Community Forums

gcollins1954 · 01-15-2022, 09:39 PM

We have been fulltiming since September of 2019 in our 2004 Holiday Rambler Presidential 37 foot 5th wheel and started with 2 brand new deep cell batteries and also changed the power converter to a new smart charger converter. Everything works fantastic with no issues. What is the average life of the batteries and charger converter?? Thanks to all

hclarkx · 01-15-2022, 10:06 PM

With any luck, the charger/converter should last many years. Likely until you decide to convert to lithium batteries and need a compatible one.

As for the batteries, "average" is not a helpful number IMHO, even if it were possible to get enough of a sampling to come up with a number. The real answer is "it depends." It depends on battery type and how the batteries are used and how well the batteries are cared for. It's easy to get only two years out of flooded lead-acid batteries. It's not hard to get 5-10 years out of AGM batteries. If you want long battery life, it pays to do some research. This site is often mentioned. https://batteryuniversity.com/articles

twinboat · 01-15-2022, 10:17 PM

Batteries age by cycles. If you spend every night with out shore power, expect to get 500 to 1000 nights before they need replacement.
If you rarely dry camp then you can get many years of service.

The important thing is to keep the chage at 100% and check the water.

Mudfrog · 01-15-2022, 11:34 PM

As stated, there are a lot of variables which makes it impossible to give a real good answer.

But since I'm here, I'll give the experience I've had with our rig's house batteries. Our rig will be 19 years old in 5 days. It came with two 12 volt batteries and that's the way I have left it. We almost always camp with shore power and rarely camp without. I maintain the batteries (clean, add water) as needed.

The oems gave out back in 2009 and the Interstate batteries I replaced them with lasted to 2015. Installed Everstart batteries then and that's what's in there now. Doing the math, I'm averaging a bit over 6 years with each set so far.

wildmandmc · 01-16-2022, 04:09 AM

6 yrs seems to be a good time frame. money's worth. Prob the sticker shock of what you paid an what you have to pay now could be a wth. lol

sibe · 01-16-2022, 05:15 AM

Good info here.. Battery posts seem to get dragged out.. In use over my last 13 years with some type of RVing and deep cell use..
1. Good batteries build for deep cycle/recharge
2. Proper Charger system
3. Basic maintenance, water, cables etc..

Then it is all about discharge and charge cycles.. How hard you use them...

Personally, I have had 5 years out of my sets.. They see 50-90 recharge cycles per year.. depends on what I do and where I go...
At 3-4 years I can tell a bit less capacity , makes sense...

JFXG · 01-16-2022, 09:40 PM

As twinboat said, it depends on quality, care, and usage.
We bought our ‘02 Dutch Star in 2012. At that time I bought new Interstate chassis and house batteries, a pair of Gp31 AGM and four GC2 flooded. We almost never boondock, perhaps a half dozen nights per year on batteries, in circumstances where we can’t or don’t want to run the Gen. Other than that our electrics are always plugged into shore or powered by our Gen. In these cases our batteries, with normal, reasonable care, lasted a full eight years. I replaced them in summer 2020 solely based on age,… they were operating just fine. I replaced them with a like set of Interstates, except that this time I bought AGMs for the house batteries as well.