So the battery that came with my 2017 29.5 BHDS has got to be the worst battery I've come across.. Battery disconnect switch off, after two weeks of sitting, it is dead as a door nail. I'm sure something is vampire draining the thing, but what I don't know.
So now I've got myself convinced that spending some money and upgrading the battery is a good idea. However, this is a crazy complicated topic..
First issue - the battery compartment is pretty small! I was thinking it'd be a good idea to buy some nice batteries in preparation for an eventual solar install. The note here is whatever I buy today I'd like to be reusable in a more robust system later.
That said - any suggestions on a) what to buy and b) if there are any creative ways to get more batteries in that tiny compartment?!
I'd like batteries that don't require a whole lot in the way of maintenance.
I have the same problem. Have a 2017 Eagle HT 28.5 RSTS. Can't dry camp for more than a couple of days. We're very frugal using any power slso. No lights during the day and battery powered lanterns at night. Water pump on only when we need it. Run fridge on propane. Battery compartment is small. No way you could add a battery. Maybe I could run another battery and place it in the front storage com part, but don't know if it can be done. Will be interesting to see what you get for responses. Good luck!
On the 29.5 bhds you can fit two batteries in there end to end. I currently have 2 6V Trojan T105s in there in mine. I don't have them in a box yet, that is coming in the spring. I have the box, I just haven't trimmed the height on it to make it fit.
I removed the wood panel that separates the battery compartment from the pass through storage and slide them in through there. I'll probably just leave that panel off, since I don't see much reason to pot it back. I got an end to end battery box and need to trim the height so that the box and lid can slide under the steel bracket that is at the edge of the battery compartment. I screwed some 2x2 wood pieces to the floor to prevent the box from sliding during transit.
If your battery area is similar to what I had in my old 26.5 RLS.....
It had some open areas that led to the propane compartment (which is open to the world through the bottom) and you could see the outside world through some larger openings in the bottom sides of the battery compartment itself. Many more square inches of ventilation than the 2" hose that went to the battery box. So needing dedicated ventilation was not an issue.
Based on my boat, I knew it took some really hard shaking and pounding to get acid to splash out of the batteries - far, far more than an RV will ever be subjected to. (you never see a car battery in a box....)
So, I just completely removed the battery box. I put a 1/4 plywood floor in, just to be belt and suspenders about acid (easy to replace if there were a small spill) and provide a little better support. The compartment was just wide enough to accommodate two Costco 6v golf cart batteries and a piece of 1/4 ply to keep them tight side-to-side. I cut a 2 2x4 lengths to fill the remaining length of the compartment, so they would not slide front to back.
I took the ventilation hose out, but left the louvered area in the front, figuring more air is better.
Ran that way for 3 years, over 12,000 miles. Never a sign of any acid splash.
The head tech at the dealership saw what I did, and noted that everything looked great. He did advise that since I was going up in battery capacity, the standard charger might try to push too much current to the batteries if they were really, really low. This would cause the in-line fuse to blow. Said it was a pretty common problem. He advised buying an automatic in-line circuit breaker to replace the fuse - too much current and the breaker would trip. When it cooled down it would reset and charging would restart automatically. Once the batteries were partially recharged, there wouldn't be an issue as the wiring could handle the then normal current.
With LED lights, we could use them every evening, run the TV and my CPAP off an inverter, and occasionally even fire up the furnace for brief periods to take the chill off. I always got 3 days doing that, never pushed to see if I could get longer.
Many times the guilty culprit in battery use is the always on smoke detector....
I always undid a cable at the battery if it was going to be unused for more than a week or so.
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2012 Ford F-150 Eco, SCrew, 4x4, MaxTow, HD Payload
SOB, used to be:Jayco 26.5 RLS
So the battery that came with my 2017 29.5 BHDS has got to be the worst battery I've come across.. Battery disconnect switch off, after two weeks of sitting, it is dead as a door nail. I'm sure something is vampire draining the thing, but what I don't know.
So now I've got myself convinced that spending some money and upgrading the battery is a good idea. However, this is a crazy complicated topic..
First issue - the battery compartment is pretty small! I was thinking it'd be a good idea to buy some nice batteries in preparation for an eventual solar install. The note here is whatever I buy today I'd like to be reusable in a more robust system later.
That said - any suggestions on a) what to buy and b) if there are any creative ways to get more batteries in that tiny compartment?!
I'd like batteries that don't require a whole lot in the way of maintenance.
Thanks!
D
Hi in our 16 Eagle the camper came with group 24 battery instead of 27s like the manual states.In other camper we used golf car 6v two of them,from Wall Mart.In our Eagle we added 1 more 12 volt deep cycle.And a 275 watt solar system,we pretty much don't worry about battery charging anymore.Before that we bought the Harbor Freight 40 watt portable panel.Worked better than we thought!Happy Trails
Cdash,
I've been trying to calculate how to get two T105's in my 26.5RLS for months.
For an engineer, sometimes I can get stuck "inside the box" - in this case literally.
I was going by the battery store and see if I could get the manager to let me TRY and get two batteries in though that door.
NEVER occurred to me to cut a new opening into the basement LOL - brilliant!
Can you give us the manufacturer, part number, source, etc. of the battery box that you bought and need to cut down? I'd like to do the same thing.
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Buddy Ray - Atlanta
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Jayco 2016 Eagle HT 26.5RLS
Ford 2016 F150 Lariat, 3.5L V6 Ecoboost
Max Tow Pkg, 36gal tank
Reese Sidewinder and Reese Titan 16k hitch
You ABSOLUTELY DO have current leaks, turning off the battery disconnect won't stop them, they don't all come from where you would expect, and you can fix them.
