12 volt battery vs 2 6 volts and generator starting

[szewczyk_john]

On our first trip the overnight temps got down to the lower 30s so I left the furace on all night. When I went to start the generator in the morning there was not enough juice left to kick it over. I hooked my tow vehicle to help charge up the battery and within minutes I had the generator running. With my SOB (did not have a generator) trailer I switched from 2 12 volts to 2 6 volt batteries and the change was great and allowed us more time for boondocking between battery charging. I was going to put these 2 volt batteries into our new road warrior but then I thought about starting our generator. As the 12 volt has cold cranking amps and is normally used for starting vehicles, I'm curious about starting the generator after running the furnace overnight with the 6 volt batteries. Do they have enough juice in them to start a generator on cold mornings? I would appreciate any advice or comments

 

[hoefler]

I personally would install a separate battery for the generator. It can be smaller, about the size of a lawn tractor battery or a back up generator battery.

 

[ultrafarmer]

I would think the two 6ers would start it just fine. It's not like it it a big v8 motor.

 

[slmayor]

The other part to the battery formula is the charging rate of the generator. Unless it has a built in battery charger, it's only sending your battery a few amps an hour through the converter. Add the parasitic draws of a few amps and the avg. 12 amps per hour of the furnace and it can take all day to charge your batteries with a generator and you might never get them topped off.
A small stand-alone battery charger plugged into the generator can shove more amps to the battery and greatly decrease the generator run time no matter which way you decide to go with batteries.

 

[szewczyk_john]

I understand that recharging the house battery can take a long time but I always charge them on a trickle charger before we go out. I was really shocked that the 12 volt ran down low enough not to be able to start the generator that morning but it was in the low 30s. A neighbor camper said that is why he runs is generator all night. I think that this is a big waste to run it all night. In the SOB I could run the furnace all night and wake up to at least two lights on the battery monitor and it was charged by a honda 3000 inverter. I like the idea of a separate battery for starting the generator but I'm not sure if I will have the room after I install the 2 6 volt batteries in their case. I could just charge the separate battery before leaving and surely get a weeks worth of starts out of it. Has any one else done this? any pics? wiring diagram?

 

[branson4020]

Personally, I would not screw around with the complexity of a separate starting battery. My genny just starts from my coach batteries. I've found a pair of T105s to have plenty of capacity to get me through an evening of watching TV and running the furnace through the night and still be able to easily start the genny the next day. It does take about 6 hrs of running the genny to get them fully recharged after pulling an all-nighter like that.

 

[slmayor]

If it was me, I would use a separate battery for the Genny, but not having wired one, I'm of no use on that.
You may have had a smaller furnace in your old unit. The avg. draw of the new ones is 12 amps per hour. Add the avg parasitic draws of 3 amps per hour, refrigerator control board of 3-5 amps, and a couple lights at 3 amps and it won't take long to draw a 12v down. You might also have your battery checked for a bad cell, as that can happen, even when new.

We just changed in January to 2 6v's and so far, they are exceeding my expectations. We've been 3 weeks unplugged in the yard, 1st week running the fridge, 2 weeks of an occasional light and the parasitic draws and they're still at 2/3 charge. We would have gotten maybe 4 days out of the 12v with just the parasitic draws, even when it was new. We used AGM's so didn't have to build a new battery box.

 

[Riverman]

We too had this same problem (ours only came with 1-12V).
After a night of no hookups and the furnace running, the battery was too low to start the generator.
We switched ours over to 2 "good" 6V batteries and have been very impressed with the results.
Well worth the expense IMO

 

[newbie]

I had two 6 volts and it started the generator just fine after a lot of use.

John

 

[2psnapod2]

I wonder if one of the self contained battiery chargers would work to start the battery. We just learned that we will not have power for a 6 night stay. I hope that we will not have any issues. When does everyone run the Benny to recharge the battery? I only have the one that came stock.

 

[Willym]

Per the Progressive Dynamics website , the PD converter with Charge Wizard will bring a fully discharged battery back to 90% charge in 3 hrs. Full charge is achieved in 11 hrs.
http://www.progressivedyn.com/prod_details/charge_wizard.html

The other part to the battery formula is the charging rate of the generator. Unless it has a built in battery charger, it's only sending your battery a few amps an hour through the converter. Add the parasitic draws of a few amps and the avg. 12 amps per hour of the furnace and it can take all day to charge your batteries with a generator and you might never get them topped off.
A small stand-alone battery charger plugged into the generator can shove more amps to the battery and greatly decrease the generator run time no matter which way you decide to go with batteries.

 

[watchthebox]

I don't know what converter is in your unit, but the Cyclone 3010 comes with a Progressive Dynamics 9280 converter, which has a smart 80A charger in it that, as pointed out by Willym, doesn't take very long to get the battery charged most of the way.

That being said, the 12V battery that came with my new Cyclone from the dealer was very weak, not lasting through the night with only furnace usage. I know all about jump starting a generator! Consequently, I've upgraded to 4 Trojan T-105's: //heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/22253-Cyclone-3010-Battery-Upgrade?highlight=.

 

[mesteve]

You also have to think when comparing to traditional 12V house batteries that are DEEP CYCLE and not designed for starting a motor either. But, as you just read here, many do it just fine. You will be fine with 2 6V batteries for cranking a tiny little genset provided they have the storage capacity to make it to the next crank.

 

[porthole]

The battery that came with our trailer is being replaced now. Although it still had capacity it was constantly off gassing enough that the terminals were corroding, even over the winter in the shed with a trickle charger on it. And it had two seasons of use.

I am now adding two 6 volt batteries in a box. I'm going to start with 2 and see how they do. These are "gel" which are a step above "liquid" and a step below AGM. But they have a higher capacity then the AGM's.

I am adding wiring to eventually add an inverter.

But since the OP said he has a generator, adding something like the Xantrex LinkLite would give the ability to add genny start for low voltage issues.

http://www.xantrex.com/power-products/power-accessories/linklite-battery-monitor.aspx

"watchthebox" mentioned the Cyclone converters. As mentioned, Cyclones do come with an 80 amp "smart" converter. I think most of the rest of the Heartland line only come with a 60 amp converter.

 

[lwmcguir]

I only use sealed 12 volt batteries. Matter of preference and seems to have worked fine for many years. After about three years they go on fence chargers and so on.