House batteries

[Boatdoctor]

It's time to replace my house batteries. They are 4 years old and don't keep a charge as long as they should any more. I have (4) 6V batteries. (2) each run in series to essentially make (2) 12V batteries.

With a full charge I started the refer. 4 days later the batteries were completely dead and the refer was warm inside telling me it had been off for a while. I don't know how long the batteries had been dead but I would guess they went dead fairly quickly. Yes, I made sure nothing else was turned on before I left.

My question is this: If the batteries are new and in good condition, how long, approximately, should they operate a refer before going dead?

[Chuck13]

Are you running the frig on propane with the 12 volts for controls or are you running the frig entirely on 12 volts? If on 12 volts only(not many have this capability anymore) then you will be lucky to get a couple of days.

[charliej]

4 years seem like a short life. Is the charger working correctly?

[jacwjames]

Were you hooked to 120 volt power at all???

Do you have any solar charging capacity??

What was the refrigerator being operated on, propane & 12 volt, inverter and 120 volt????

If not hooked to power and no solar charging the 4 days is probably right.

My coach has about a 4-5 amp parasitic draw with no charging so I could loose +100 amps a day. I have 325 watts of solar charging which will maintain batteries, run the frig on propane/12 volt, exhaust fan, and use some 12 volt lighting. If I turn on the inverter to watch TV etc during the day the solar charging will maintain but at night it will draw down the battery quickly.

My previous RV was a Class C, the battery would drain overnight.

[Boatdoctor]

The fridge was on propane with the 12v only running the control.

The batteries are the best "wet" Interstate golf cart batteries. GC2-XHD

I don't know the history of the first 2 years of the batteries lives as I bought it 2 years ago. It may be a matter of not maintaining them properly.

I am an interstate dealer at my boat business. We find that deep cycle 12v batteries that sit for extended periods every year seem to last about 3 years.

There are a few times a year we will leave the coach at a camp spot (Desert) and come back a week later.

The real question in my mind is whether I need to add some sort of solar help to keep the batteries up for these type of situations where 'shore power" isn't available and I need the batteries to stay charged with the fridge running.

[wa8yxm]

My interstates lasted 9 years.

That said... 4 days is a long time to expect them to run the Fridge and the parasitic loads they have to run. Needs to be recharged every day at least, The design is 12 hours with furnace use.