Amps usage question

KenJ · Apr 12, 2019

I have a 2011 Sundance 2900MK fiver and have been very disappointed with the short power life of the installed Interstate Group 24 deep cell battery. With just a few inside lights turned on including the fridge I am running out of power overnight. I checked to see what the amp discharge rate was W/O lights being on and it was only .7 amps. With the before mentioned items turned on the amp draw was 17 amps. Does this seem to be an exorbitant of amperage use?

The battery is fully charged and has been tested and has no bad cells. I'm wondering if the problem is that I'm expecting too much of a single battery and should I install a second one.

Thanks for any input.

danemayer · Apr 12, 2019

A group 24 battery is rated for about 80 amp hours, if new and fully charged. If your draw is 17 amps, it would take about 6 hours to deplete the battery. And if you have 20 watt light bulbs, it would only take 9 or 10 being on to consume 17 amps at 12V.

How old is your battery? As they age, the number of amp-hours they provide will degrade. If you have space for a group 27 battery, they typically provide 100 amp hours - 25% more than a group 24.

Have you considered changing the light bulbs/fixtures to LEDs? LEDs draw way less power. You might find that an interior LED draws maybe 2 watts where an incandescent or halogen bulb might draw 20 watts.

KenJ · Apr 12, 2019

danemayer said:
A group 24 battery is rated for about 80 amp hours, if new and fully charged. If your draw is 17 amps, it would take about 6 hours to deplete the battery. And if you have 20 watt light bulbs, it would only take 9 or 10 being on to consume 17 amps at 12V.

How old is your battery? As they age, the number of amp-hours they provide will degrade. If you have space for a group 27 battery, they typically provide 100 amp hours - 25% more than a group 24.

Have you considered changing the light bulbs/fixtures to LEDs? LEDs draw way less power. You might find that an interior LED draws maybe 2 watts where an incandescent or halogen bulb might draw 20 watts.

Thanks for the speedy reply, I'm really not sure as to the age of the battery. But is was tested last week and I was told it is good.
Regarding the LED bulbs, I just got off the phone of a RV parts dealer and he quoted $50.00 for 10. OUCH!! Went to Amazon and saw 10 for a little over @10.00. Wonder what the difference is. My wife isn't crazy about the bluish tint she has seen in some LED bulbs at Home Depot though. I've heard that some bulbs are warmer. Is that true?

danemayer · Apr 12, 2019

LED bulbs vary a lot in price and color temp. Search for "warm white" to get a light that is not bluish.

I'd buy a package of inexpensive warm white bulbs and see how they work.

Bogie · Apr 12, 2019

As Dan said, look for warm white bulbs. When searching on line, look for 2500 to 3000 K (or Kelvin). The lower the number the warmer the output. On my first Sundance I changed all the bulbs. Bought them all on EBay for very little money. Yes they come from China, but in reality, they all do. I had no problem with the quality.

You can address the battery issue in many ways. In my case, I changed out the supplied Group 24 battery with a pair of Trojan 6 volt golf cart batteries. Far more amp hours. Since I boondock a lot, that setup helps quit a bit. I haven't changed over my current Sundance yet because the dealer put in a second battery as part of their normal sales process.

Check out my mods in my signature. You can see how I approached the battery issue. If you boondock, You might also be interested in the Xantrex battery monitor. It lets me know just how many amp hours I am down at any time.

Lynn1130 · Apr 12, 2019

I am using the same bulbs I bought on Ebay, throughout the trailer. They were not expensive and have lasted several years without a failure.

You might also consider 2-6 volt batteries to increase your available amps. We dry camp a lot and for years I used 2 6-volt. I have now gone to 3 12 volt AGM just so I did not have to worry about hydrating them all the time. Plenty of amperage either way.

KenJ · Apr 12, 2019

Bogie said:
As Dan said, look for warm white bulbs. When searching on line, look for 2500 to 3000 K (or Kelvin). The lower the number the warmer the output. On my first Sundance I changed all the bulbs. Bought them all on EBay for very little money. Yes they come from China, but in reality, they all do. I had no problem with the quality.

You can address the battery issue in many ways. In my case, I changed out the supplied Group 24 battery with a pair of Trojan 6 volt golf cart batteries. Far more amp hours. Since I boondock a lot, that setup helps quit a bit. I haven't changed over my current Sundance yet because the dealer put in a second battery as part of their normal sales process.

Check out my mods in my signature. You can see how I approached the battery issue. If you boondock, You might also be interested in the Xantrex battery monitor. It lets me know just how many amp hours I am down at any time.

