how long does your battery last?

clg82 wrote:
Well I hope everyone had an enjoyable Labor Day weekend camping! I have a couple questions after camping this weekend in Mammoth with no hookups. Our 18ft TT only has one battery and I had it charging for three days prior to us leaving. While camping I noticed after our first day there when we were going to bed that the lights were very dim and the water pump was hardly working. Didn't think anything of it but the next morning the "Check" light was eluminated on the fridge. Checked the propane and that was still good so after reading the manual the fridge needs at least 9 volts to stay on....apparently the battery dropped below that.....after running our generator the next day all day I checked the batter with an ohm meter and it was only regestering 11 volts.....same thing happened our second night dim lights....heater wouldn't work when I tried to turn it on to warm up the trailer for a few minutes....and the fridge "check" light came on again......is there something wrong with the battery or is something draining the battery so quickly that the generator can't keep up?? or am i expecting too much out of just one battery?

I am guessing Mammoth in Yellowstone? But then again I have Yellowstone on the brain right now.. could be wrong.

We spent the weekend at Canyon, and even with 2 300AH 6V's I charged them everyday. I never got below about 65% on the batteries, but had to keep on them. The cold and wet weather is hard on batteries if you are trying to keep the camper warmish and dry.

It's hard to recharge in Yellowstone if you are out looking at the sights because of the 8-8 generator rule. In cold or wet weather I will put a couple hours of gas in my generator and start it right at 8am, that way if we don't get back until 7, or later, we have some charge to help with the night.

This time of year I am normally good for 3-4 days, or more.. but Yellowstone weather is different in early September.

I did the PD4655 swap for my 55A WFCO, it was fairly simple and made a huge difference on recharge.

Some good advice in the thread.