Adding Batteries

[Piledrive]

We have a new-to-us 2000 Adventurer 37G. Those of you that are familiar with this Coach may be able to tell me if you were able to add batteries. The battery box is in the steps and has only enough room for three standard size batteries. Not much capacity for Boondocking in my opinion. Looked at possible use of area in water heater bay, or storage bay just aft of the stairs.
Has anyone done this? Some other suggestions?

[DAN L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Piledrive We have a new-to-us 2000 Adventurer 37G. Those of you that are familiar with this Coach may be able to tell me if you were able to add batteries. The battery box is in the steps and has only enough room for three standard size batteries. Not much capacity for Boondocking in my opinion. Looked at possible use of area in water heater bay, or storage bay just aft of the stairs. Has anyone done this? Some other suggestions?

my battery box is under the stairs. i had 1 12v starting battery and 2 12v deka flooded cell 95 ah house batteries.
i installed a 12v sears agm starting battery.
i installed 2 lifeline 6v gpl-6ct agm batteries from bd batteries online in series by mounting them on their sides. they weigh 90# each.
now i have 300 ah capacity instead of 190 ah. kinda pricey but they should last 10 years if taken care of and not deep cycled often. my system has been working well for about 2 years.

http://www.bdbatteries.com/rvflyer.php?id=15

http://www.lifelinebatteries.com/

[John Hilley]

I have a 1999 Brave 35C. I was able to add 4 ea GC2 6 volt batteries in addition to the 12 volt starting battery. This gives me 450 AH of coach power. I just picked up a 2003 Adventurer 38g on Saturday and it looks like I will be able to do the same.

[tderonne]

Old thread

It has some links to even older threads. Few different options and pictures.

[David Kanoy]

Piledrive,

I have a 2000 Winnebago Adventure 35G and the batteries are also located under the steps. I was able to fit 3 Walmart Extreme-Max Group 27 Deep Cycle 12 volt batteries rated @ 205 Amp Hr each (20 amp rate) plus a Group 27 starting battery. The Walmart batteries were $109.each after tax and old battery core charge. This configuration gives me 615 amp Hours total @ the 20 amp rate. The usable battery compartment size in the Winnebago 35G is 14" X 29". The top of the line Trojan T-125 sealed battery is rated @ 240 amp hr and the Exide GC2-H is rated 245 amp hours (both @ the 20 amp discharge rate) which using the required 4 batteries yields 480 and 490 amp hours respectively. The best price I could find for the Trojan T-125 was $139.00 after tax and for the Exide GC2-H was $109.00 after tax.

The sealed 6 volt golf cart batteries are rated @ 600 - 700 "cycles" of charging/discharging. The Walmart 12 volt group 27 deep cycle batteries I used are rated at only 500 - 550 cycles, but I my case the batteries will be long gone before I dry camp 500 cycles.

This was my solution and it worked out about $100.00 - $150.00 cheaper than the four 6 volt golf cart batteries and I saved a few pounds in the process. Many people swear by the 6 volt golf cart batteries but I was concerned about vertical clearance under the steps, as the golf cart batteries are several inches higher than the group 27 batteries. I'm sure others will offer their solutions/opinions.

David

[Wanabee FTer]

David,

I just bought 2 Extreme-Max Group 27 Deep Cycle 12 volt batteries from Walmart.
I got the largest they had and they are rated at 125 ah each.
Did you special order yours?

[John Hilley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wanabee FTer David, I just bought 2 Extreme-Max Group 27 Deep Cycle 12 volt batteries from Walmart. I got the largest they had and they are rated at 125 ah each. Did you special order yours?

I also checked Walmart and that was all I could find also. Where did you find the specifications for the Walmart batteries. The ones I just looked at in Texas didn't have any deep cycle charge information. The ones in this store were manufactured by Johnson Controls, but the Johnson Controls WEB site didn't have any info.

[offthewall]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Piledrive We have a new-to-us 2000 Adventurer 37G. Those of you that are familiar with this Coach may be able to tell me if you were able to add batteries. The battery box is in the steps and has only enough room for three standard size batteries. Not much capacity for Boondocking in my opinion. Looked at possible use of area in water heater bay, or storage bay just aft of the stairs. Has anyone done this? Some other suggestions?

As a previous poster suggested, definitely consider AGM batteries. Expensive but they have MANY advantages but most importantly for you they can be mounted in any orientation, possibly allowing you to fit larger capacity batteries under the steps.

