if you are using the truck a lot, just put the extra pair on the ground by the tongue.

When recharging by generator if available, leave them in parallel and both pairs will do the 50-90 or 50-80 whatever you do. Once back home of course you will recharge each pair separately to 100% and then go to Float.

[falconman515]

Well the trailer I bought did not have any batteries so I bought the 2 new 6volters new and paid the core.

So it sounds like running that portable with only the 10 amps option is not much an option ... my on-board charger is a 40 amp but it is hooked up right now and only shows 13.22v on my cigarette light meter so I'm not sure if it's really putting out the full 40 amps to charge my batteries.

Is running the 25' jumpers form the truck the best option and letting the truck run for half an hour or so?

What out out my options will give me the best charge in the short amount time.?

[smooth1]

Is the 13.2 reading the float charge since your batteries were already charged? You will probably see 14.x volts when you recharge after a night or two.

[bartlettj]

I do a lot of 2-3 day dry camping trips. I think the best bang for the buck is to keep the old batteries that you took out (assuming they were still good) and to use them as reserve. This is what I do- I upgraded to two 2GC batteries but kept my old pair of GP24's and boxes. If I'm taking a trip that I need an extra day's use out of, I charge the GP24's at home and stick them in the back of my tow vehicle in the boxes and strap them down so they don't spill. Then when the main bank of 6V batteries gets too depleted for my tastes I disconnect them, pull them off the tongue, and replace them with one or both of the GP24's, remembering to wire them in parallel instead of series. Whamo, full batteries.

All this cost me was not getting the core charge back from the GP24's. I might wire in an extra battery box under the hood of my TV so I can charge the GP24's while driving, but so far I haven't needed this. I don't bother to take them with me when I'm going someplace that has hookup or just for 2 nights. At home, I just store them in a shed with a battery tender on them and check the water once in a while.

An extra set of batteries weighs about as much as a generator but it's much cheaper to replace if it gets lost or stolen. When the GP24's wear out I'll get another pair of 2GC's and put them in the rotation.

[BFL13]

You are going to be running that Honda for hours and hours since you don't have a charger with many amps. For this trip, just make sure you have gas for the Honda! Next trip, or when it works for you, you can get a better charging set up.

For example here is a graph of the times it takes to charge 220AH worth of batteries from 50% to 90% using different amounts of amp size smart charger

[falconman515]

mena661 wrote:
I'd bring the portable anyways but 10 amps isn't much really. Your alternator might do a better job at charging.

It has a 50 amp option but it says that's for engine starting (I didn't think that could be used for battery charging.

Seems like that portable charger at 10 amps will be a better option then the on-board charger that is only doing 13.2 amps right now.

Should I still run both though like stated above?

I'm looking to keep my charging down to about 1-2 hours if possible.

[mena661]

I'd bring the portable anyways but 10 amps isn't much really. Your alternator might do a better job at charging.

[falconman515]

So your saying to hook up both my shore power to use the on-board charger and also hook up my portable automatic Schumacker charger at eh same time for max charging power?

Or should I just run the portable since it has a 10amp fast charge mode and blows out 14+ volts when charging (I need to limit the Honda generator time as much as possible).

Plus I also have the 25' 4gauge jumper wires that can be used as well in a pinch.