How Many batteries?

[Bigdomino]

Dealer saws most buy with one. I am thinking I should have two. Looking at a White Hawk or JayFlight. Both rear living area models around 32 feet in length. Two seems better if you do some non-hookup camping. what do you all think?

Steve

[Subaru297]

Get him to throw in a cheap 12 volt battery for free and then you can upgrade your batteries yourself for cheaper and probably better quality than your dealer can.

Or tell him you want two 6 volt golf cart batteries and ask how much that is. Price them out yourself and see what the difference is.

Or tell him that you will get your own batteries and will bring them to the walk through and they can install them for you while you are doing the walk through.

Lots of options but I would say most people here that spend any amount of time not plugged in to shore power have at least two batteries. If you are only going to campgrounds with shore power one battery will be sufficient.

Cheers

[Mustang65]

Originally Posted by Bigdomino

Dealer saws most buy with one. I am thinking I should have two. Looking at a White Hawk or JayFlight. Both rear living area models around 32 feet in length. Two seems better if you do some non-hookup camping. what do you all think?

Steve

As Subaru said if you are hooked up to shore power you only need one battery. Now that you opened the door to the possibility of not always hooking up to shore power, you need to do a little calculating...
- Do you have an inverter?
- Will you be watching Tv at night?
- Playing the radio
- Camping in a COLD climate where you need your TT's central heating system to make it through the night?
- Long showers
- Smart-phones, tablets... drawing 12 VDC power?

If it is going to be just an overnight stay, you could make it on one battery with no inverter, Tv, radio (the louder the more amps it takes), with only very little central heating...

Other wise you could add on another battery identical to the one that comes with the TT (usually a12Volt interstate 85Ah rating which will allow you to use about 40Ah. 2 batteries will give you 80Ah (needed if you use the heating system). Both batteries MUST be the SAME Mfr, MAKE, MODEL, AH rating, and the mfr date within 2 months of each other.

You can go to the forums RVing with SOLAR social group and scroll through the posts ... there are posts on batteries that you may want to read.

Personally, since it sounds like this is your first encounter with TT batteries, I would just add a second battery. You can use these inextpensive batteries to learn on,,, and see if they will be enough to meet your needs. Then after you learned on these you can invest in true deep cycle batteries like the Trojan T105 or T145 6 volt batteries (in series = 12VDC).

Remember you should not let your batteries drop below 12VDC, or their life will be shortened each time you do. It is called the 50% rule.

Also, if you have the Dealer install the second battery, make sure they wire it in like the below picture for best battery performance. Ignore the battery cut off switch in the picture... if you ever add one this is where you would install it.

Pick up an inexpensive Digital Voltage Display like the one below that will plug into your 12VDC accessory outlet inside the TT

Good luck

Don

[oldmanAZ]

Originally Posted by Bigdomino

snip... Two seems better if you do some non-hookup camping. what do you all think?

Steve

Welcome to the forum.

The devil is in the details...
How much is "some" non-hookup camping? (BTW, you'll often see the term 'boondocking' to mean camping without hookups.)
How much power do you plan to use, using only the batteries?
How do you plan to recharge your batteries?

What we found...
My DW and I are very stingy on battery power; no TV, radio, tablets, or phone charging while boondocking.

Last year we regularly went 4 to 5 days boondocking on 2, group 24 batteries before they'd show 12.3v in the morning. Then we'd spend the next 1.5 to 2 days in a campground to go shopping etc., dump tanks, take on water, and recharge the batteries. We did that for several months with no problems.

This year we had problems while being camp hosts for 3 months without power hookups. We went 4 days on batteries alone, and then connected our trailer to our generator. We expected we'd have to run the generator about 3 hours. Nope. We tried lots of combinations over several days and gave up after running the generator for 7 hours one day without getting the batteries back to full charge. In the end, running the generator 3 hours every day was just enough to maintain them so we didn't kill them over the summer.

