Hey everyone, if you've read some of my other questions then you know that I'm still learning about this whole electricity / power thing :). Please forgive the newb-ness of my questions.We have one 12v marine deep cycle battery in our 5th wheel and we just realized it's pretty much shot. We boondocked for the first time the other night and the battery was dead by the next morning, even though we only used it to run lights for a few minutes and to switch on the water pump when we needed it. We didn't bring out the slide or anything like that.Anyway, we're about to need to boondock again for 2 nights and I need a new battery ASAP! I'd like to keep the cost under $100 since I plan to upgrade to 6v golf cart batteries soon. I also have to buy something locally at Costco, Sears, Walmart, etc, since I don't have time to order one.So I have two questions for you guys:First, I'd like to get a battery charger to top off the new battery if it gets low. I don't need anything fancy. Would something like this work? http://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-SC-1200A-CA-SpeedCharge-Maintainer/dp/B000BQSIWK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1444930758&sr=8-2&keywords=battery+chargerSecond, we do most of our camping with hookups, but we have an upcoming trip where we'll need to use it for 3-4 nights without a recharge. Most of our stuff runs off propane so we only need it to: A) run a couple of lights for 1-2 hours (total), B) run the water pump for 2 hours (total), C) be able to cycle our single super slide (14 feet) once per day. I'd like to keep the cost under $100. Do you guys think this one would work - http://www.walmart.com/ip/EverStart-Maxx-Group-Size-24-Marine-Battery/20531538? According to this thread it's listed at 92AH at 1 amp / hour, and people on answers.walmart.com say the RC as 85.Thanks as always for the advice.

jayspi wrote:We have one 12v marine deep cycle battery in our 5th wheel and we just realized it's pretty much shot. We boondocked for the first time the other night and the battery was dead by the next morning, even though we only used it to run lights for a few minutes and to switch on the water pump when we needed it.Hmmm, that seems excessive. Are you using incandescent lights? If you turn every battery operated device off, how much current is drawn from the battery? (Hint: It should be zero.)

cmb wrote:jayspi wrote:We have one 12v marine deep cycle battery in our 5th wheel and we just realized it's pretty much shot. We boondocked for the first time the other night and the battery was dead by the next morning, even though we only used it to run lights for a few minutes and to switch on the water pump when we needed it.Hmmm, that seems excessive. Are you using incandescent lights? If you turn every battery operated device off, how much current is drawn from the battery? (Hint: It should be zero.)I know embarrassingly little about all of this, but I'm pretty sure they're incandescent lights. They're the ones that came with the RV and they do run very hot.Also not sure how much current is drawn from the battery, but we don't run anything that should draw current except the lights and water pump. I also think the fridge uses a little when it fires the propane, but that should be minimal.That said, we've known for a while that the battery is shot, I just didn't realize how bad it was until we boondocked for the first time. The first time we used it to bring out the slide it dropped to 2/3 power immediately. Also, a circuit breaker tripped while we were gone the other day and when we got back the battery was dead. We were just gone a few hours, and we only had a couple of lights on. Point is, I don't think something is draining it, I think it's just shot. The previous owner did 0 maintenance to this RV.

Don't waste your money on that dinky little 12 amp charger, your RV converter is probably substantially larger.Why waste $100 on a 12v battery that you intend to replace?Take the charger money, the 12v battery money, and go to Sam's Club and buy the two GC2 that you really want.

Your main draws are not the water pump or lights or slide, but most likely the control circuitry for the fridge and the power needed for the propane and CO detectors and so forth. If you're camping somewhere cold and using the furnace, that is a quite significant electric power consumer.That battery charger should work, but your built-in converter would probably be at least as effective (and probably more so).It's impossible to give much accurate advice without a better handle on what your actual electrical use is, including the parasitic sorts of drains. That said, I might venture to guestimate that the battery you link to would be good for about a day of camping if fully charged without getting too deeply discharged, but almost certainly not a few days. Even a pair of golf cart batteries would probably be pretty tight for 3-4 days with no charging. A solar setup, even a rather modest one, would be a big help here. ("Rather modest" as in maybe a couple hundred watts, not as in 10-20 watts!)

Keep in mind that those incandescent automotive bulbs will draw 1AMP EACH from your battery...Those ceiling light fixtures have two of those bulbs in them... You can have as much 12AMPS or more being drawn rather quick with just the lights being on...Thats like leaving your headlights on for several hours in your truck...It takes some planning to run off your batteries and the first thing everyone does is get some LED lights running just for camping off the power grid... A LED light is a 80% current savings for each 12VDC Incandescent automotive bulb.Our battery bank is 255AHs capacity and we can run just about everything we want to run except the air conditioner and the microwave unit. We run a bunch of 120VAC low wattage items from a 600WATT PSW Inverter and the other items are direct connected to the 12VDC batteries.Then our game plan is only run the battery down to its 50% charge state then charge it back up the next morning when allowed to run our portable generator to the 90% charge state so we can do this all over again the next day night run off the batteries. We have the 2KW Honda generator and connect the trailer shore power cable directly to the generator which will run the on-board converter/charger using smart mode charging to recharge our battery bank back up to their 90% charge state in as little as three hours of generator run time.We never had much luck just showing up at the camp site and making it through the night without planning...We also never had good luck unless our battery bank was charged up to their 90% charge state before running them all night. Usually got dark around 10PM each night.Two of those 6VDC golf cart batteries will give you between 200 and 225AHs capacity depending on which ones you purchase. The SAMs CLUB batteries will cost around $90 each plus a couple of dead batteries... Ask them first if they will take two 12VDC dead batteries - bet they will... We tried all of these games in our back yard until we got what we wanted to before going camping off the power grid...Roy ken

Question about battery charger and RV battery for a 5er

beemerphile1
Explorer
Oct 19, 2015
jayspi wrote:
...I'm going to go down to Camping World tonight and pick up a cheap Champion portable generator....

