Community Forums

1996VOGUE · 03-11-2015, 06:23 AM

How many 6 volt house batteries should i have ? I have 8 now , 4 on each side of the coach .

twinboat · 03-11-2015, 06:45 AM

You need to do a energy audit, to answer that.

I live on a boat, while not RVing.

I calculated needing 200 AH of battery, a day, and built a bank of 8, 6 volt gc2s, equaling 840 AH. That way I have reserve capacity, in case the solar system, designed to replace 200AH a day, doesn't do it's job, due to cloud cover.

You never want to use more then 1/2 of your battery bank capacity.

After a few days of rain , I break out the Honda eu2000, hooked to a IOTA 55 amp charger.

If you get a "Kill a Watt" meter ( Amazon ), you can find out your energy use.

Good luck

GaryKD · 03-11-2015, 06:49 AM

Hi 1996VOGUE,
If 8 are there now and there is space for 8, my guess is 8 is what you need. If you are looking to replace the current batteries with a smaller number, there are questions that need to be answered.
1. What in the coach is powered by the batteries?
2. What is the size of the inverter?
3. Is there more than one inverter?
4. Is the coach all electric (no propane used as a fuel for anything)

Can you provide additional information per the above mentioned quesitons?

mel s · 03-11-2015, 06:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1996VOGUE

How many 6 volt house batteries should i have ? I have 8 now , 4 on each side of the coach .

1996VOGUE
I don't know how many 6 volt house batteries your coach should have.
But I do know 8 is twice as many as most coaches have.... and 4 times as many as some)!
Mel
'96 Safari

edsperfect · 03-11-2015, 07:34 AM

Can't say i have seen any with 8 before. They must have been big into boondocking and needed the power.

Gary RVRoamer · 03-11-2015, 09:16 AM

If you rarely camp without an electric hook-up, or are willing to run the generator when you do, you don't need much battery capacity at all.

A total of 8 6v GC2 batteries yields about 920 amp-hours of electric power to use when you don't have shore power available. That's a lot, but maybe you use a lot as well? Only you can figure that out. As somebody already said, many coaches get by ok with just two batteries (about 200-230 AH).

TQ60 · 03-11-2015, 09:58 AM

4 on each side?

Ours has engine batts on one side and coach batts on the other.

Are all coach or cabin batteries or are some engine or cranking batteries?

Mr_D · 03-11-2015, 10:09 AM

The '09 Magna we just bought has 4 1000 CCA starting batteries and 4 8D AGM's for the house. I have room to add two more 8D's. Coach is not all electric as we have a propane cooktop. We also have 400 watts of solar panels and a 12.5Kw generator
Is that enough? Well, the answer is: it depends! Do we plan on long term boondocking? NO! but can easily do a week or so and still have fresh, grey and black tank capacity left but have to run the gen a couple times a day.

1996VOGUE · 03-11-2015, 12:53 PM

Thanks ! it has room for more , its an all electric coach ...no propane . Sounds like im good on the 8 it has . Also has a 12 volt truck type battery for the motor .

**CountryFit** · 03-11-2015, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr_D

has 4 1000 CCA starting batteries...

sounds like overkill... but good for you

wa8yxm · 03-11-2015, 02:19 PM

The more pairs of six volt GC batteries you have the LONGER you can go without either shore power or running the generator.

Also the longer it will take to recharge when you DO fire up the genny less you have a super huge Converter.

(Roughly 70 amps per pair).

Mr_D · 03-11-2015, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CountryFit

sounds like overkill... but good for you

That's what CC put in originally and even then the ISX seems to need more although the batteries are the originals from 2009 so getting old and slowing down just like me.