Second battery

[Rickat]

Do you need a second 12 volt battery for dry camping and does it need to be bought at jayco dealer to honor warrantee requirements? We have a 2015 jayco sox feather

[Scoutr2]

If you are going camping for a couple nights, a second battery would definitely be recommended. Otherwise, your fridge will quit working and your propane leak detector will start chirping when the battery gets low - not to mention no lights or water pump.

That said, the battery does not need to be purchased through your dealer, but it must be an exact match with the one you already have - same amp-hours, etc. From what I've been told, you want to have batteries that are matched in size and condition, if not the stronger of the two is trying to 'charge' the weaker one which reduces the effective use of the two. In other words, you want them 'balanced' so one isn't being wasted trying to support the other.

Also remember - the batteries must be hooked up in "parallel" and not in "series." A series hookup will give you 24V, which can cause damage to your system.

[Rickat]

Thais so much. Very informative

[Ela1948]

From my experience, exact match in AH or size is not an issue. What needs to be the same is the same age of the battery and the same type of battery. Meaning that if you have a AGM or flooded battery, stay with the same type.

[Ela1948]

It would also be in your best interest to stay with the marine deep cycle that I assume came with your trailer.

[Scoutr2]

Originally Posted by Ela1948

From my experience, exact match in AH or size is not an issue. What needs to be the same is the same age of the battery and the same type of battery. Meaning that if you have a AGM or flooded battery, stay with the same type.

Ela1948 is correct. Same age is important, and I forgot to mention that. And although it won't hurt anything for them to be rated at different amp-hours, if they are not, one will discharge faster than the other and actually draw the other one down more quickly, trying to keep a balance between the two, especially when you aren't using much electricity. (Those electrons are pesky little devils! They want to flow from the highest charge to the lowest until there is a balance.)

And absolutely do not mix different types, such as flooded wet cell and maintenance free, etc. And the marine or deep cycle batteries are the best, as they are designed to last longer.

[Jmooney]

With all that Florida Sunshine, you could consider adding a solar panel as well

[Mustang65]

Originally Posted by Ela1948

From my experience, exact match in AH or size is not an issue. What needs to be the same is the same age of the battery and the same type of battery. Meaning that if you have a AGM or flooded battery, stay with the same type.

There are valid reasons for not mixing batteries of different Ah ratings or mfr.

The behavior of batteries during discharging and charging varies throughout their lifespan and if all the batteries are the same age, than they all will have similar responses. The danger with replacing only one battery is that the older batteries tend to require more charge than newer batteries, and since the new batteries are in the same circuit, they too will be overcharged. There is also the chance that the older batteries will be undercharged since the overall voltage response of all the batteries (old and new) will not be a good representation of either one. The charging system might erroneously think that ALL the batteries have reached the desired voltage and it may stop the charging of the batteries prematurely.


Just my thoughts,

Don