Nothing is cheap at Camping World.

There is a joke in the BMW motorcycle community that the only thing cheap on a BMW is the rider. Sometimes the same is true with RVers. :B
wa8yxm
Explorer III
Oct 16, 2015
Most RV's have a device called a converter.. This doubles as a battery charger. Some of them like the old Magnetek 6300 really need upgrading, Some like the Parallex 7300 can stand upgrading (it is i single stage) the 7300T is better.

A Progressive Dynamics with wizard.. IS BEST. (they have a model specifically designed for upgrade use).

Though a portable smart charger is good too. but it might not be better than the converter (Depends on the converter)

I would suggest NOW is the time to go with a pair of GC-2. I mean why invest in a battery you plan to toss in a year when you can go with a good set of GC-2s for around 150-175 now.
WyoTraveler
Explorer
Oct 15, 2015
Welcome to the real world of RV and mucho $$$$$$. I stay in RV parks also but coming and going a couple of nights along the highways and biways. LEDs are important. If you expect to use the furnace and everything else you need 12 volt power. Open the wallet and buy four 6 volt golf cart batteries. You are looking at $150 each. Problem solved and empty wallet. RVing isn't as cheap as many think. Even the most smallest TT uses 2 batteries. These batteries should only be drawn down 50% to extend battery life. It is hard to believe any 5ver would come with one battery. JMHO.
jayspi
Explorer
Oct 15, 2015
cmb wrote:
jayspi wrote:
Also, a circuit breaker tripped while we were gone the other day...

Oops. Red flag!

Fortunately it had to do with the RV park we were in. It was 105+ degrees outside and everyone was running their a/c. It would trip a couple of times a day in the morning and evening, probably when a neighbor was cooking. Other than that we haven't had problems unless we run the a/c and several appliances at the same time.
jayspi
Explorer
Oct 15, 2015
Thanks for the tips, everyone. They're all helpful and I made a lot of notes. Sounds like I have a lot of research left to do!

In the interest of space I won't quote them all individually, but to summarize:

Unfortunately I have to find a solution by tomorrow and I also have my day job, so I don't have enough time to do any real research or shopping, or even to mount 6v batteries if I bought them.

I just checked with my brother-in-law and he can get us free batteries when we're back at home base next month. I'm not sure if he can get 6v GC2s, but we're selling this rig in a few months anyway. Right now I'm more interested in spending a little money on an adequate solution than spending a lot for the "right" one. We just won't recoup any more investments we put into our rig. I'd rather save money so I can invest it in the next one.

I checked the battery connections and they looked pretty corroded so I'll clean them off, as well as looking into any other issues in the system. I have no doubt that the battery is shot, though. It's been completely drained too many times for it not to be.

With all that said, I'm going to go down to Camping World tonight and pick up a cheap Champion portable generator. The one I want is noisy (68db at 23 feet) but it's also $300 instead of $2k+. It should meet our immediate needs. We can run it for an hour or two at night and in the morning to take the load off the battery.

Thanks again to everyone for the help. You guys are great!
westend
Explorer
Oct 15, 2015
beemerphile1 wrote:
Don't waste your money on that dinky little 12 amp charger, your RV converter is probably substantially larger.

Why waste $100 on a 12v battery that you intend to replace?

Take the charger money, the 12v battery money, and go to Sam's Club and buy the two GC2 that you really want.
This is absolutely the best advice you're going to get. Two (2) new 6V's and the small jumper cable to connect them will be under $200. You won't have to be a miser with your power and the 6V's are more durable than any $100 battery you might get.

If you want to get 5 times more efficient with lighting, buy some LED's off Ebay. You should be able to order 10 replacements for less than $20.

Good luck with your 12 V system.
icanon
Explorer
Oct 15, 2015
Just a thought, as I too don't know much about electrical stuff, when you arrive at your boondocking site disconnect the TT battery temporary with the TV still plugged to the TT and open your slide-outs, awning this would save some battery amps. Once this have been completed disconnect the TV and reconnect the TT battery. Maybe others can charm in and comment.
Another suggestion I have a rechargeable led lanterns, I fully recharge them before I go and they last anywhere between 10 - 20 hrs and are fully portable so you can bring them outside.
MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
Oct 15, 2015
WHY RVs SELL....

"Hey! We've thrown enough money at this piece of junk! Time to sell it!"
time2roll
Nomad
Oct 15, 2015
Post the model number of your converter for best answers.
cmb
Explorer
Oct 15, 2015
jayspi wrote:
The first time we used it to bring out the slide it dropped to 2/3 power immediately.

That could also indicate loose or dirty connections.
Also, a circuit breaker tripped while we were gone the other day...

Oops. Red flag!
...and when we got back the battery was dead. We were just gone a few hours, and we only had a couple of lights on. Point is, I don't think something is draining it, I think it's just shot. The previous owner did 0 maintenance to this RV.

Be absolutely sure that you have clean, tight connections throughout the electrical system. Verify that your charging circuit is operating correctly. A new battery isn't going to fix shortcomings elsewhere in the system.