I believe our problems were twofold: 1) We discharged the batteries in the first 4 days (if we'd run the generator 3 hours or so every day, things may have just fine) and 2) Our factory converter/charger charges at too low a rate when the batteries are low.

[KennyG]

Originally Posted by Bigdomino

Two seems better if you do some non-hookup camping. what do you all think?

Steve

There has been a lot of discussion online about 2 - 12v vs 2 - 6v golf cart batteries; but that's a whole different discussion. I originally had 2 - 12v batteries which I never was really impressed with. When boondocking they never seemed to provide the power for any sufficient time without having to charge even when they were new. After doing a fair amount of research I was convinced and went with the 2 - Trojan 6v golf cart batteries and am really impressed. They have lasted much longer between charges and I will never go back to the 2 -12v. As I stated there is a lot of discussion on various threads on this forum as well as others; but from the info I obtained from extensively searching and my personal experience, in my opinion 2 - 6v golf cart batteries are the only way to go if you plan to do a lot of boondocking and don't want to run the genny as often to charge them. Solar charging is another option; but more things to have problems with and that is also a separate discussion.

[Subaru297]

Another valuable piece of battery knowledge is to disconnect them when you store the trailer. Install a disconnect switch or pull a lead off the negative terminal.

Even thought the trailer is turned off there are still loads from the propane/CO detector, stereo, and maybe a smoke alarm. These low draw items will kill your battery after about a week in storage unless your trailer is plugged in while stored.

I am always amused at the cacophony of beeping coming from all the trailers at the storage yard due to low voltage alarms.

Cheers

[pfalex]

We had a tent trailer with a single battery for years, and when boondocking, we often ran out by the end of the weekend, just running lights and water pump. Maybe the battery was crap, but this year when we upgraded to a hybrid, I got them to install a second battery

They told me it wasn't as much as a problem than with my old one since they use LED lights, but considering we have the power awning, radio and furnace blower, I feel better knowing we've got them both. Probably paid too much for the second one, but it was easier than doing it myself.

[Mustang65]

Originally Posted by KennyG

There has been a lot of discussion online about 2 - 12v vs 2 - 6v golf cart batteries; but that's a whole different discussion. I originally had 2 - 12v batteries which I never was really impressed with. When boondocking they never seemed to provide the power for any sufficient time without having to charge even when they were new. :

Actually it is not a whole different discussion as Bigdomino is looking at either a 12 volt batteries or possibly 6 volt batteries. Here is a post that I put in the RVing with SOLAR social group regarding the 12 volt vs 6 volt batteries that explains the why. 12Volt batteries produce exactly what they are designed to produce. A (NEW) 12Volt battery with 100Ah will allow you the same amount of power as (2 NEW) 6 volt 100Ah batteries... until you move farther into the expected lifecycle, that I where the difference comes in..

RVing with SOLAR post:
With the topic of using 12Volt Deep Cycle batteries, opposed to using 6Volt batteries, I did a little more research. I can only speak for Trojan batteries as they are the ones I researched for this comparison.

First off, Trojan Batteries does not publish their plate thicknesses, as they consider it to be proprietary to their designs. OK, so with that being said let’s look at the 12Volt SCS225 130Ah battery. Two of them will equal 260Ah, the same as (2) T145 6Volt batteries (260Ah).
Performance wise, there is NO difference to speak of. The 25Amp load test will produce the same 450 minutes. If you had 2 same RV’s next to each other, one running the 12Volt battery setup and one running the (2) 6Volt battery setup, using the 50% depth of charge, the lights will go out at the same time.

So where is the difference? Lifecycles!!! Using the 50% depth of discharge, the 12Volt SCS225 battery has only 600 cycles, whereas the (2) 6Volt T145’s will have 1200 cycles.