Thank you for the input, currently I have only one 12V battery.
Do you boondock now with 2 12's or the 2 Trojan 6 volt golf cart batteries?

I will certainly look at your mods.

Lynn1130 · Apr 12, 2019

2 12 volt batteries will give you the same amperage as one 12 volt battery. 2 6 volt batteries doubles the amperage of one. I use 3 12 volt AGM batteries which gives me more amps than 2-6s but it also gives me maintenance free batteries and the peace of mind that should one or even two 12 volt go out I still have 12 volts to run things. If one 6 volt goes you are trying to operate on 6 volts. Won't work that well.

Bogie · Apr 12, 2019

KenJ said:
Do you boondock now with 2 12's or the 2 Trojan 6 volt golf cart batteries?

Right now I am still using the 2 -12 volt batteries. I use a generator and a solar panel to top them up when i need to.

mlpeloquin · Apr 12, 2019

Two twelve volt batteries in parallel will double the current capacity you currently have. Two six volt batteries in series will double the voltage to 12V and the six volt batteries have more current capacity than the two 12V batteries even in parallel. So two deep cycle six volt batteries in series are better than two twelve volt batteries in parallel. When I went to two six volt deep cycle batteries, I had to get a new box for them. They are taller then the twelve volt batteries.

KenJ · Apr 12, 2019

Bogie said:
Right now I am still using the 2 -12 volt batteries. I use a generator and a solar panel to top them up whn i need to.

Just curious, How long do you think you could go on the 2-12v without solar?
The reason I ask is because I currently have 1-12v battery with no solar and can only go for 1 night before the fridge check light comes on. I then have to use my 2000watt portable to recharge my trailer. When I do this I connect to the shore power cord, would it be faster to charge by connecting to the battery terminals?

Sorry to ask so many questions. I'm in California and the wife is hooked on hookups and I like to occasionally boondock. That means that when I go it's only for 3-4 days. I'd like to be able to do this W/O having to go to a great amount of expense. I will be trying some LED bulbs soon as a baby step first though. Then perhaps add 2-6v golf cart batteries.

BTW Your Mods looked GREAT!

Bogie · Apr 12, 2019

That's a bit hard to say. The reason is we only boondocked once last summer with the new rig and were only there two days before we were forced to leave because of the smoke from the Yosemite fire. So, my experience with this setup is extremely limited. Typically I run my generator for about two hours in the morning and then switch over to a 100 watt solar panel for the rest of the day. Then back on the generator at dinner time for a couple of hours.

KenJ · Apr 13, 2019

Bogie said:
That's a bit hard to say. The reason is we only boondocked once last summer with the new rig and were only there two days before we were forced to leave because of the smoke from the Yosemite fire. So, my experience with this setup is extremely limited. Typically I run my generator for about two hours in the morning and then switch over to a 100 watt solar panel for the rest of the day. Then back on the generator at dinner time for a couple of hours.

Thank you.

PinkP8ther · Jul 30, 2019

KenJ said:
I have a 2011 Sundance 2900MK fiver and have been very disappointed with the short power life of the installed Interstate Group 24 deep cell battery. With just a few inside lights turned on including the fridge I am running out of power overnight. I checked to see what the amp discharge rate was W/O lights being on and it was only .7 amps. With the before mentioned items turned on the amp draw was 17 amps. Does this seem to be an exorbitant of amperage use?

The battery is fully charged and has been tested and has no bad cells. I'm wondering if the problem is that I'm expecting too much of a single battery and should I install a second one.

Thanks for any input.

I just tested my 2019 M312 because I'm looking to upgrade my 12 power system. With every light, I could think of, the bathroom exhaust, and any other 12v device I could turn on at the time, I was drawing 11 amps. I'm new to travel trailer camping, but 17 amps sounds high for just a few lights.

mlpeloquin · Jul 30, 2019

PinkP8ther said:
I just tested my 2019 M312 because I'm looking to upgrade my 12 power system. With every light, I could think of, the bathroom exhaust, and any other 12v device I could turn on at the time, I was drawing 11 amps. I'm new to travel trailer camping, but 17 amps sounds high for just a few lights.

I took one each of the different bulbe mountings out and did a search on ebay for their LED equivelents. Purchased the warm LED replacements. I even replaced the reading lamps with LED lights. The original ones get very hot. They were the most expensive to replace. I also replaced my two twelve volt batteries with two 6V deep cycle batteries.

Amps usage question

KenJ

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danemayer

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KenJ

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danemayer

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Bogie

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Lynn1130

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KenJ

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Lynn1130

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Bogie

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mlpeloquin

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KenJ

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KenJ

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PinkP8ther

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mlpeloquin

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