2015 BH 3260 EL battery
- Thread starter Kenna
- Start date
danemayer
Well-known member
Hi Kenna,
Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum. There's lots of useful information here along with a great bunch of friendly and helpful people.
Most people go with the one battery unless they're camping without shore power, or have a residential refrigerator, or have some other setup that uses an inverter to change 12V DC into 110V AC.
We got a 2nd battery because I wanted to run the refrigerator for 24 hours in the storage lot before bring the RV to the house to load up. The original battery would do that, but as it aged, sometimes it wouldn't have enough power left to reliably operate the hydraulics or start the generator. I replaced it with a matched set of group 27 12V batteries from Sam's Club.
Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum. There's lots of useful information here along with a great bunch of friendly and helpful people.
Most people go with the one battery unless they're camping without shore power, or have a residential refrigerator, or have some other setup that uses an inverter to change 12V DC into 110V AC.
We got a 2nd battery because I wanted to run the refrigerator for 24 hours in the storage lot before bring the RV to the house to load up. The original battery would do that, but as it aged, sometimes it wouldn't have enough power left to reliably operate the hydraulics or start the generator. I replaced it with a matched set of group 27 12V batteries from Sam's Club.
pegmikef
Well-known member
As Dan said, not really necessary, but I like the extra amperage and you will always have a backup if one goes bad. I just replaced the nondescript battery that came with mine with a matched pair of group 27 Exides. Since mine came with two vented battery boxes I figured I would take advantage of them.
superduty08
Tennessee Chapter Leaders
I installed 2 on my 3260 to run a small frig in the basement when traveling. It doesn't hold the cold as well as the RV frig. We ordered our's and picked it up in May. It's our second BH and we love it!
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TravelTiger
Founding Texas-West Chapter Leaders-Retired
Yes, one battery is enough, until it isn't! Lol! We had a power outage at a park in the winter that lasted about 5 hours. Running furnace to stay warm, we ran our single group 24 battery down pretty fast, and had to hook up the truck to recharge.
Soon after we replaced ours with a Group 29. We don't have room for two in our battery compartment, but could fit a slightly bigger battery box that the Group 29 required. Both purchased from WalMart.
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etcmss
Well-known member
mine apparently came with 2 batteries but only one was connected.
After a recent service/repair I discovered the second battery. Had to get cables to connect it and secure the top. Don't figure I will need it much (but never know) since we are usually in a park, but the power outage would do it....it needed to be connected to be charged and useful.
So is it normal to have 2 or just 1?
mine built in Feb 2014.
Gary
After a recent service/repair I discovered the second battery. Had to get cables to connect it and secure the top. Don't figure I will need it much (but never know) since we are usually in a park, but the power outage would do it....it needed to be connected to be charged and useful.
So is it normal to have 2 or just 1?
mine built in Feb 2014.
Gary
Jim.Allison
Well-known member
The battery that comes with your unit was installed to provide the minimum. It is required for your electric brake "breakaway system." and secondly for your minimum usage.
Whether or not you should replace with 2 matching batts is dependant on your intentions. If you are strictly a shorepower camper, then you don't need another batt. BUT if you intend to operate your rig without shore power for more than just a day you will quickly run short of power using only one batt.
A scenario might be when deadheading to a location and trying to avoid RV parks and the price of hookups. While your TV will replace the energy depleted from your batts it take a whole day of driving to charge them to about 90% from 50%. Shorepower will charge them quickly and completely. Dry camping presents the same problem but worse. As another commenter pointed out, your DC system is designed to operate the controls of the fridge, water heater, and furnace when they are operating off of LP. There are also a couple of electronic devices that operate off your battery also. It may not seem like much but when you add it all together it equals dead batts.
Right now is your opportunity to improve your system. Your best practice is to understand and accept the fact that a battery that does not advertise its "20 amp hour rating" is not an appropriate battery for your application.
This exact conversation was had a few weeks back. One of the comments turned us onto a Costco AGM battery that advertised its amp hours. It was the perfect solution for the OP. I think he ultimately purchased a pair of them and was happy with his purchase once he decided to turn loose of the money.
Danemayer might be able to provide a link on this thread to that conversation. I have studied batteries for my solar power system, and I learned something new in that thread. Good luck
Whether or not you should replace with 2 matching batts is dependant on your intentions. If you are strictly a shorepower camper, then you don't need another batt. BUT if you intend to operate your rig without shore power for more than just a day you will quickly run short of power using only one batt.
A scenario might be when deadheading to a location and trying to avoid RV parks and the price of hookups. While your TV will replace the energy depleted from your batts it take a whole day of driving to charge them to about 90% from 50%. Shorepower will charge them quickly and completely. Dry camping presents the same problem but worse. As another commenter pointed out, your DC system is designed to operate the controls of the fridge, water heater, and furnace when they are operating off of LP. There are also a couple of electronic devices that operate off your battery also. It may not seem like much but when you add it all together it equals dead batts.
Right now is your opportunity to improve your system. Your best practice is to understand and accept the fact that a battery that does not advertise its "20 amp hour rating" is not an appropriate battery for your application.
This exact conversation was had a few weeks back. One of the comments turned us onto a Costco AGM battery that advertised its amp hours. It was the perfect solution for the OP. I think he ultimately purchased a pair of them and was happy with his purchase once he decided to turn loose of the money.
Danemayer might be able to provide a link on this thread to that conversation. I have studied batteries for my solar power system, and I learned something new in that thread. Good luck
Jim.Allison
Well-known member
Here is a thread where this topic was discussed ad nauseum and ended with a great solution provided by one of the commenters;
//heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/48242-need-a-new-RV-battery?highlight=Duracell+AGM
//heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/48242-need-a-new-RV-battery?highlight=Duracell+AGM
Jim.Allison
Well-known member
This is the AGM that the OP in the other thread finally bought at Sams. AGMs are not cheap but they are good batts that require little or no maintenance. One will work fine if you don't dry camp at all, two if you do. Hook them up in parallel with 4 awg and your are done.
http://www.driveduracell.com/assets/duracell/image/1686.pdf
http://www.driveduracell.com/assets/duracell/image/1686.pdf
