Best Battery for TT ??

[wa8yxm]

Battery depleated by 2nd night..That's very good..Most are gone in one (the design pramater is 8-10hours after all)

Here are some numbers
A 1141 lamp (Very common) is 19watts..IN DC circuits that's 19/12amps or about 1.8 (That would be 20 watts) Most celining fixtures have two of these so pull about 3.5-3.6 amps

A group 24 has 75 Amp Hours. A MARINE/DEEP CYCLE should be kept at least% full so you have about 20 amp hours you can use. Or 6 hours of 2 lamp use.

A GC-2 pair (you need two of these is 120 amp hour give or take 10 and you can safely use HALF the capacity of a DEEP CYCLE battery.. That is 110 amp hours. Or 31 hours of twin lamp opration.

AND THIS DOES NOT COUNT OTHER LOADS.

[MDG Travel]

Originally Posted by Rockwood27

One thing no one has commented on yet is how "depleted" did your battery get? For best (longest) battery life it should only be discharged no more than 50%..or about 12.1 volts. You need a volt meter and not the idiot lights on your monitor panel to measure voltage.

We let it deplete completely twice and charged it completely both times before we left.

[brulaz]

Originally Posted by Natebert

I've been happy with bondocking for a long weekend on a pair of 6v batteries (Trojan T- 105.) They were a little expensive and required new battery boxes (they are taller). I also upgraded my power converter to one that does PWM multi-stage charging, so that when I do run my generator, I know that it's charging appropriately and not just a trickle charge.

^This^

The OP (I think) asks if the converter will charge his new Grp 31 or whatever batteries. Answer: it depends.

Most WFCO converters will never get above 13.5V. That will not fully charge any lead acid battery. And not fully charging a battery leads to sulfation and early battery decline.

And drawing a flooded Lead acid battery down below 50% State-of-Charge (SOC), about 12.1V unloaded, also leads to early battery decline.

My solar system brings up the batteries to 14.8V daily. My (NON-wfco) converter/charger brings them up to 14.4V. That keeps them 100% charged and in good shape for the long-term.

[justafordguy]

Originally Posted by Superslif

Moving up to a group 27 or 31 battery, will my RV trailers converter be able to charge it as it does for my cheapoo group 24 battery?

Yes your current converter will be fine for charging a group 27 or 31 battery.

[caissiel]

RMy group 29 battery fits the box. The converter does not charge batteries enough to say they are at 100% and so does a generator. Unless a good high amp charger is used
Any solar is the solution for 100% charge to the battery.
I have 200 watt and it is paid for by extended battery life of 3 group 29 batteries. Including my truck batteries that I occasionally use as extras.
My brother in law has 75 watt of solar with his generator on the MH and his batteries are also at 100% every day.
I was not a believer now I am convinced the solar is the only solution be it 100 watt or 500 watt. Its designed to protect the batteries while allowing full capacity availability, unlike the converter that occasionally charges the batteries above 90%.
My batteries are usually at 65% in the morning and solar brings them to 100% everyday.
With solar I leave home with batteries at 100% charge every time.
With LED s and no AC appliances we do not change our living habits. We do watch TV (LED) and use the furnace till 11 pm and again the next morning.

[Superslif]

Yes your current converter will be fine for charging a group 27 or 31 battery.

Thanx,

Just received my 100 watt suitcase portable solar yesterday. With the RV parked in the driveway, I think I'll unplug the shore power and leave some lights on to draw down the batteries and plug the solar in to see what 4-5 hours do. Along with the solar I bought a digital volt readout meter. The readout panel that came with the RV tt is worthless. 1/3, 2/3 3/3 ?@5@?

[Blackhat6mike]

IMHO, there is no substitute for multiple batteries connected with a 4 way "Perko" switch. If one bat goes down, switch to the other or you can run both, or you can cut them both off. I started out with 2 125 amp hr deep cycle bats. That worked fine, then I went to 600 watts solar into 4 125 amp hr bats and haven't seen them below 12.3 VDC since. They hit 14.8 VDC everyday.
Our summers here in the South afford us up to 14 hrs a day of sunlight, so I get all the juice I can use. Haven't turned the converter on in 6 months as it doesn't charge as much as the panels using an MPPT solar converter.
Anyway, I recommend two 125 amp hr bats AND a 4-way switch.

[MDG Travel]

Originally Posted by davidki

When I bought my Jayco TT it had a Interstate group 24 Marine/RV battery with it and this year we had planned a trip to the Smokey's for 4 days.. knowing it would be dry camping I didn't want to get caught short... so, I changed out the group 24 to 2ea Trojan T105 deep cell batteries, 6v. in series, Now like it was said, it was a bit on the pricy side but with these batteries I know I can go alot longer and not have to worry.. I don' want to worry about recharging (if possible) and with the Trojans I think I can pretty easily go 4 or 5 days . My group 24 would be no where near it... bought the battery boxe's a tO' Riley auto parts for $10.00 ea. They come with tie downs and enough room to run my cables with no problem. I think the complete cost for my change out was under $250.00 and from what I hear if the Trojans are properly kept they will last a long time.

I also change out all the incandescent lights in the TT to LED and it lowered my draw by 80% and that change out on 22 lights was about $150.00 and well worth the money...

We look for campgrounds with hook ups as much as we can, but we don't want to limit our trips by not having the power to boondock if the occation comes up.

Can I ask where you found 22 LED's for $150.00?? The least expensive I have found are 16.00 each and I need 17.

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by MDG Travel

Can I ask where you found 22 LED's for $150.00?? The least expensive I have found are 16.00 each and I need 17.

I was looking last night. I need about 50 more at $29.10 EACH due to the shape of the reflector and glass cover. Guess I'll be running the halogen ones for a while longer! I do have about 10 fixtures that have no cover and the bulb is vertical and I was able to use cheaper bulbs in them. They were only $5.50 each.

[davidki]

I purchased mine on Amazon, 2 separate orders totaling about $150.00
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o09_s00

So far, they work fine, everyone that has seen them love the look and brightness..
Good luck..
Dave