MH battery set up...: Anyone plug this set up in?

[fkloster]

Pondering this set up for house batteries....:

6 (six) Lifeline 6-Volt AGM model# "GPL-6CT" to fit on an 8D house tray.

3 sets of 2 bats in Serial/Parallel configuration. (each batt rated @ 692 minutes reserve using 25 amps... only the imagination can wonder how long it would take to run this bank into the ground...)


Would have 'wicked' reserve time imho. Ideas or opinions?

(albeit this is an EXTREMELY spendy setup i.e. $2,100 bucks just for the house batts.... but for boondocking? would there be a better setup?)

[RJay]

Just curious, what are you using to charge these batteries? What is the chargers capacity?

[fkloster]

Originally Posted by RJay

Just curious, what are you using to charge these batteries? What is the chargers capacity?

I have a Xantrix Prosine 2.0 2000 watt 3 stage inverter, charger when on shore power.

When motorhome is barrelling down the road... a 160amp alternator supplies charging in some way (i'm not exactly sure how though...)

When running the genny (Onan 7.5 KW) charge would come through the inverter?

Ideas? .... is this 'too' much battery to charge in this configuration?

[DAN L]

Originally Posted by fkloster

Pondering this set up for house batteries....:

6 (six) Lifeline 6-Volt AGM model# "GPL-6CT" to fit on an 8D house tray.

3 sets of 2 bats in Serial/Parallel configuration. (each batt rated @ 692 minutes reserve using 25 amps... only the imagination can wonder how long it would take to run this bank into the ground...)


Would have 'wicked' reserve time imho. Ideas or opinions?

(albeit this is an EXTREMELY spendy setup i.e. $2,100 bucks just for the house batts.... but for boondocking? would there be a better setup?)

i got my pair of gpl-6ct's from bd batteries online. their price includes shipping.
these batteries weigh 90# each. can your battery tray handle the weight?
each battery has 300 ah capacity. if you discharge them more than 50% (12.2v), you will shorten their life. if you take care of them, lifeline batteries will last about 10 years.
realistically, your series-parallel hookup would have 450 ah to use before recharging.
you need to make a chart of your 12v users, including how much your inverter draws, to see how long your battery bank will last before recharging is necessary.
my system lasts about 1 day when using the propane furnace (11.5 amps), lights, and the 2 inverter powered tv's, dvd-vcr recorder-player. that is about 150 ah.
when calculating how much current your inverter draws for appliances, divide the wattage by 10 instead of 12v to account for conversion losses. eg: 300w = 30 amps power draw from your battery bank. that is about what my inverter uses to power my entertainment system.
i find that it is better to idle the moho engine and use the 145 amp alternator than to run the genny and use the 45 amp converter-charger to recharge the batteries.
if we need to use the microwave or run the ac, we run the genny.
the amount of fuel consumed per hour is close to the same with the engine or the genny.
check these resource, have fun reading.

SmartGauge Electronics - Interconnecting multiple batteries to form one larger bank

http://www.rvcruzer.com/electrical/tutorial.php

Batteries -- and Other Electric Stuff by phred

The 12volt Side of Life (Part 1)

Deep Cycle Battery FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - DC Battery Specialists

Lifeline GPL-6CT Battery

[jcthorne]

Wow, 300Ah but $400 each....Wow. Out of my league for new toys for now.

A normal wet cell golf cart battery is about 80Ah right? 3.5x the capacity. Hmmmm

[Cruzer]

I ran that same setup on our '04 Allegro Bus. Six of the Concorde Lifeline 6 volt AGMs, connected as three banks of series pairs. 660 amp-hrs at 12 volts total capacity. I ran a Xantrex RS2000 true sine wave inverter/charger (100 amp charge capacity) and also had the Xantrex AGS module that controlled my Onan 7KW genset. I had 440 watts of solar panel on the roof with a 50 amp charge controller. My fridge was a Norcold 12 cu ft fridge, the water heater was propane/electric, and my dual furnaces were propane.

I could easily boondock all day with those batteries but if it was cool I may not make it 24 hours with the furnaces running at night. Then again, we did not conserve power and our DVRs were running 24/7 and generally not much sun. What I did was fire up the genset in the morning during breakfast to help top off the batteries at the same time as the microwave was being used. 30-45 minutes was fine. I did the same in the evening after supper.

Our current coach is similar but we now have an RS3000 inverter, a 10KW genset, a 22 cu ft Amana residential fridge, and HydroHot heating so the power usage is higher. I also have 12 DCS-88 12 volt AGM batteries, for a total of 1,056 amp-hr capacity. Now I can go longer. Having solar panels helps but they aren't very cost effective unless you do lots of boondocking for extended times. If we boondock for a day or two we can just recharge as we drive. If staying longer we'll need to run the genset. The main advantage to either solar panels or more batteries is the ability to stretch the time between generator recharges. Adding batteries is the most cost effective way to do that.

[RVThere]

I bought 4 'GPL-6CT's in March. Only had to change the switch on my Dimensions inverter and connect them in series.

They were great during my April cross country trip with an extended stay in Yosemite with no hookups and many nights in truck stops.

Even after using blow dryers, TV, electric tea pot and running two furnaces all night they still have about 75% charge in the morning.

As these batteries are tall, make sure your tray has at least 14 inches of vertical clearance to fit all the connections.