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Old 04-30-2021, 06:01 AM   #1
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Adding second battery

We have a 2021 Jayco 29MV and would like to add a second house battery. There is room for one under the step and I'd connect the batteries in series. Does the new battery need to be the same type as the old one (which I believe is lead acid) or can the new one be an AGM or lithium, etc?
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Old 04-30-2021, 06:32 AM   #2
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I believe they should be matching along with matching the and amp hrs
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Old 04-30-2021, 08:06 AM   #3
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We have a 2021 Jayco 29MV and would like to add a second house battery. There is room for one under the step and I'd connect the batteries in series. Does the new battery need to be the same type as the old one (which I believe is lead acid) or can the new one be an AGM or lithium, etc?
Assuming your current battery is 12V, if you connect another one in series you'll wind up with 24V--not good! If you want to upgrade, buy a pair of 6V golf cart batteries and hook them in series.
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Old 04-30-2021, 08:59 AM   #4
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Assuming your current battery is 12V, if you connect another one in series you'll wind up with 24V--not good! If you want to upgrade, buy a pair of 6V golf cart batteries and hook them in series.

Series will increase to to 24V , Parallel will keep it to 12V
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Old 04-30-2021, 09:33 AM   #5
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I was also thinking of adding or updating the battery.
I have one Continental TM-24 (CCA 525).
Should I just add another TM-24 or do something else. I don't "plan" on any boondocking.
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Old 04-30-2021, 10:24 AM   #6
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I was also thinking of adding or updating the battery.
I have one Continental TM-24 (CCA 525).
Should I just add another TM-24 or do something else. I don't "plan" on any boondocking.

As a general rule it is better to have them the same both in capacity and age as well as cell type.



Why a second battery if you are not boondocking? If you are pretty much always hooked to shore power there is not much need for two.



As to dual 6 volt golf cart batteries. I did that for many years as we were off the grid hunting or camping. I had room for three or even four 12 volt batteries and eventually changed to 3 12V AGM mainly so I did not end up in the middle of nowhere with one 6 volt battery operating and the other dead. Not much will run on 6 volt these days. I sacrificed a few amps but it never became an issue and we would be at elk camp for two weeks or more.
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Old 04-30-2021, 10:33 AM   #7
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Thanks for the info. I did mean to say that I'm going to hook them up in parallel.
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Old 04-30-2021, 10:57 AM   #8
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Another concern in mixing old and new batteries, they will only charge up to what the weakest/smallest battery will hold. Batteries are not cheap, but match them up and you will be much happier.

I have 2 6volts batteries. Wish I had purchased 4.....
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Old 05-05-2021, 04:31 PM   #9
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Hey everyone we, my wife and I are brand new to the RV world.
I noticed we have room for an additional battery in the holder under the step. BUT.... here is my rookie question..
What is parallel hook up? Our Redhawk 29XK came with additional battery terminals, a red and black one in with an additional water filter element. I'm try to cover any controllable issues that may arise.
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Old 05-05-2021, 04:51 PM   #10
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Hey everyone we, my wife and I are brand new to the RV world.
I noticed we have room for an additional battery in the holder under the step. BUT.... here is my rookie question..
What is parallel hook up? Our Redhawk 29XK came with additional battery terminals, a red and black one in with an additional water filter element. I'm try to cover any controllable issues that may arise.
PARALLEL hookup is connecting Positive to positive and negative to negative.
See below
Attached Thumbnails
12v parallel.jpg   12v parallel-2.gif  
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Old 05-05-2021, 04:54 PM   #11
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Thank you for the diagram. That will help me out !!!
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Old 05-05-2021, 04:58 PM   #12
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And this type of hook up will give us more hours of 12v power, if I'm understanding what has been said?
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Old 05-05-2021, 11:05 PM   #13
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And this type of hook up will give us more hours of 12v power, if I'm understanding what has been said?



Correct - ideally you want to buy an identical battery. (Ideally, ideally - the same age). Then you'll essentially double the Amp Hours available to your coach.
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Old 05-06-2021, 04:44 AM   #14
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Thank you guys for the information, very helpful!!!
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Old 05-06-2021, 12:45 PM   #15
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It may be a little less convenient but to accommodate two different size and age batteries I put in a switch that can select battery 1, battery 2 or both. Available on Amazon.
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Old 05-06-2021, 05:21 PM   #16
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It may be a little less convenient but to accommodate two different size and age batteries I put in a switch that can select battery 1, battery 2 or both. Available on Amazon.

Yes, good choice. I upgraded to two 6 volts, then decided I wanted to also keep my two 12 volts. I also installed a switch with BATTERY 1, BATTERY 2, BOTH, NONE . I never use BOTH. It keeps the different type batteries separate but available to use with the flip of the switch.
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Old 05-07-2021, 04:58 AM   #17
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That dose sound like a great plan to keep the power on while boondocking for sure. But dam, I had to get a drawing showing me how to wire the batteries in parallel. 6 wire switches allowing me to switch between batteries or both at the same time maybe a bit much for my electrical knowledge...
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Old 05-07-2021, 11:42 AM   #18
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Adding second battery

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That dose sound like a great plan to keep the power on while boondocking for sure. But dam, I had to get a drawing showing me how to wire the batteries in parallel. 6 wire switches allowing me to switch between batteries or both at the same time maybe a bit much for my electrical knowledge...

Wiring a switch is fairly simple. Three wires, one from each battery and one to power to Rv. I had to buy a cable from the auto parts store plus the switch from Amazon.
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Old 05-07-2021, 12:08 PM   #19
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When you connect batteries through parallel you are combining the positive terminals to the positive ones and the negative to negative. This combines the batteries to create one large one that still has the same voltage. You cannot combine batteries of different voltages and it’s not recommended to combine different ages and sizes of batteries even though it is possible to do so through parallel.

If you’re going with 6 volt RV batteries the wiring is going to be a little different. You need to increase the voltage to 12 volts because no RV is made to run on 6 volt power. You can do this by wiring two 6 volt batteries together in series by connecting a positive with a negative. When you do this you increase the voltage but not the amperage.
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Old 05-07-2021, 12:38 PM   #20
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A side note here:

If you want to save a few dollars on batteries, check the distributor if you are near one, to see if they have any "blems". These are batteries that have a blemish like a crease in the case or even mislabeled brands. (Yeah, sounds weird but I got a Les Schwab battery from the Interstate Distributor).

These blems still have full warranty and sell for half to three-quarters of retail.

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