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Old 12-11-2010, 06:50 AM   #1
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New Battery

Hello every one, We maybe looking for a new battery for the upcoming camping season. I think our old one is pretty tired and can not keep up. Are there any suggestions on brands or other setups that may perform better than the old Interstate battery we had as original equipment? Thanks for any help
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Old 12-11-2010, 08:37 AM   #2
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Hi Dave

Do you go boondocking with no shore power or only or always with hook up's? And if boondocking how many nights of camping?

Do you have 1 or 2 batteries?

Knowing some about these 2 things we can tweak the better recommendation.

John
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Old 12-11-2010, 10:57 AM   #3
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John,

We have not really done any boondocking yet, but I don't know if we will dry it. We have talked about it some because there are some nice state forrest around. We have only one battery now. I would like to be ready incase we decide to. I do not have a generator either.
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Old 12-11-2010, 06:42 PM   #4
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If they fit on the frame, I recomment 2 batteries. Just make sure you match them and wire them in parallel. Being careful I get 5 nights on them with no problem. When I go longer or if I need heat, I have a third I keep charged and set on the ground wired in to the other two.
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Old 12-11-2010, 07:48 PM   #5
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Dave

If you are never going to do any boondocking and always on shore power then 1 group 24 deep cell battery will fit your needs. Odds are that is what you have now.

This post is assuming your are going to stay with lead acid batteries. There are higher end ones, EMAN here has the AGM’s but his rig is setup special beyond most any of us here. He has the ultimate solar off the grid package….

If you want to invest in the future where you might want to try boondocking then 2 batteries is a good place to start. Especially since you have a slide as the slide eats up power going in and out. Now here upgrading in size from the standard Group 24 helps when boondocking. If you are staying in the 12 volt battery method to do this, group 27 or group 29 have more capacity over the group 24. I myself have 2 group 27’s. We fall boondock which means the furnace runs I also upgraded most all inside lights to LED’s over the last 2 years. And I deactivated any excess draw in the camper. Bascially I became a power mizer. Part of boondocking is eliminating the wasted use of power.

However… upgrading from the Group 24 size you have to deal with the battery tray on the front of the camper. They only hold group 24 unless your is a special. When I upgraded I made a larger rack that dropped in the Sunline rack and had to buy 2 new battery boxes.

There is nothing wrong with adding a 2 Group 24 batteries, they will fit your rack if you do not want to deal with making the rack bigger. You will just have less capacity.

While my Group 27’s do everything I throw at them right now, I also do daily genny recharges for 5 hours a day. When ever these 2 batteries die I will upgrade to group 29’s or may even go the 6 volt route. I wish I had realized all I know now when I did the group 27’s The cost is so little more to jump right to group 29’s from 24 that it would have been well worth it just to have the extra reserve. Or go the 6 volt route.

Now like Paul stated, some folks just carry extra batteries. Like 2 or more group 24’s. They charge them up at home and come with all 2 or 3 charged. When one gets down to 50% state of charge, they just unhook that used one and put a fresh full charged one in it’s place. And keep going. This is about the cheapest way to go and works. Since only one is used at a time, you can have old and new ones. Just hook them up 1 at a time when needed.

As far as brand. For sure make sure the battery is a Deep Cycle. Do not get a Starter battery. They make a combo Starter/Deep Cycle which is not as perfect as a true Deep cycle but not bad and may even be what you have now from your dealer.

After researching a few years ago I thought I read there are only 3 battery manufactures in the US. And they private label for everyone else I believe Or there are divisions of the top 3 some how. I think they are Exide, Johnson Controls and some one else. Do not know this to be 100% accurate on the 3 manufactures maybe some one else can confirm or deny it. I can’t find the links to where I found that right now.

As far as brand, I really do not know. I have one Deka and one Walmart made by Johnson Controls. I figured I would spend the higher $$ when I go the higher amperage upgrade some year. I’m not a brand wizard and admit that.

