12 Volt Battery Replacement

[Kalait]

Noticed yesterday after my Travel Trailer battery would not charge on the trickle charger for more than 3 days, the battery is over 10 years old. How often should the battery be changed, I am thinking of running 3 batteries in series. Any further thoughts.

[hddecker]

Tequila wrote:
Replace them with 2 - 6 volt Golf Cart in series. Much better performance. 10 years is a long time for a battery to last even if you are anal about topping them up. 5-7 years is even good service. Time to change.

You got more than your moneys worth out of those batteries.

X2 on 2-6Vs. You get nearly double the power over 2-12Vs.

I replaced 2 Group 27 with 2 - 6V and will never go back to 12V.

[krobbe]

If you camp mostly with electric hookups, then a single 12V deep cycle Marine/RV battery is all you need. If you frequent state/national parks without power or boondock, then paralleling two 12V batteries(still 12V) will almost double your runtimes without a genny. You can series two 6V golf cart batteries to get the needed 12V or parallel two pairs of 6V in series(four 6V batteries wired together to give 12V). The 6V golf cart batteries are more durable when it comes to deep discharges and charges.
My rig has two 12V batteries in parallel.
Here are some battery care facts:
Check the water levels frequently.
Use only distilled water when adding water. Minerals will shorten the life of it.
Letting the battery voltage drop below 12.00Vdc(50% charge state) will shorten the life of the battery.
Here is a 12v battery voltage State of Charge chart:
12.6+ = 100%
12.5 = 90%
12.42 = 80%
12.32 = 70%
12.20 = 60%
12.06 = 50%
11.9 = 40%
11.75 = 30%
11.58 = 20%
11.31 = 10%
10.5 = 0%

[sh410]

Depends on how many volts she wants. 🙂

[old_guy]

wife's do not as a rule care or even understand any thing that pertains to batteries. just put two 6's on and wire it correctly and don't even ask or tell her.

[2oldman]

sh410 wrote:
It happens so frequently. :W

He he

[sh410]

2oldman wrote:

4aSong wrote:
Question, If I have 2 6v installed and one goes bad I would believe I now have only 6v and everything in the TT uses 12v, seems like I would be UTCWAP is this correct or am I missing something.

Yep, you're screwed.

It happens so frequently. :W

[hmknightnc]

2oldman wrote:

4aSong wrote:
Question, If I have 2 6v installed and one goes bad I would believe I now have only 6v and everything in the TT uses 12v, seems like I would be UTCWAP is this correct or am I missing something.

Yep, you're screwed.

Yep but you're a lot less likely to have that one big durable 12volt battery (2 6v in series) go bad than a single marine deep cycle 12v battery go bad.

[2oldman]

4aSong wrote:
Question, If I have 2 6v installed and one goes bad I would believe I now have only 6v and everything in the TT uses 12v, seems like I would be UTCWAP is this correct or am I missing something.

Yep, you're screwed.

[4aSong]

Question, If I have 2 6v installed and one goes bad I would believe I now have only 6v and everything in the TT uses 12v, seems like I would be UTCWAP is this correct or am I missing something.

[Tequila]

2 6v are the same as 1 12volt. the golf cart batteries are more durable and able to handle repeated discharges better than a standard 12 v deep cycle. You will find they are available as more height rather than width, so you can put much higher capacity ones in the same space you would fit 2 12volt in parallel, if height clearance is not an issue..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGNMenyNqwU

[2oldman]

Kalait wrote:
Thanks 2Oldman, printed the articles out for future reference.

Present reference would be good too.

[sh410]

Kalait wrote:

sh410 wrote:
6V in series will give you 12 volts. 6V parallel gives you 6 volts.

12V in series will give you 24V.

Thanks, thought I had that backwards, however, the wife is not going to allow me to put 2 6v batteries on to get only 12v 😞

:h

Your TT is designed for 12V (lights, control boards for refrig, water heater & furnace, fans etc. I'm not sure what you mean by ONLY 12V

[Kalait]

sh410 wrote:
6V in series will give you 12 volts. 6V parallel gives you 6 volts.

12V in series will give you 24V.

Thanks, thought I had that backwards, however, the wife is not going to allow me to put 2 6v batteries on to get only 12v 😞

[sh410]

6V in series will give you 12 volts. 6V parallel gives you 6 volts.

12V in series will give you 24V.