I have a post regarding problems with my refrigerator and suspect I might have a power problem instead. This is my second post. I have a Sunset Trail 27 RB with one 12 volt battery. I see no specs in my owners manual. Should I get a marine battery or a deep cycle? The trailer is 9 years old and this could be its third battery. I have a local Walmart. Don't we all?

When you decide what type you want, check Sam's Club, too. They sell Duracell brands which are made by East Penn Mfrg. I've had a couple of them, and they've worked well.

Spade, As you have a towable, you will have a hard time keeping the battery up as the TV can pretty much not be counted on to charge it because the wire length is too long. As to what battery, you will have a hard time finding an inexpensive true deep cycle 12V jar. They are available, but they are rare. A marine battery is just a bad compromise. But if you don't boondock often or long, don't worry about it.So, is you want better answers:How often do you drycamp? How long do you drycamp? Do you have a generator of any capacity? Matt

Marine are generally not deep cycle. If you use the unit enough to need more reliable 12 volt for times when not connected to shore power, look hard at running 2 six volt Deep cycle batteries such as are used in Golf carts. More power available and better life expectancy. As mentioned above the Duracells from Sam's or Batteries Plus are good reasonably priced choices.

Spade Cooley wrote: Should I get a marine battery or a deep cycle? Regardless of what type you get, it will last longer if you keep it as near as possible to fully charged ALL the time.It depends on your budget and your willingness to keep an eye on it.I splurged and got AGM deep cycles. About twice the cost but I NEVER have to touch them. That's worth the cost difference......for me.P.S. You should not be guessing about the battery.Get an inexpensive digital voltmeter and test it.

Get yourself two golf cart batteries and call it a day. Don't even mess with 12 volt batteries, they are either not proper deep cycles or not cost effective compared to Sams Club golf cart batteries.

Possible weak battery, what to buy, 12 volt? | Good Sam Community

BFL13
Explorer II
Dec 24, 2019
pianotuna wrote:
BFL13,

Converters are a subset of inverter. In RVland where we dwell the meanings are specialized and generally inverter means 12 v dc to 120 v ac.

You have to figure out what the poster knows about stuff before you can figure out what he is talking about. Which is OK.

Seems in RVland you hear "inverter" and it turns out to be his generator. Or maybe his converter. Or maybe his inverter/charger.
philh
Explorer II
Dec 24, 2019
get a quality convertor charger.
pianotuna
Nomad III
Dec 24, 2019
BFL13,

Converters are a subset of inverter. In RVland where we dwell the meanings are specialized and generally inverter means 12 v dc to 120 v ac.
midnightsadie
Explorer II
Dec 24, 2019
p.s. keep your wallet full. theres another problem brewing ,but its all normal for rver,s always something needs done. have fun.
BFL13
Explorer II
Dec 24, 2019
No such thing as a 60 amp inverter. Must be a converter. That would have been the problem with no 12v even on shore power. Battery would have died from lack of charging from the duff converter you had.

Good news that it is all fixed. :)
Spade_Cooley
Explorer
Dec 24, 2019
I hired a rv repairman that knew what he was doing. The problem was an inverter that was failing, fan not cooling. I replaced that cheap original with a 60 amp unit and put in a new battery. Everything works and my wallet is considerably lighter. But I'm happy I hired him because my problems are solved. Everything is working great.
ksg5000
Explorer
Dec 23, 2019
Have your battery checked (any auto parts/tire dealer) it's free. Been RVing for decades and never had a fridge issue associated with low battery - usually other things like steps etc act up b4 the fridge.
wa8yxm
Explorer III
Dec 23, 2019
Spade Cooley wrote:
I have a post regarding problems with my refrigerator and suspect I might have a power problem instead. This is my second post. I have a Sunset Trail 27 RB with one 12 volt battery. I see no specs in my owners manual. Should I get a marine battery or a deep cycle? The trailer is 9 years old and this could be its third battery.

I have a local Walmart. Don't we all?

Ok There are basically 3 or 4 types of batteries.
Regular Starting batteries have both Cranking amps and COLD cranking amps. What's the difference? 32 degrees Craning is 32 (and above) and CCA is at Zero (F) in both cases.

If it's not rated for COLD (Zero F) then it is a MARINE battery (Water freezes don't you know)

The above batteries should be kept 80-85 percent full MINIMUM and recharged quickly.

MARINE/deep cycle (note the case as I typed it) is really a MARINE but with lip service to deep cycle.. Change the Minimum SOC to say 75.

DEEP CYCLE (Golf Car batteries are DEEP CYCLE) can go down to 50% SOC and may well recover from an "OH ****! (Black out by poster) level discharge. Now the problem.. GC batteries come in basically 2 flavors GC-2 and GC-12 the 12 is a 12 volt but may not fit on your battery tray / box The GC-2's (takes 2 of 'em in series to make `12 volts) likewise may be a fit issue.

But if you can fit either of those (2 GC-2 or one GC-12) My recommendation is GO FOR IT.

But before you do that.. Get a good digital voltmeter and see how much voltage you got. Even 15 bucks at horrible (er, Harbor) Freight is a decent meter usually Most of them I've had calibrated well .
Lwiddis
Explorer II
Dec 23, 2019
x2 on twodownzero's comment. How do you recharge?
time2roll
Nomad
Dec 23, 2019
Spade Cooley wrote:
I don't run a generator or boondock so the Marine battery should be sufficient.
Yes, I agree. WM or Costco is fine.

Do check your converter is putting about 13.6 volts on the existing battery before you kill the new battery with a charging issue.