What's your battery setup on your travel trailer?

[OregonMan]

Hey guys, I'm wondering what your battery setup is on your travel trailer. I have a 2018 Wolf Pup 16BHS travel trailer and am still using the original battery which I believe is a 12 volt deep cycle. However I've never been impressed with the battery... on a full charge it lasts maybe a day with moderate use. Do any of you have a multi-battery setup where you have 2 or 3 batteries for longer use? Are there bigger batteries? Could you install a Tesla power wall on your trailer? 😉

Basically I'm looking for solutions to boondock for longer. I've got solar and a power generator but a better battery setup would be great. Thanks for any tips!

[JHinman]

I just switched to lithium ion. I have one 100 amp-hour battery and a Victron monitor. I can charge it with a small a Honda generator, loading the battery at 25 amps until it gets close to capacity.

I ran the generator once yesterday, just to see how it worked, but for a three-day trip I did not really need to. (We are really cheapskates when it comes to power!)

The new battery was expensive, but I think it will be easier to use than lead-acid batteries.

[CavemanCharlie]

I have 2- 6 volt deep cycle batteries. I use the 105's . I would call them T-105's but the the T stands for Trojan and I use Duracell batteries I got at Batteries Plus to save money. I only dry camp a few times a years for 3 days at a time; at the most; and this has worked for me for quite a few years. I have no problem making it for 3 days. In the summer running LED lights, the fridge set to propane, a couple of fans, and the TV for a few hours a day I never even get close to running my batteries down. If, in spring and fall, I need to run the furnace I have to be frugal and only run it at night setting it for 60 degrees. I use the oven to bake something before going to bed to preheat the TT.

May not work for everyone but, it works for me.

https://www.batteriesplus.com/search?q=t-105

[StirCrazy]

there is always room on the front a fram for a bunch of batteries, just have to figure it out. I put four 6V on my camper. I moved the propane tanks forward a couple inches to allow a rack I welded to sit between the fron of the camper and the propane tanks.

Steve

[CFerguson]

That Tesla battery unit has always interested me. But i dont boondock a lot so i never really pursued it. It definately looks viable to me, but on a Pup it might be oversized.
Also note that September 15(2020)is being called Battery Day by Elon- he plans to make an announcement then. Speculation is that its new tech using nano silicon wires.

[Grit_dog]

If you have the room, 2- 6V GC batteries are the best bang for the buck.

[time2roll]

OregonMan wrote:
Basically I'm looking for solutions to boondock for longer. I've got solar and a power generator but a better battery setup would be great. Thanks for any tips!

Along with adding a second battery it is also time to review your charging system. Many converters are very slow needing 6 to 12+ hours for 95% charge. The common WFCO 3 stage is notorious for never going to boost mode (14.4v) when expected. Normal mode (13.6v) is just a trickle charge after 30 minutes. Post your converter model for best answers.

[badercubed]

naturist wrote:
The OP has a small TT. He doesn’t have either space or payload capacity for some of those suggested setups. The single 12 volt “marine deep cycle” battery provided with his TT is a 75 or 80 AH battery which was used in the first place because it was the cheapest battery possible.

With the (also cheap) WIFCO converter, he’s getting maybe 25 or 30 AH service out of that battery. For less than $400, he could buy a 125 AH group 31 true deep cycle 12 volt AGM and a real 30 amp battery charger to make sure it was fully charged. This would at least double his available power. Add a second such battery for another $250, and get 4 times the available power.

But even better would be just one such battery and 200 watts of solar panels. That should keep him in power indefinitely. Cost, about $650 plus installation. Operating cost, zero.

Battery

Charge controller

Solar panels

I concur with this as a small TT owner

[naturist]

The OP has a small TT. He doesn’t have either space or payload capacity for some of those suggested setups. The single 12 volt “marine deep cycle” battery provided with his TT is a 75 or 80 AH battery which was used in the first place because it was the cheapest battery possible.

With the (also cheap) WIFCO converter, he’s getting maybe 25 or 30 AH service out of that battery. For less than $400, he could buy a 125 AH group 31 true deep cycle 12 volt AGM and a real 30 amp battery charger to make sure it was fully charged. This would at least double his available power. Add a second such battery for another $250, and get 4 times the available power.

But even better would be just one such battery and 200 watts of solar panels. That should keep him in power indefinitely. Cost, about $650 plus installation. Operating cost, zero.

Battery

Charge controller

Solar panels

[corvettekent]

We boondock all winter in the southwest. I have four 6 volt Interstate industrial golf cart batteries, 235 AH each or 470 AH at 12 volts. 860 watts of solar on the roof. 2000 watt pure sine wave inverter.

The wife uses her hair drier in the morning, the microwave as needed, the TV is on 6 hours each night and if it is a cold night we turn on the electric blanket.

[rbpru]

Parasitic loads can be a big issue. I am not sure what all the possible loads are but in my TT I have the frig, LP detector and the antenna booster. The antenna booster can be turned off, if I remember to do it.

The single 12 volt battery will last the wife and I two days which is enough when we are traveling between campgrounds for a couple of days.

At home with shore power disconnected, the battery will last 5 to 7 days just sitting in the yard. So at home the TT is plugged into the 120 volt power or the negative battery lead disconnected.

[azrving]

This is on a FW but its the same with a TT or FW since the main issue is where to put the batteries. 6 GC2 from sams. 1000 watts of tilting solar and a Honda 3000. I also installed an Progressive 50 amp converter. I have also used an “Quick charger” brand 50 AMP. At times ive used an 30 amp power supply from Meanwell.

The FW originally had three GP24 batteries in a compartment at the right rear corner. I cut the original tray out and made it deeper. The GC2 is too tall to fit through the door so i put four of them in the tray and jack it up into the cavity and bolt it in The other two GC2 are in a rack under the FW about in the center and behind the rear axle.

[Reisender]

OregonMan wrote:
Hey guys, I'm wondering what your battery setup is on your travel trailer. I have a 2018 Wolf Pup 16BHS travel trailer and am still using the original battery which I believe is a 12 volt deep cycle. However I've never been impressed with the battery... on a full charge it lasts maybe a day with moderate use. Do any of you have a multi-battery setup where you have 2 or 3 batteries for longer use? Are there bigger batteries? Could you install a Tesla power wall on your trailer? 😉

Basically I'm looking for solutions to boondock for longer. I've got solar and a power generator but a better battery setup would be great. Thanks for any tips!

A powerwall will cost you about 7000 and provide around 5.5 kWh of power. It will have a built in inverter/charger. Actually good bang for the buck. Some large class A integrators are now using them. But for a trailer it’s probably overkill, and space consuming.

Jmho.

[ADK_Camper]

Ktmrfs said: And finally, the weakest link in most trailers isn't the battery, it's the WFCO charger which almost never will go to bulk charging mode so (1) batteries never get fully charged and (2) charging current limits to around 10A which means you can run the generator all day and not get the batteries charged. Solution is a Iota or Progressive dynamics converter.


I have found this to be true in my camper. I use an inexpensive manual battery charger to recharge my battery. Works faster than the WFCO OEM charger. But the reason for your battery discharging so quickly may be because of parasitic battery loads. If you have a Dometic fridge it may be that the door heater to control door condensation is always on. Some models have a switch to turn it off. But some models such as mine lack a switch. If yours is like mine you can install your own switch by cutting the heavier red wire inside the fridge interior light and installing a switch there. I did this and it extended the battery life by days.

[GordonThree]

My battery setup is four group 31 AGM batteries. I retrofitted a dinette bench into a battery and inverter bay.

When they were new six years ago I could go for days and days. Now they're about spent, I can go for a day.