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Old 06-10-2018, 10:53 AM   #1
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Redhawk 26XD battery question

Hello All. We'll be picking up our 2018, 26XD next Monday and we're really looking forward to it. We've been looking at different models for the past year and kept coming back to the 26XD. It has everything we want with 1 exception; single 12v battery with no space for a 2nd battery within the battery tray compartment. I really want to do dry camping and I understand the limitations of 1 house battery. Has anyone installed a second battery in any Redhawk model that has a single tray? And if so, how and where did you place it? Thanks again for the help - I know I'll be posting more questions as we travel. John
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Old 06-10-2018, 11:12 AM   #2
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A single battery might be able to tide you over for long enough if you are frugal with the power. Depending on how involved it would be to locate a second battery, you might just be better off with a small inverter generator to keep things topped off.
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Old 06-10-2018, 03:04 PM   #3
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I have a 22C Redhawk and the one battery has worked ok for us so far. We usually are boondocking. Mostly just a weekend but no problems so far. I did run the generator a bit this weekend for the air so that probably topped it back up. Hadn't needed the generator on past weekends and all was good.
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Old 06-10-2018, 03:17 PM   #4
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I can fully recommend a folding suitcase style solar panel set up.

The one I use is 120 watt rated output and it keeps dual Trojan 6v batts up to snuff.

No noise.....no gas......no fumes......not heavy.....

Bingo
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Old 06-10-2018, 06:47 PM   #5
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I have a 2018 26Y with probably the same battery. It.s a Harris Battery 27D170. It has a 20hr capacity of 85 amp hrs. That's not a lot. If all you are doing is running a fantastic fan, lights and some TV it will get you through the night fine. You will have used apps 30-40 percent of the battery's storage by morning. You will then need to run the generator for a couple hrs to start the whole process the next day. Problem is, over do the battery usage and you won't be able to start generator. Then you start vehicle to get enough charge to start generator. Summer camping easier than winter. Heater uses quite a bit of juice through the night. Then the colder it gets, the harder it gets to get the power out of the battery. You could have an 85 amp hr battery but only 40 amp hrs usable (if that) when cold. And you should not drain your battery below 50% in general.

I will be looking at a group 31 replacement battery when this one quits, which probably won't be long from now. They have a capacity of 100-115 amp hours. Still not great for dry camping. I also installed 200 watts of solar with a very good battery monitor so I know when to start generator, if needed. There is a recent thread here if you want to check it out.

The key is to be able to monitor how much you have left in the battery. The button on the panel tells you nothing really. I suggest a monitor. I use Tri metric TM2030 from bogart engineering. You can google it and get lots of info. About $150 bucks.
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Old 06-11-2018, 03:36 PM   #6
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Thanks Xray. I may have missed it in your post but have you considered trying to add a second battery?
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Old 06-11-2018, 04:40 PM   #7
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I am tying to figure out the feasibility of that as we speak. I just crawled out from measuring battery box area. I would need to tear out the factory slide out box, fabricate a new one that may or may not have a slide out tray. My desire is to have 2, 6 volt golf cart batteries with appx 205 amp hours. There is room for them if I can get a tray fabricated. I am neither an engineer nor a fabricator. I worry a little about the weight of the batteries and whether a new battery tray in place of the old one would pull the mounting bolts through the floor.

Another option is under the rear bed if you use sealed batteries. That adds more complication with battery switches, long cable runs and possibly uneven charging issues.

So I am, thinking about it. My first step will probably be a new group 31 battery for short term. Even that will require a little mod to the battery tray. We lose some space because of the rivets on the inside of the tray. Our "26" model coaches don't leave us a ton of options.

I happened to notice on a 2019 Redhawk 22J, they have moved the battery to under the entrance step, like most others. Looked like room for 2 also. Maybe Jayco is starting to listen.
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Old 06-11-2018, 04:52 PM   #8
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FYI, I have been playing with battery usage on the 26Y here at the house. I turn stuff on and let it run and watch my Tri Metric monitor. I then make sure I can start the generator at different levels. I let it get down to where it showed 37% and I was still able to start it. Of course it is summer and hot. Probably would never work in cold weather. I would never let it get below 55% in winter.

I also tested my "new factory" battery with a hydrometer. Not one of the cells comes up to the good range. All 6 show fair after being fully charged. The 2, 5 yr old 6 volts in my fifth wheel still peg out at the top of good.
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Old 06-13-2018, 12:09 PM   #9
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I've got a 2017 Redhawk 26X1 and faced the same battery issue. I solved it by replacing the stock battery with 2 AGM batteries from Cabelas. I put one the the stock location and fitted the second underneath the bed. I hooked it up via a circuit breaker to the battery feed to the electrical distribution panel. Was a fairly easy install.
Marty
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Old 06-13-2018, 12:21 PM   #10
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I thought about that. So when in use do you only have 1 battery connected to the system at a time via the circuit breaker? Do both batteries charge at the same time when the generator is on or is it one at a time? Can you show some pics please?
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Old 06-13-2018, 01:38 PM   #11
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Both batteries are connected at the same time via the circuit breaker. The breaker is just a safety device. With both batteries connected and both being exactly the same, the charger built into the distribution panel charges both batteries equally. Work either on shore power or by generator. I'll have to pull the bed stand apart to take pictures.
Marty
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