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Buddy Ray - Atlanta
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Jayco 2016 Eagle HT 26.5RLS
Ford 2016 F150 Lariat, 3.5L V6 Ecoboost
Max Tow Pkg, 36gal tank
Reese Sidewinder and Reese Titan 16k hitch
metedelen , nice job!!! GREAT battery selection also.
Don
Thanks!!!
And I should have made mention to the OP that my trailer model is a 26.5BHS but the compartments I believe are pretty similar to OP's rig.
I also seem to suffer from the mysterious battery draw with the disconnect engaged. Thinking maybe the switch (also located in the battery compartment) to the back up camera is separate from the battery disconnect?
That's a nice job mtedelen but I'm already carrying a bunch of stuff in that compartment - have build in storage, etc.
Did you check my posts (earlier in this post) about battery drain and how to rewire the 26.5's to prevent it? It's not the backup cameara - it's the slide controllers and levelup (if you have them) controllers.) They are wired directly to the battery and don't go through the disconnect switch. And they have a constant draw of about .02 amp each - not much but together enough to drain the battery when you add that to the gas detector.
__________________
Buddy Ray - Atlanta
---------------
Jayco 2016 Eagle HT 26.5RLS
Ford 2016 F150 Lariat, 3.5L V6 Ecoboost
Max Tow Pkg, 36gal tank
Reese Sidewinder and Reese Titan 16k hitch
Run everything to the switched side of the disconnect switch. The only thing that needs to be connected to the battery is the break-away switch. Then you should have "0" loads.
That's a nice job mtedelen but I'm already carrying a bunch of stuff in that compartment - have build in storage, etc.
Did you check my posts (earlier in this post) about battery drain and how to rewire the 26.5's to prevent it? It's not the backup cameara - it's the slide controllers and levelup (if you have them) controllers.) They are wired directly to the battery and don't go through the disconnect switch. And they have a constant draw of about .02 amp each - not much but together enough to drain the battery when you add that to the gas detector.
Hey Buddy, so I glanced at it yesterday but need to read it over more thoroughly. Thanks for putting the time into that write up.
metedelen , nice job!!! GREAT battery selection also.
Don
Hey Mustang65 I have attached a load usage chart from Jayco for my 2016 Eagle. Don't know if it will be of any help. We used it when we set up are solar last summer! Happy Trails
Hey Mustang65 I have attached a load usage chart from Jayco for my 2016 Eagle. Don't know if it will be of any help. We used it when we set up are solar last summer! Happy Trails
Thanks for the list,
I added a 12VDC Amp column for those that either plan on dry camping with an inverter or plan on installing SOLAR. And you wonder why that battery discharges so fast.
Thank you for the description and photo. I am looking at doing this on my 29.5 FBDS. It looks like the dual 6 volt batteries with the Century Plastics Box will fit. Below is a photo of my battery compartment with dimensions. The dimensions are the interior of compartment, not the access door.
I see some people are using T-105 and others T-145. It appears dual batteries of either will fit. How do you choose?
It looks like T-105 is 62 lbs x 2 =129 lbs, and T-145 Plus is 72 lbs x 2 = 144 lbs.
Is anyone reinforcing the floor under the batteries? The standard floor doesn't seem super strong, like it would support 129-144 lbs?
Thank you for the description and photo. I am looking at doing this on my 29.5 FBDS. It looks like the dual 6 volt batteries with the Century Plastics Box will fit. Below is a photo of my battery compartment with dimensions. The dimensions are the interior of compartment, not the access door.
I see some people are using T-105 and others T-145. It appears dual batteries of either will fit. How do you choose?
It looks like T-105 is 62 lbs x 2 =129 lbs, and T-145 Plus is 72 lbs x 2 = 144 lbs.
Is anyone reinforcing the floor under the batteries? The standard floor doesn't seem super strong, like it would support 129-144 lbs?
T-105 vs T-145, for me was all about local availability. Seems like everyone stocks the 105's, the 145's, no so much.
For mine, the only way to get the two batteries in is to slide it in through the basement, via removing the panel that separates the basement from the battery compartment. When I do the box, I'll have to load the batteries in the box, place them in the pass through/basement, then slide the loaded box, with lid on, into the battery compartment. If your picture was of my camper, it would be sliding the box into the compartment from the left.
If you don't have access to that compartment from the side, I don't believe you'll be able to get everything in via the door. Not enough free space to do so. That is what lead me to coming in from the side.
And I didn't worry about floor capacity. While two batteries weigh more, I think loading wise, one battery sitting in the middle is more severe than two batteries. The wood will deflect in the middle, which will lead to the batteries pushing on each other and "arching" pushing the load to the outsides. I may be crazy, but it made it all year including the trip to Glacier and back and Florida and back, along with shorter weekend trips.
T-105 vs T-145, for me was all about local availability. Seems like everyone stocks the 105's, the 145's, no so much.
For mine, the only way to get the two batteries in is to slide it in through the basement, via removing the panel that separates the basement from the battery compartment. When I do the box, I'll have to load the batteries in the box, place them in the pass through/basement, then slide the loaded box, with lid on, into the battery compartment. If your picture was of my camper, it would be sliding the box into the compartment from the left.
If you don't have access to that compartment from the side, I don't believe you'll be able to get everything in via the door. Not enough free space to do so. That is what lead me to coming in from the side.
And I didn't worry about floor capacity. While two batteries weigh more, I think loading wise, one battery sitting in the middle is more severe than two batteries. The wood will deflect in the middle, which will lead to the batteries pushing on each other and "arching" pushing the load to the outsides. I may be crazy, but it made it all year including the trip to Glacier and back and Florida and back, along with shorter weekend trips.