6V Battery Upgrade

[Roadroket]

Hello to all,
Just purchased a 2016 23MRB and I have been doing some research on 6V vs 12V batteries. I understand that dual 6V batteries are better in the long run but my question is with 2 Honda 2000 generators running in series do I even need to do the upgrade to two 6V batteries? I do not plan on going camping without the generators so would the upgraded batteries even be needed since the 12V batteries be sufficient enough for short time uses?

[oldmanAZ]

Welcome to the JOF and congratulations on the new White Hawk.

The first step to answer your question is to figure out how much power you will be drawing from the battery/batteries between charging. Next, you will need to know if generator run times are restricted where you will be camping - can you run the generators long enough to recharge your battery/batteries?

(Also, the generators are connected in parallel with a parallel kit. )

[Rustic Eagle]

Welcome to JOF

The 12V batteries supplied with TT's are in most cases a standard Marine/Deep Cycle battery which isn't a 100% "True Deep Cycle" battery. A true deep cycle battery will provide increased amp capacity, accept a deeper "depth of discharge" (DoD), and provide considerably more re-charge cycles.

IMO if you plan to do a considerable amount of boondocking with the original 12V Marine/Deep Cycle you will end up-grading into a true deep cycle battery (12V or 6V) sooner rather then later, and may find yourself firing up the genny more often to re-charge the standard Marine/Deep Cycle battery.

If electric will be supplied at the majority of your camping destinations and your plan is for some occasional weekend boondocking, then the standard Marine/Deep Cycle (w/genny) may meet your requirements.

Bob

[Roadroket]

Originally Posted by oldmanAZ

Welcome to the JOF and congratulations on the new White Hawk.

The first step to answer your question is to figure out how much power you will be drawing from the battery/batteries between charging. Next, you will need to know if generator run times are restricted where you will be camping - can you run the generators long enough to recharge your battery/batteries?

(Also, the generators are connected in parallel with a parallel kit. )

Now that is a very good question. Being new to this whole TT RVing thing I'm not really sure how to answer that. More than likely starting out probably not be camping in a whole lot of places that do not have hookups, but we are moving from San Fran to Miami this year so that trip by itself will probably put us in places for the night other than campgrounds and RV parks.
We have yet to take it on our first shakedown trip just to get an idea on what exactly we will and will not use off genny or shore-tie.

[RoyBraddy]

I always carry my 2KW Honda Generator with me on all trips. This is the best PLAN B you can have... I always carry a 10AMP Smart Mode portable 120VAc charger as well.

Believe me you will run down your Truck Start battery or the Trailer batteries when you don't expect it...

I elected to beef up my trailer batteries along with all of the power savings things I could easily do like changing over to LED lights and upgrading to larger battery cables etc.

Where we camp we have alot of Generator run time restrictions in place and you can only run your your generator a few hours in the morning and then again in the late afternoon. No where I can run my generator at public campgrounds after 8PM at night. We do not have DISPERSED camping locations here like out West.

The situation is alot different out West on running generators when 'YOU' want to but I know you will run into restrictions as well...

My setup usually starts around 6PM each evening and I will run a good 20AMPS draw fro my batteries until around 10PM each night running lights - Home entertainment items - charging of cell phones and tablets - occasional lap electric blankets - fans - WX Radio - some Ham Radio Ops etc... Note this does not include Air Conditioning or use of high wattage microwave. We do carry a small white faced 600W microwave that gets us by.

This has all been planned to drain my battery bank down to its 50% charge state by 8AM the next morning. This is when I hook up my trailer shore power cable to the 2KW generator which will recharge my batteries back up to their 90% charge state in a three hour generator run time... this of course is when I am usually allowed to run my generator.

This is also when we make coffee for the day using the generator. My grind and brew fresh bean coffee maker only uses the generator for about five to make a 10-cup carafe of coffee. This coffee pours up into a thermos carafe and stays hot all day long...

This is basically how we camp off the power grid here on the east side of the US...

The use of two 6V golf cart deep cycle batteries make one hugh 12V DC battery with alot of amp hours capacity. You can go by the weight... A typical 6V GC2 GP24 battery weighs around 62lbs each - Two wired is series to give you a 12VDC battery now weighs 124lbs. A typical 12VDC GP24 battery weighs around 47 lbs - A GP27 around 55lbs... The heavier the batteries the larger the inner cores are which produce more capacity...

We are planning on adding solar panels to reduce the amount of time we need to run the generator to get our battery charged back up from the 50% to the 90% charge state.

This is good info on when you can expect to use your generator and on what to expect out of larger battery banks...

Its all in the planning... You just can't show up at the camp grounds... It will get dark on you around 10PM real quick and no way to get home haha...

Now if you just go to shore power locations maybe you can do ok - bu t what fun is that... You can camp in the back yard doing that plugged into the garage...

Roy Ken

[Seann45]

Even with Honda 2000's if you are Boondocking please stay at least 500 m away from me. I want to avoid the noise and smell...
Now to answer your question.. do you plan to run them all day? if not then a pair of 6's would be your best bet.. then you just recharge them in the morning and use the gen's in the evening for making supper..

[Mustang65]

Originally Posted by Seann45

Even with Honda 2000's if you are Boondocking please stay at least 500 m away from me. I want to avoid the noise and smell...
Now to answer your question.. do you plan to run them all day? if not then a pair of 6's would be your best bet.. then you just recharge them in the morning and use the gen's in the evening for making supper..

x2

That is why we went with SOLAR, no noise, batteries recharged by 2 or 3pm while still using the microwave.. hate generator noise/smell. A few of the campgrounds in CO did not allow generators at all.

Don

[Flybuddy]

The Honda 2000s are wonderful gensets. If you have one 2000 companion or the magic box, you basically have a full 30 amp setup and very quiet. I would still recommend the two 6 Volt batteries. They're cheap and you'll be tripling your available amps over a standard group 24 or 27 "marine" not so deep cycle.