Don

[abarkl]

We have had both setups in our motorhomes as they were originally equipped.
There are many benefits to 6 volts as stated but there is the one gotcha if there are only two and one fails, the DC side of things is out of commission until the bad battery is replaced.

Either way, get more batteries at Costco for $80 each.

[bansai]

Because your question is really what to buy with your new camper, from the dealer - For now I'd suggest just going with the 1 battery that comes with the camper. You'll find that the batteries the dealer installs are not that great to begin with attaching a pic of mine (hibernating in my garage at the moment).

This is only an 80 amp hour battery and it also lists cranking amps (500 in my case) so that tells you that this isn't a true, single purpose deep cycle battery, but a dual purpose battery instead. If you are going to upgrade your batteries at all, you are probably going to at least want to go with one that is a true, deep cycle variety. IF you decide to upgrade above and beyond the standard equipment, you'll be better served by getting a higher quality deep cycle, even if you just go with 1. 80 amp hours is pretty weak. The main reason I'd suggest just getting the standard battery (like I have) initially is so you can spend a season camping with it to determine what your requirements really are.

You may find that 1 (good) deep cycle 12 volt is all you need if it's a better one than the standard issue.

I'm upgrading to the 6 volt system in the spring, but I only came to that conclusion after spending a season with the one I have now.

[RedHorse1]

We have a single battery in the 5er which is sufficient since we don't boondock. Sufficient UNTIL..... power goes out during a thunderstorm and we get up the next morning to find the local creek is out of its bank and we are trapped in the CG. The was a couple more days until it receded enough for us to leave.

[Mustang65]

Originally Posted by abarkl

There are many benefits to 6 volts as stated but there is the one gotcha if there are only two and one fails, the DC side of things is out of commission until the bad battery is replaced.

Either way, get more batteries at Costco for $80 each.

Although it is possible, I have yet to hear of a 6 VDC battery dying in one day. Deep cycle batteries that are (PROPERLY MAINTAINED) used in TT's/RV's, give you an indication when they are having issues and going bad. As in my UPS system for my home/office, the charging starts taking longer, the voltage starts to drop off faster, and the length of time that the batteries can provide sufficient AH's is shortened... I then test them and install new ones. I have gone through 3 battery changes in the last 10-12 years, but they never just died.

I guess if you do not plan on properly maintaining your batteries (either 6 or 12Volt) stick with the 12 volt batteries as they are a lot less expensive to change out every year or 2.

Don

[spdorje]

We got a Group 24 when we bought the TT a month ago.... We will be boondocking for 2 months then camp hosting for 6 months in the National Forest this summer... We are going to keep the first battery just as a backup but will be getting a true 12v deep cycle battery from the local solar company... 120 aH or so. We have a small generator and a 150 watt portable solar system too.... Hoping it works out.... We aren't heavy power users....

[WyEm]

My 2016 WH 27DSRL came with 2 Exide 12v Group 24 batteries from the dealer.

[oldmanAZ]

spdorje

In this thread, on the 3rd of this month, I posted what battery charging issues my DW and I encountered when camp hosting 3 months this past summer (Moqui Group Campground, Mogollon Rim Ranger District). Please take look at that, if you haven't already.

One of the things I omitted was info regarding our site: We were at roughly 7,000ft nestled in the tall pines (BTW, our Champion 3100 watt inverter generator ran fine at that altitude). The site was for the host only, with water and sewer connections. There was no other place for our trailer. The potential problem was the shade of the tall pines. Our site got direct sunlight for about 2 hours daily, beginning at 'solar noon.' We don't have solar. I would have welcomed every amp we could have captured, but I'm not sure the sunny days would have contributed a whole lot with our shady site (of course there were a few long spells of Monsoon rains etc., too).

If you haven't already, you will need meters (at least a voltmeter) to keep an eye on your 12v consumption and replenishing. You may have an excellent deep cycle battery, but if you don't put back in AT LEAST what you use each day, you 'will run out' of 12v power... and maybe ruin your battery.