Input on AGM batteries

[TQ60]

Bedliner in a rattle can is about 10 bucks or so.

Works well.

Prep it per instructiins

[Shadowcatche]

Batteries in a bank need to be identical.

[twinboat]

This quoit is from Yandina.com a expert in the field of battery charging.

"Although the conventional recommendations are not to mix old and new, good and bad, BIG and SMALL, etc. in parallel, those misconceptions actually only relate to batteries in SERIES. You should understand the reasons and make up your own mind. The truth is that you can parallel just about anything. The downside is, if they are not matched, one battery (the newer) will tend to carry more of the load and the total capacity will be slightly less than the sum of the individual capacities. If your new battery has a capacity of 100AH and the old one still had 45AH left, then in parallel you will get something around 145AH, where had they both been new 200AH would fit in the space, but it will help and it will work.
When the old one eventually dies, it will drag the new one down but this happens whenever two batteries are in parallel and one dies, the only difference here is it is going to happen sooner than it would had they both been brand new. So big deal, you gained some residual use out of the old one and the new one will not be permanently damaged - just charge it up again.
The bottom line is the batteries in parallel provide more power - never less - than either one on its own - it just may not be the "ideal" way to do it."

This is my understanding,

Every time you plug in your charger or start your engine, you are creating a large bank of different size batteries.

As soon as that clunk of the Big Boy or BIRD solenoid is heard, large cables connect the positive cables of house and chassis batteries.

They would only separate during long duration, high amp draws, pulling the voltage of both banks down below 13.2. Than the affected bank is on its own. ( heavy inverter use or engine starting ). Once the affected bank recharges above 13.2, it reconnect to the other bank, creating one big single bank of batteries again.

While boondocking the banks disconnect, to protect 1 bank from discharging below a level needed to start the engine.

I bought my old MH 16 months ago with a brand new 12 volt house battery under the step. I added a pair of 6 volt ( in series ) in a compartment nearby and connected them to the 12 volt. It tripled my capacity for my many Wal-Mart and Flying J nights, and has not caused any problems with any batteries.

Just my ramblings.

[mque]

I did use 6v for house and 12v for starting but they are charged separately. I may not understand your question but just as a comment I would not charge 6v and 12 volt as house batteries for example. As far as repainting the slides. I would recommend a product called (POR 15 paint). You can buy it on Amazon and other placed. It combines with and neutralizes the rust and provides a black tough coating. Its the best stuff I have found for this application. Its about $45 per quart, but it goes a long way and last. Its not just a paint but a chemically bonded coating.

[ladagobago]

Yandina.com a expert in the field of battery charging??

Not certain I trust everything said by the above. I have known ALL ABOUT yandina for over 25 years. she was on the boating list for years and had a few good ideas. Those ideas which were good turned into patents.

As for mixing batteries. lets just say I have over 600 batteries I test every years in fire alarm systems. We never mix different size batteries and if we replace one of a group of batteries we replace all. (BY CODE REQUIREMENT). Also all batteries are replace at five years regardless.

We test our batteries with a $450 load tester which show percent of charge. If below 60% on AGM, LA or Flooded we replace them too. AGAIN BY CODE REQUIREMENT. ANd for the the good batteries that were taken out and replace by new, if they meet the test standard we use them in pairs or single installations. reason is if one battery starts to go down it will pull the other battery down with it and the charge system will try to compensate eventually over charging the bad battery. These bad batteries are sometimes so hot we can not touch them and they have swelled.

My personal experience with flooded 12 vdc on my MH is that one of four had developed a bad cell. it shorted out the battery and eventually took down the alternator and other batteries. I gave up on 12V house batteries and went back to 6 V golf cart. the same I used in my boat for 25 years.

As Tony the Tiger says " Their GREAT"