6V questions

[BobX2]

on a 12V forum. Anyway, my Sundance came with just 1 group 27 12V battery. This is not an acceptable arrangement for me since 95% of my camping is boondocking. Usually two to three nights at a time. Need two batteries. I was ready to buy a couple of 6V golf cart batteries until I realized I don't know how to charge 6V batteries. I camp out in the woods, so it is not plugged in while I'm camping. It sits in a storage lot when not in use, so it's not plugged in there either. Typical drive time from house to setup is less that 2 hours, so I know the batteries won't charge in that amount of time. With my 12V batteries I would put them on my work bench between trips and hook my trickle charger/maintainer up and they were ready to go whenever I was. I've heard and read that 6V type chargers are quite expensive. Just wondering if anyone could enlighten me or educate me further about how to get along with 6V batteries. Maybe just another 12V and call it good? I do already understand the benefits of paired 6V, so really don't need to go too deep into that conversation.

 

[szewczyk_john]

Do not think of 2 six volt batteries as two batteries. Think of it as a single unit, linked together with a cable. You charge the battery as one unit. One positive terminal and one negative terminal.

 

[brianharrison]

My suggestion is to purchase a good intelligent charger, hook the batteries in series as suggested above - and charge them on the bench between trips.

I actually use the Progressive Dynamics 9200 series charger that I removed from my trailer to charge my batteries on my bench. Here is a 60 amp version (PD9260) on Amazon for a reasonable price. Click Here.

Brian

 

[BobX2]

So, just to be clear on this, you guys are saying that if I take the two 6V and set them on my bench, I connect pos. to neg. in series and I can then connect my charger to the remaining pos. and neg. posts on the batteries? I had thought about that since that is how you put 12V into the RV, but just didn't know if it worked in reverse to recharge the batteries. Makes sense that it would work that way, but since I still can't grasp how connecting + to - works, then I don't want to make assumptions.

 

[danemayer]

BobX2,

Here's a link to more info about battery configurations.

 

[pegmikef]

That's what makes the output 12 V and then when installed you hook the remaining positive and negative terminals to the appropriate trailer cables. Same thing for charging them. At home, I just use the same charger that I use for my boat and auto batteries.

 

[Silverado23]

Have you considered adding solar panels? Not sure how often you go but solar would charge your batteries even while using your RV. It would seem like less work to have the panels charge your batteries using a charge controller to prevent overcharging while in storage rather than taking your batteries out all the time.

 

[brianharrison]

I can oversimplify it, but essentially a 12V has 6 cells and a 6V has 3 cells. Each cell in a Lead-Acid battery puts out about 2.14V. Wiring two 6 volt batteries together in series, essentially gives you the equivalent of 6 cells (12V nominally).

Hope this helps.
Brian

Here is a

 

[BobX2]

Okay, sounds straight forward enough. Thanks everyone for your input.

 

[szewczyk_john]

I use a trickle charger the same as those I use on my motorcycles. When I take my batteries out at the end of the season, i place them on wood in my garage, check the water level, hook up a trickle charger and then forget about them until spring. Has not been a problem at all.

 

[brianharrison]

John, your setup for winter storage is good; however Bob (the Original Poster) needs a solution to charge batteries between boondocking camping trips. A trickle charger will probably not RECHARGE the deep cell batteries in the time frame needed.

Typically trickle chargers hold a full charge battery at a full charge (ie the charge rate is typically less than 1/100 of the battery power rating).

With an intelligent battery charger (3 or 4 stage) is still takes up to 60 to 72 hours (3 to 4 days) to bring an RV battery back to full strength. Here is a chart from Progressive Dynamics. A trickle charger may not recharge the battery, or if it did it would take a very long time.....

Brian

 

[BobX2]

I do have my little Honda 2000 generator that I can run for an hour or two in the evenings to help out, but I don't know how much my 8955 converter will recharge the batteries in that amount of time. That is why I will be pulling the batteries after each trip.

 

[wdk450]

Each of the individual cells (think like flashlight battery/cell) of a lead acid battery puts out just 2.2 volts. This is the electrochemical result of the lead-sulfuric acid reaction. 6 of these cells are "wired" together in a series connection to make a 12 volt battery. Adding a cable and more cells (another battery) in series connection is just the same as making the connection between cells that is made internally in the batteries.

on a 12V forum. Anyway, my Sundance came with just 1 group 27 12V battery. This is not an acceptable arrangement for me since 95% of my camping is boondocking. Usually two to three nights at a time. Need two batteries. I was ready to buy a couple of 6V golf cart batteries until I realized I don't know how to charge 6V batteries. I camp out in the woods, so it is not plugged in while I'm camping. It sits in a storage lot when not in use, so it's not plugged in there either. Typical drive time from house to setup is less that 2 hours, so I know the batteries won't charge in that amount of time. With my 12V batteries I would put them on my work bench between trips and hook my trickle charger/maintainer up and they were ready to go whenever I was. I've heard and read that 6V type chargers are quite expensive. Just wondering if anyone could enlighten me or educate me further about how to get along with 6V batteries. Maybe just another 12V and call it good? I do already understand the benefits of paired 6V, so really don't need to go too deep into that conversation.

 

[BobX2]

Each of the individual cells (think like flashlight battery/cell) of a lead acid battery puts out just 2.2 volts. This is the electrochemical result of the lead-sulfuric acid reaction. 6 of these cells are "wired" together in a series connection to make a 12 volt battery. Adding a cable and more cells (another battery) in series connection is just the same as making the connection between cells that is made internally in the batteries.

That just made it click for me. The whole flashlight reference made me think of loading the batteries in my big Maglight flashlight. The batteries load in + to - on top of each other. Ha, learn something new all the time.