[David Kanoy]

Wanabee,

I delayed responding to your question until I could get a chance to visit my local Walmart to check out their current battery selection and double check my existing battery setup.

I live near the NC coast and the local Walmart has a larger than normal Marine/Boating/Fishing selection.

I purchased my three batteries from Walmart about 3 years ago. The batteries I purchased are different from the current Extreme Max Marine Deep Cycle batteries that my local Walmart currently sells. The current Extreme Max Group 27 is rated @ 125 amp hours and have only an 18 month replacement warranty.

After checking my RV and removing one of the batteries for closer inspection I can report the following:

I googled some of the numbers on the battery and it appears the batteries I purchased 3 years ago were manufactured by Interstate. They cross over to the Interstate Marine/RV 27M-XHD which is rated at 180 amp hour at the 25 amp discharge rate. These are actually group 27M size, 12 3/4" long X 6 3/4" wide X 9 1/2" high @ 55 pounds each. For some reason the spec plate on the Walmart batteries I purchased reads 205 amp hours @ the 20 amp hour rate (not the 25 amp hour rate listed on the Interstate spec sheet). I'm not sure why the difference in the discharge rates or how they compare in performance. The batteries I purchased had a 3 year replacement warranty.

I asked the local Walmart Auto manager, who has been there for many years, about the availability of the original batteries I purchased and he stated that they got the batteries I purchased as part of a trolling motor special they were offering at the time.

If this works, here is a link to the Interstate spec sheet: Interstate Batteries

Hope this helps,

David

[Wanabee FTer]

David,
ok thanks for checking,
I was wondering if I missed something, but sounds like most Walmarts do not carry the battery you mentioned.
I think Johnson controls makes a decent mid level DC battery. At least it's rated in ah instead of reserve capacity like the interstate SRM-24 that it replaced. Never could find the 20 ah rating for that battery. By the best of my calculations it was a 82 ah battery. It made it just past the warranty period.

[bruceh]

I have 4 6 volt golf cart batteries plus the 12 volt starting battery. It is tight and you have to re-organize a bit but it works. I can do a picture if it would help.

[guymon.hall]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DAN L my battery box is under the stairs.

Mine is similar on my 2007 Adventurer 33V. The setup when I bought the coach was 2 Group 24 12V batteries and 1 chassis battery; I just bought some new batteries from Wal-Mart and swapped out the 2 Group 24 coach batteries for 3 Group 27 batteries totalling 345 ah. I think I could get 3 Group 29 batteries in there, which would give me 375 ah.

[wa8yxm]

When adding batteries there are several things to consider.

Epically on a trailer: Consider the balance of the rig,, That is if you add 100 pounds of battereies to one side,, You really should put another 100 pounds on the other side

Ventalation, the battery boxes need to breath and outside air is vastly the better choice, in fact it is the only reasonable choice,, So either put them in an area where they can suck fresh air or use a special "Vented" battery box (Marine supplies have those, so do some auto places like JC Whitney)

Consider the "Weight' of the cable to connect them, at least as big as the cable connecting the battery to the rest of the rig.. one thing to cnosider is that standard Starter Cable (4ga with lugs on each end) can be purchased ready made at many auto-supply houses like Auto-Zone, Pep Boys, et-al.

One thing NOT to consider is any need to put the batteries side by side, That is only important if you are putting in a multi-kilowatt inverter and need to suck hundreds of amps flow rate. And even then, with large enough cables, that's not an issue.

With 12 volt batteries in parallel, (NOTE: a pair of six volt golf car batteries *IS* a single 12 volt battery, treat them as such, think of them as such and many questions vanish) always assume that JUST ONE of the batteries may be called upon to provide ALL the current .. Theory says it should never happen. but theories can be wrong.

[DAN L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by guymon.hall Mine is similar on my 2007 Adventurer 33V. The setup when I bought the coach was 2 Group 24 12V batteries and 1 chassis battery; I just bought some new batteries from Wal-Mart and swapped out the 2 Group 24 coach batteries for 3 Group 27 batteries totalling 345 ah. I think I could get 3 Group 29 batteries in there, which would give me 375 ah.

how much weight is your battery compartment rated to carry?
my battery box is rated for 250#.
physically, i could move my starting battery to a fwd compartment and add 2 more gpl-6ct's on their sides for 600 ah capacity. that would be a total of 360#, imho too much weight.
winnebagos and itaskas are known for weak mount points for the electric steps.
mine have cracks which i have stop drilled and reinforced with bolts and fender washers. you can find pics of my interim repair on another thread.
that is also where the outboard end of the battery box mounts.