Batteries
- Thread starter BCGuy
- Start date
recumbent615
Founding MA Chapter Leader-retired
Welcome - BCGuy,
One Battery is enough if you are going to be on shore power most of the time. If you are not going to spend time dry camping ( no power ) then the one battery is plenty.
Kevin
One Battery is enough if you are going to be on shore power most of the time. If you are not going to spend time dry camping ( no power ) then the one battery is plenty.
Kevin
eddylives
Well-known member
I have to agree with the others , if you stay in serviced sites one battery will be enough.
Now we on the other hand have never been to a serviced site lol...and for us more is better when out in the wild country.
It sucks to be out in the rain/dark or feeding the flies fueling up the old genny haha...would rather do that when I want to not when I have to.....
Now we on the other hand have never been to a serviced site lol...and for us more is better when out in the wild country.
It sucks to be out in the rain/dark or feeding the flies fueling up the old genny haha...would rather do that when I want to not when I have to.....
CliffP
Well-known member
We are planning to do some dry camping so gonna run two 6 volt golf cart batteries. They should give a total 328 amp hour rating verses the 80 amp hour rating the group 24 that came with it has. Share the same opinion with the rest, if you'll always have shore power no need to change anything.
branson4020
Icantre Member
Cliff,
What size batteries are you planning on? My 2 T-105 size batteries are only 220 AH.
CliffP
Well-known member
Think they are Exide GC110X and I think they are rated at 164 AH each. Will double check tomorrow and let you know. Haven't bought them yet.
brianharrison
Well-known member
Unfortunately, two six volt in series does not double the amphour rating. The Exide GC-110 has a reserve capacity of 186 AH. Certainly more that the Group 24, 80 AH you had previously.
Here is a link to some good information that has helped me in the past --> The 12volt Side of Life
Hope this helps.
Brian
We have always run two 12 volt batteries. Usually Exide due to being manufactured locally and inexpensive. Use them in one of the boats or later on fence chargers getting many years of service out of them. Two 12 volt batteries will work just as well as two 6 volts of the same physical size.
CliffP
Well-known member
You're right Brian doesn't double the AH and that's a great link. The link gives an advantage to 6 volt batteries "They are true deep cycle batteries and will last a lot longer than most common 12 volt batteries in your RV." They have larger cells with more lead.
Looked ours up this morning and called to check things out. I wasn't going to order them for a while but I got an awesome deal so they'll be here Thursday. Went with GC135's, they are rated at 226 AH. The NC24 we have now is rated for 70 AH.
I came across this article today. It says the low point in the cycle should be 40% (tomato / tomaato). Point being only 60-80% of a battery's capacity should be used. If you drain it down more than that it will shorten the battery's lifespan. So a battery rated at 70 AH has a useful range of 42 - 56 amp hours, 186AH = 111- 149 AH, 226AH = 136-181. We should end up at three times the Amp Hours we were at.
brianharrison
Well-known member
Good points Cliff on prolonging a battery's life by watching the cycling of the batteries.
The best way I have found to monitor my battery bank was to install a true battery monitor with shunt to measure voltage, instantaneous amp draw, and total amphour capacity remaining (like a battery fuel gauge) - I installed this monitor, Xantrex LinkLite Battery Monitor. An alternate that I know others also like is this one, Trimec Battery System.
Brian
CliffP
Well-known member
I like the Xantrex monitors. Where did you mount yours?
