Battery recomendations.....

[Wicky]

Ordered a new Sunset Trail ST32RL. What do you recommend for batteries?
Two 6 Volt batteries? One 12 Volt battery? Two 12 volts?
Interstate deep cycle? I had one in my sailboat and never had an issue...
Suggestions?

[time2roll]

When adding capacity it is also important to review the charging system so you get the most out of the upgrade.

[Eyetattoo]

I am in the process of switching over to two 6 volt trojan batteries. Have had two 12 volt batteries in the past but seeing as we camp in the dunes a lot they didnt hold up as well with the heavy use.

[Boskie]

Have 2-12v batteries now..will change to 2-6v Trojans next spring!!

[Passin_Thru]

For our 31 ft Arctic Fox, 1 12 V is adequate to run the heat on a cold night. We have a generator and can use it when it's hot but prefer campgrounds.

[CavemanCharlie]

sclark wrote:
Depends on what your needs are. If you dry camp then buy the batteries that offer the greatest amount of amp hours available. (6 or 12 volt) If you camp with hookups then no need to go expensive with batteries. We choose a pair of 6 volt golf cart batteries (Trojan) as we dry camp a lot. Good luck with your new rig!

X2

[cmack]

I use two 6 volt golf cart batteries. While two quality deep cycle 12 volt batteries will get you almost the same amp-hours the golf cart batteries can be run down closer to dead and will generally last longer from the repetitive discharge/charge cycles due to the thicker plates.

[Wishin]

We are very conservative with battery use but often camp up to a week with no power. We use 2 6V golf cart batteries I bought at Sam's club. Bought them at the beginning of the 2009 camping season and they still seem to work just as good as new. I did install a 4 stage converter/charger in the trailer at the same time to make sure I had them fully charged and wasn't over charging them. What works for you will depend a LOT on how you use them and how often you are without power and how often you are willing to charge with a generator (if you have one).

[wmoses]

What "Keystone" came with 2 x 12V batteries? First I have heard of that and in this day and age when they are all cutting corners this is surprising .... but good.

[janechucknicode]

Gee, my Keystone came with 2 -12v RV batteries. Yours you get to choose?
But when I really wanted a good set, Trogan 6v dual T-105 . Worked very well.

[beemerphile1]

I have no idea what kind of camping you intend to do and as such cannot make any recommendation. A search on the forum will reveal tens of thousands of posts including the word battery. It is one of the most discussed topics.

[the_bear_II]

On our 23ft TT we had two deep cycle RV/Marine batteries. This was before laptops, iPhone, iPads, Sat TV...etc so the two batteries would aloow us to camp for 3 days without the need for charging. As we added electronics and moved to a 38ft 5th wheel we found the need for 4 RV/Marine batteries plus a generator to charge them with daily.

I'm cheap so I haven't gone the 6Volt AGM battery route. Most RVers agree these are the best batteries for heavy use.

We get by with the 4 batteries, a 2000 watt inverter and a 2000watt Honda generator. Plus a second 2000watt honda in parallel when we need to use the air conditioner.

Using 110v TV and Sat box plus a laptop and charging iPhones and microwave for warming leftovers (up to 5 minutes). The Lights, water pump and refrig (on Propane) using 12 volts we can go for two days with some conservation (turn off lights and electronics when not needed) before needing to charge the batteries. But with normal use we need to charge daily for about 4 hours.

Hope this helps

[skipnchar]

It really depends on how And where you camp. If you stay at places with electricity most of the time a single interstate would work fine. If you get off the grid as I prefer then you need a lot better battery. I use two Trojan t105 six volt and even with heavy use my last set were still strong after eight years when they were stolen. Very high quality battery
Good luck / skip

[sclark]

Depends on what your needs are. If you dry camp then buy the batteries that offer the greatest amount of amp hours available. (6 or 12 volt) If you camp with hookups then no need to go expensive with batteries. We choose a pair of 6 volt golf cart batteries (Trojan) as we dry camp a lot. Good luck with your new rig!