Batteries

[stans02]

My jayco has a battery that is around 3 years old. This was told to me by the maker of the battery. The battery is a Life line. After the the battery sits for around 3 weeks it is almost dead. So I believe it may be time for a replacement batt. I was quoted a price of around 340.00 with taxes. So my question is: Cosco has deep cycle battries for around 90.00 Will one of these battries do the job? What about installing two batterys? I have the room. Stan

[cdrcos@gmail.com]

First off, I assume you are talking about the RV battery and not the "truck" battery.

Most folks just get a Costco or Sam's Club/Walmart battery and that usually works fine. These are not true deep-cycle batteries like the kind used in golf carts, etc., but are marine batteries used in boats and many RV's and cost around $80. Your RV will recharge the battery when you drive or are plugged into AC power. I'm not sure how long these will last when not being used, but I have left them in the RV over the winter, disconnected, and they still had 2/3 charge left in the spring.

If you are planning to boondock/dry camp and try to live off the batteries for long periods of time without recharging the battery, then you may need something more in the line of a real deep-cycle, such as Trojan. Hope this helps...

[3'senough]

Couple of points to consider and also to help with life span.

• Can you plug into an outlet when stored?
• What year is your unit?
• Do you boondock or full service camp mostly?
• Is there a kill switch on your current unit?
• Do you have room for 2 batteries?
• Have you put the battery on a load tester after charging?

There are several ways you can improve your batteries but all will depend on your answers to the above questions. The price you are being quoted seems very high too and might not be what you need based on your camping style.

If you boondock and can fit 2 then go to a club store and pick up 2 x6V GC2 size batteries. They will last several years and cost under $200.00 for the set.
If you camp with electric always then just go with the hybrid deep cycle from Costco. If occasional boondock then 6 x 6V.
Disconnecting you batteries while stored without power will enhance the life. Consider a kill switch on the negative side. There are low voltage draws on them always.
If you can hook up to electric and have a 2010 or newer unit with the smart charger then do so while stored.
Hope this helps.

[The Hawk]

Remember a battery will last longer if you discharge it, do not keep it charged up full all the time.

[Seann45]

Originally Posted by The Hawk

Remember a battery will last longer if you discharge it, do not keep it charged up full all the time.

Sorry but that is advice for NiCads not for wet cell batteries.. Wet cell batteries should NEVER be discharged below 50% it will shorten their life..

With the phantom loads that an RV puts on the battery it is best to disconnect the battery before going into storage..

[stans02]

This is my RV battery. I charged it for about 22 hrs. Let is set around 6 hours, then took it to the RV dealer they checked it, and is was ok showing full charge. I put it back in, and when I tuched the hot to the battery I saw a small spark. Not a continous spark, but after a few minutes another small spark. The main switch is off. So something has a small drain. If I disconnect the battery when stored I should be ok. I have a new deep cycle batteyfor my tractor I may bring it along when I go camping, as some of my time will be dry caming, just incase. Stan

[tlhdoc]

There are "phantom" drains on an RV battery. The most common drains are the CO monitor and the propane monitor. If you disconnect the battery it should drain much slower.

[FPM III]

On my TT, the radio continually draws from the battery to keep the clock running.

On trailers equipped with electric brakes, it's important to have a sufficiently charged trailer battery before towing. If you have a weak battery when you connect to your tow vehicle, there might not be enough power when the breakaway switch attampts to energize the brakes should the trailer completely separate from the tow vehicle and become a runaway. A battery in good health will eventually get charged by the tow vehicle while traveling, but that will take awhile.

[Mikebo]

Buy the Costco deep cycle battery, not a marine starting battery, keep your rv plugged when not in use. If that is not possible, add a solar battery maintainer to your rv or remove the battery and put it on a plug in battery maintainer.

Mike

[Boss Wagon]

If you keep your RV battery or batteries on constant charge you will need to check the water level periodically. When you need to add water, only used distilled water. A hydrometer is the cheapest tool for checking the health of your battery because you check each cell individually for the proper specific gravity.

If you don't have a hydrometer, you can check for a bad cell by taking off the caps and have someone else put a load on the battery. If you see bubbling in a cell, the battery is history.

For motorhomes, or travel trailers with enough room, two six volt golf car batteries are the way to go for the house battery.

In addition to proper maintenance, batteries need some movement on a regular basis. In other words on the road with normal suspension action as long as you don't drive like Walker Evans.

I have had batteries in cars, with removable caps to check water levels, that have lasted 7 years. You won't believe this but I once had a Die Hard with removable caps that came in a 64 Chrysler 300 I bought in 1995. I used it for about 2 years and it gave up the ghost. I took it to Sears as a core for a new one and the guy there could not believe it came out of car currently in use. He said it was 15 years old. I don't know if it was true... that is what he said.