Do I need a battery charger?

[mnmbeck]

We just a 2010 Rockwood Roo 233S. I added a second battery (both new), and plugged the camper in to charge for about 24 hours. The camper does have an inverter. After one night of camping (using almost no battery), the indicator inside the camper is reading 1/2 charge. I have a friend who said that the battery charger in the camper is not sufficient and you still need to use an external charger....but his camper is quite a bit older than mine. Does anybody know if this is true? Hoping I will have enough charge for this minimal usage weekend!

[wwest]

If you use 12 volt batteries in parallel then they should be mounted together, "exposed" to the same temperature gradients. Lead/acid battery's cell voltage will vary slightly with temperature.

Also, you will need to check on a fairly regular basis the fully charged "at rest" terminal voltage of each battery independently. A failing cell in one of the two batteries will result in draining the good battery fairly quickly.

I would always advise the use of two 6 volt batteries in series.

[Oasisbob]

We are guaranteed three full days watching a movie every night with our twin DEEP CYCLE group 27 batteries. Do you own a volt meter? This will answer your questions about battery status and charging. We also disconnected our Co2 detector as it is a small drain.

[JFHenne]

I have a Kiwi 23B and want to put a second battery on for dry camping. It has an IOTA DLS converter but I don't know where it is to findout its amp rating. Anybody know how to find it?

[mbopp]

If you have a WFCO converter they're notorious for NOT going into bulk (fast) charge mode.
I mounted a separate IOTA 55A deck-mount converter in my front pass-through. It's a 3' wire run to the batteries. Much better charging off a generator.

[time2roll]

mnmbeck wrote:
Update....We camped from Thursday night to Monday afternoon. The battery read between 1/3 and 1/2 when we left. Like I said, we use MINIMAL power when we are dry....we wear headlamps in the trailer (no lights), no fans, no radio, no furnace, etc. But, the basics are still running...fridge, alarms, etc. And, we do turn on the water once a day for dishes. It seems we didn't have a problem after all. But, I would love to know how to monitor the battery power. It looks like a multimeter measures AC power only. Is there a way to monitor, or sporadically check the battery power being used?

Start with the DC setting on that multimeter. 12.7 is full charge, 12.2 12.0 zone under light load is about 50% and time to recharge or head home. The oem indicator may or may not be very accurate.

Post the model of converter for best answers on charging.

The 12 Volt Side of Life

[gwh1bass]

I installed a pair of Sam's Club energizer GC2 6 volt golf cart batteries on my KZ 23cfk and have made it ten days dry camping, but this is being frugal.

Propane fridge/freezer, water pump, radio and minimal light usage, but 3 bunk end fans running while sleeping at night.

The factory battery meters installed are junk.

Having got into the electric golf cart money pit a couple of years ago, I have learned a bit about batteries.

My next mod will be to install a LED battery pack digital voltage meter. The state of charge of the battery/batteries is something you need to be aware of. Deep cycle batteries should not be taken below 50% charge, so for a 12 volt system, when the voltage reaches 12.10, it needs recharging. 12.73 volts is considered full charge for a 12 volt system at rest.

[Oasisbob]

We run twin group 27 deep cycles and can dry camp for about three nights. After that the TV will no longer power up through the inverter. We use an external battery charger for a much faster charge than the converter. All powered via our trusty HONDA EU 1000 Do whatever it takes for a quick charge while camping out of courtesy to your neighbors

[bikendan]

KMP44 wrote:

Windwalker55 wrote:


Using batteries for the fridge could drain your batteries pretty quickly from what I have heard. Have never tried it myself. I usually get my fridge cooled down with AC power before I leave home and then switch to gas when traveling.

?? His fridge is not a 3-way that can run on battery. Its a 2 way - gas or 110V AC. But when its on gas, the controls are running on the battery.

this is correct.
Windwalker, this goes for your Kodiak's fridge also, since it is a 2-way fridge.
only if you have a big inverter and a bank of batteries, could you run your current fridge on batteries.

[KMP44]

Windwalker55 wrote:


Using batteries for the fridge could drain your batteries pretty quickly from what I have heard. Have never tried it myself. I usually get my fridge cooled down with AC power before I leave home and then switch to gas when traveling.

?? His fridge is not a 3-way that can run on battery. Its a 2 way - gas or 110V AC. But when its on gas, the controls are running on the battery.

[PAThwacker]

My first dry camping trip is coming up on the July 18th weekend. I am borrowing the AGM 85AH 12vt from my jon boat setup, and and toting the yamaha 2kw inverter. I should be good to go. The 27AH on the tongue is a joke.

[Windwalker55]

mnmbeck wrote:
Yes...converter...whoops! We are dry camping and arrived around 11pm. Checked battery at 9am. The only thing we used battery for was a couple of led lights
..not an hour total...and about an hour of fridge use when I thought the gas wasnt working. How can I measure usage?

Using batteries for the fridge could drain your batteries pretty quickly from what I have heard. Have never tried it myself. I usually get my fridge cooled down with AC power before I leave home and then switch to gas when traveling.

Your batteries are draining awfully fast though and that would be an area of concern. Do you have an inverter and are you by any chance using anything that takes 110 volts. This could also drain your battery quickly.

[KMP44]

mnmbeck wrote:
Update....We camped from Thursday night to Monday afternoon. The battery read between 1/3 and 1/2 when we left. Like I said, we use MINIMAL power when we are dry....we wear headlamps in the trailer (no lights), no fans, no radio, no furnace, etc. But, the basics are still running...fridge, alarms, etc. And, we do turn on the water once a day for dishes. It seems we didn't have a problem after all. But, I would love to know how to monitor the battery power. It looks like a multimeter measures AC power only. Is there a way to monitor, or sporadically check the battery power being used?

http://www.energymatters.com.au/renewable-energy/batteries/battery-voltage-discharge.php

Here is a link to a table that estimates % charge based on your battery voltage. Every multimeter I've seen can be set to measure DC volts, so this is a quick easy way to estimate your battery charge. Measuring the usage is a little more involved. Some of the higher end charge controllers that you would use with solar panels, or higher end inverters have some functionality to measure % charge and/or power usage.

[Chuck_S]

A volt meter is only useful if the battery has been at rest for 12-24 hours. Otherwise all you get is a measurement of the surface voltage. The little LEDs on your panel provide a really rough reading of the battery voltage.

The only real way to monitor battery power is an amp-hour meter that measures the flow out of (and into) the battery. Expensive unless you're a battery hobbyist.

I've had a Trimetric 2020 in my campers for close to 14 years. I know exactly how much power is left.

But a single Group 80 battery remains good for about one night unless you charge it during the day. We have a pair of 6v batteries on the tongue for dry camping weekends.

-- Chuck

[mnmbeck]

Update....We camped from Thursday night to Monday afternoon. The battery read between 1/3 and 1/2 when we left. Like I said, we use MINIMAL power when we are dry....we wear headlamps in the trailer (no lights), no fans, no radio, no furnace, etc. But, the basics are still running...fridge, alarms, etc. And, we do turn on the water once a day for dishes. It seems we didn't have a problem after all. But, I would love to know how to monitor the battery power. It looks like a multimeter measures AC power only. Is there a way to monitor, or sporadically check the battery power being used?