Battery replacement question

[Mudmonkey]

I bought a 2005 Fleetwood 270 TT last week, and it appears that both the batteries on it are no good - won't take a charge. The dealer who sold it to me says he didn't check them before he let me take it home, but will still only replace one of them.
Question is, do I really need 2 batteries, as we don't plan to 'boondock' anywhere without shore power any time?
Many thanks.
Mud.

[jlyon69]

You can get by with 1. The question is, are they 6V or 12V?. If 6V and he replaces 1 of them, you still NEED another one.

[wardy]

Mud,

You only need one good battery (as long as it's 12 volts). I don't get the dealer's small thinking though. I had a similar account where they offered to split the small cost... never used them for service after that.

[Mudmonkey]

Thanks again, people. There's 2x12V batteries on it, I got Advanced Autoparts to check ' em for me, one's kaput, the other needs a full charge before it can be assessed by them so I'm doing that right now. Hopefully the second one will be OK, the dealer will replace the knackered one & I'll have 2 if I need them.
The RV dealership owner tried to stiff me on the price I'd already reached with the salesperson on the trailer, now he's trying to stiff me over this battery. If he does it again, he's going on every blacklist I can find.

[Muddypaws]

You really need to have two identical batteries if you have 2 of them. Hooking a new battery to an old battery is not a good idea either. If you have slides having two batteries is a good idea. Almost mandatory if you have multiple slides. (I know, I know, they sell 'em that way, But it never works well that way!) Muddypaws

[450Donn]

Don't boon dock? Then get one battery and move on.

[gewilli]

I put two 6 V in my brothers Toy Hauler and he never had a dead battery again. 12 V wont last many years.

Costco has golf cart bats for under 100 bucks a piece.

[Mudmonkey]

So Number 2 was kaput as well. Dealer gave me a new 12V battery. I'll go with that until it starts to fail, then think about 2x6V deep cycle - a lot of people on here say it's proved to be the way to go. Thanks again, y'all.
Mud

[Ray,IN]

One battery will suffice if you do not boonbock/dry-camp overnight in cold weather. The furnace will deplete one battery overnight when dry-camping in freezing weather Personally I see no valid reason to buy 2 6V batteries. Six volt batteries do not multiply the amperage, just voltage. Two 12V batteries double available amperage, not voltage. My 12V batteries usually last 4 years, then fail. The 2nd ones cost $79 ea. in Jun'10.

[SmokeyWren]

My Keystone Sprinter fifth wheel RV came with one 12 volt battery. It was plenty for my use, but the ordinary car batteries didn't last long if I ever allowed it to discharge - such as running the furnace all night without being plugged in. I replaced it with an expensive 12-volt Optima BlueTop deep cycle marine battery and that was the answer.

I haven't had good luck running two 6-volt batteries wired to act like like one 12- volt. On my John Deere backhoe I gave up and replaced the two 6-volt batteries with two 12-bolt batteries of the same size - wired to act like one 12-volt - and have had no more battery problems.

[Atr786]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mudmonkey I bought a 2005 Fleetwood 270 TT last week, and it appears that both the batteries on it are no good - won't take a charge. The dealer who sold it to me says he didn't check them before he let me take it home, but will still only replace one of them. Question is, do I really need 2 batteries, as we don't plan to 'boondock' anywhere without shore power any time? Many thanks. Mud.

Congratulations on your purchase. I am a newbie to the TT community and purchased a used TT from a dealer in Nov 2011.

I didn't have a great experience with my purchase and feel the dealer should have done a walk through with you prior to final sale.

The cheap dealer should make it right and replace the $200.00 dollar battery and maybe you would refer others to his company. I wouldn't buy another piece of equipment from him.

Good luck and happy camping. Mine is sitting in my driveway waiting to be used. It's winterized and I have a few trips set up starting in May.