Battery info that is real

[NHstuckinGA]

I have read and heard so much of battery care, that I am having trouble filtering the chaff from the wheat.
What do you do to have the darn thing(s) last more than 2-3 years?

[bdreinv]

Originally Posted by NHstuckinGA

I have read and heard so much of battery care, that I am having trouble filtering the chaff from the wheat.
What do you do to have the darn thing(s) last more than 2-3 years?

Oddly enough we went to Solar last year wanting to get away from shore power.With the MPPT controller it manages the power so well we have not added water to the batteries in a year.My previous camper it was every month.And not hooked up the battery charger once. Happy Trails

[Jagiven]

I am still using my original battery. I check the fluid levels once in a while, if needed top the cells off with Distilled water. I might add water every couple years. If I am not going to have the tt plugged in for a few days while in storage, I pull the battery fuse, I do not have a disconnect. We park the htt at home in the summer, so it is almost always plugged in. In the winter, I pull the battery, and store it in the garage. I put the battery maintenance charger on it twice during the winter.

I extremely rarely ever let the charge drop below 50 percent. We boondock occasionally, when we do I have a spare battery I bring, and swap out batteries if needed.

That's it and I now am starting year 5 on the cheap oem interstate battery.

Good luck.

[Mustang65]

Originally Posted by NHstuckinGA

I have read and heard so much of battery care, that I am having trouble filtering the chaff from the wheat.
What do you do to have the darn thing(s) last more than 2-3 years?

Are yours the ones that did not last 2 or 3 years? Can you give us a little background on how you maintained your batteries for the last 2 or 3 years?

Have they ever been discharged totally?
Do you discharge them until the lights went dim or the heater fan did not perform at peak performance?
Battery voltage below 12.0VDC?
Water level dropped and exposed the tops of its cells to air?
Do you disconnect the batteries while storing between trips?

Do you monitor your battery voltage level?

Answer the questions truthfully and we can help you.

Don

My Registry

RVing with SOLAR

[NHstuckinGA]

I have not had a battery fail. Yet.
My battery is 13 months +/- old and I have had no problem with it. Just trying to head-off any issues down the road. In my vehicles, the batteries last 4-7 years, so I am hoping by taking care of the water levels etc...I can make them last.
Make sense?

[Mustang65]

There are a few things that go along with maintaining water levels. The connections need to be tight and clean. Also make sure that the negative cable connection to the TT's frame is tight and clean. Dirty/loose connections alter the charge/discharge status and can cause over/under charging.

Watching battery voltage is another priority. The 12VDC battery is fully charged at 12.6VDC and is considered fully discharged at 10.5VDC, if the voltage drops below the 12.0VDC mark (50% rule) it shortens the battery life. If the battery is fully discharged to 0 volts, there is a good chance that you will never fully recover from it and it may not hold a charge any longer.

If the TT is in storage, pull the main fuse to disconnect it from the TT so it does not drain the battery. If you do not plan to use the TT for an extended period of time, I would recommend putting it on a smart charger.

As a battery ages (or has some drops below 12.0VDC) the Ah of the battery drops. The battery looks good, it shows a 13.2VDC float voltage, without a load on it may stay at 12.6 or 12.8 for a long time, but will not last long once you put a load on it.

I have 2 Interstate 85Ah batteries that came with the TT 5 years ago. They are on a smart charger and remain at 12.8VDC for months without the charger. Sounds like they are as good as new. I decide to test them using a Dump load resistor from a wind generator and when the voltage hit 10.5 VDC I calculated the AH... at 41Ah but the usable Ah is 50% of that or about 20Ah, which means that there would not be enough to watch much Tv or expect the heater to last a night.
Link to test results: RVing with SOLAR "The Results Are in". There is a lot of GOOD battery information in our RVing with SOLAR social group.

If you do not have a Digital Voltage Display, I would recommend getting one that will help you keep an eye on the battery voltage level.

It has been 5 years and my (2) Trojan T145 (260Ah) batteries are still going strong, yes they are showing signs of getting old so I figure maybe another year before replacing them.

Hope this helps

Don

My Registry

RVing with SOLAR

[jimp]

I check the water level on a regular basis, and use the BatteryMinder smart charger on both the cranking and house batteries.