What I do know is that proper maintaining on the batteries makes a lot of difference regardless of brand. It may even revive the one you have now.

  • Keeping the water up over the cells is a must.
  • Next is maintaining them and desulfating them.

After every camping trip I hook up one of these to my TT batteries. It keeps them at 100% state of charge and desulfates them. This give the best life they can have regardless of brand. BatteryMINDer® Plus 12 Volt 1.33 Amp Charger-Maintainer-Conditioner (Desulfator) | All | Battery Chargers by BatteryMINDers.com

You can find them on the web for between $39 and $42.00 and one will do up to 5 batteries. I'm not hung up on the VDC as Cerka make one and so does someone else that uses the pulse technology to desulfate with. Key is make sure it has the desfulfate mode as well as a float charger. There are many float chargers which are good to, hey just do not desulfate.

Hope this helps and good luck

John
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Old 12-12-2010, 06:27 AM   #6
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Question....is there a way to know if you have 24' , 27' etc????
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Old 12-12-2010, 07:38 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Poppy & Nana View Post
Question....is there a way to know if you have 24' , 27' etc????
I found this on a forum that caters to boaters, but the info is all the same. (Our standard trailer batteries are Marine/RV deep cycle.)

A short summary of battery size characteristics

There are three dimensions to battery size:

--physical size
--storage capacity
--cranking current


PHYSICAL SIZE

The physical size of a battery is usually stated in terms of a somewhat obscure collection of group sizes. The most common ones are

GROUP - - L x W x H (in inches)
24 = 10-1/4 x 6-13/16 x 8-7/8
27 = 12-1/16 x 6-13/16 x 8-7/8 (i.e., about 2-inches longer)
31 = 13 x 6-13/16 x 9-7/16 (even longer and now taller)
The typical OEM Boston Whaler battery box will accept a Group-24 battery.

STORAGE CAPACITY

The storage capacity of a battery is stated in Ampere-hours (A-h). This is a measure of the total electrical capacity the battery can store. If a current of one ampere is withdrawn from a battery for one hour, that is 1 A-h. The rated Ampere-hour figure is the amount of current that can be continuously supplied by the battery in a 20-hour period. This is better explained by an example.

If a battery has a rating of 40 A-h, this implies that it will supply a current of 2-amperes for 20-hours. This capacity is available only when the battery begins with a full charge and is in new condition. As a battery ages it will gradually lose some of its storage capacity, and it may be more realistic to de-rate the Ampere-hour figure somewhat to judge the true capacity.
The typical Group-24 battery will have an A-h rating from 40 to 80, depending on its construction and quality.
The A-h rating will also indicate how long the battery must be charged to become fully charged. To fully charge an 80 A-h battery from completely discharged, you would need to use an 8-Ampere charging current for 10-hours, or a 16-Ampere charging current for 5-hours, or a 20-Ampere charging current for four hours, and so on. (The charging current usually tapers off as the battery terminal voltage rises so these examples are not quite obtainable in practice.)

CRANKING CURRENT

Ratings of cranking current refer to how much current can be delivered for 30-seconds until the battery voltage drops to 7.2-volts. This is measured and rated at two temperatures. The rating at 0-degrees-F is called the Cold Cranking Amperes (CCA). This is not particularly applicable to marine installations. The rating at 32-degrees-F is called the Marine Cranking Amperes (MCA).

Because of the sophisticated electrical systems of modern outboard motors, it is important that the battery voltage during cranking remain high. If the battery voltage falls, the electronic system needed to start the motor may not be able to function, and the motor will not start, even though the battery can still turn over the motor. For this reason, it is now common that motors require starting batteries of over 1,000-MCA rating.
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Old 12-13-2010, 05:14 PM   #8
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walmart has a new G24 battery called 'DP6' that is like 105AH and I saw it at 75-79bucks (not all walmarts price the same!)

I have a DP4 in the popup that is 75ah and saw g24s at 'battery mart' near Inwood WV that were 90ah for about 80.

I guess the moral is shop around.
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