# Battery Question



## SharonW (Aug 2, 2012)

When we bought our trailer at the beginning of August, dealer said we were getting a brand new battery.

We went camping a couple of weeks ago, had hookups, had it plugged in at the house before that. When we got home, we left the trailer unplugged. Last night, we went to turn on the lights to show it to our daughter & her husband, and the lights didn't work.

How long do they sit without use and stay charged?

I also notice that the 12 volt single may not be the best option for camping without hookups, and there is a possibility we may do that. How long will the battery remain charged if it's the only source of power for the lights/coffee pot?

Thanks!


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## Dan Borer (Feb 6, 2009)

A single battery will last only a short time due to the number of electronic devices that are powered at all times. Multiple 12 volt or 6 volt batteries will prolong that somewhat but will still be dead in a short time if not being charged. As for running off a fully charged battery, you are looking at a couple of days max. I have a bank of 4 6 volt batteries and can run 4 to 5 days using power carefully. You will not be able to run your coffee maker off the batteries unless you add a large inverter to make AC power from you battery. It will use up most of that battery on your first pot.

Dan


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## KTMRacer (Jun 28, 2010)

even when you have everything turned "off", there is still draw from the battery. The CO detector is connected to the battery in most cases, and the worst offender is the radio. Even when "OFF" it is really in standby. The end result is that the battery drain is about 0.5A with everthing off. That is enough to completely drain a typical marine 12V battery in a week to 10 days. It will drain a pair of golf cart batterys to 50% charge or so in 2-3 weeks.

So, when in storage either disconnect the battery or install a battery disconnect switch.

And your right about a single 12V for dry camping. Each light in the trailer draws about 1 A so it doesn't take long to drain a single battery. A typical 12V marine battery the dealer likely installed is rated at about 85Amp hours. You NEVER want to draw more than 1/2 the capacity from that battery before charging so you have 40Amp hours or so to work with. The fridge even on gas draws about 0.5A all the time or 12AH/day approximately. Each light bulb draws 1A+ so for each hour a light bulb runs thats 1AH. The water pump draws about 5-10A but only runs for a few minutes at a time so it's not much load. The worst offender after lights is the furnace. It draws about 8A typically so if it runs for say 3 hours during a 24 hr period that 24AH. The best thing to do for dry camping is first convert all the commonly used lights to LED, they will draw about 0.1A (thats 1/10 of a regular light), only run the furnace in the daytime and keep it off at night, and go with either two really high quality big 12V deep discharge batteries or a pair of 6V golf cart batteries. I prefer golf carts. A pair of golf carts is about 240AH, 3x the single battery, AND you can draw it down to 20% of capacity without noticeably shortening it's overall life. That gives you about 160+ AH vs. the 40AH of a single 12V in useable power.

As a point of reference, we can go an easy 3 days in our trailer with a pair of golf cart batteries using any lights we want (All LED), furnace during the daytime, watch some TV (1/2 hr/day), turn on the stereo and DW can use her hairdryer running off our inverter. For coffee, either use a stovetop coffee maker or get an Areopress or french press. Even if you have a big inverter, IMHO using it for a power hog like a coffeepot isn't a very good use of batteries. A coffee pot will draw 50-100Amps!! from your battery.

Before we switched to LED lights, 2 days was stretching it with the lights.


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## SharonW (Aug 2, 2012)

KTMRacer said:


> even when you have everything turned "off", there is still draw from the battery. The CO detector is connected to the battery in most cases, and the worst offender is the radio. Even when "OFF" it is really in standby. The end result is that the battery drain is about 0.5A with everthing off. That is enough to completely drain a typical marine 12V battery in a week to 10 days. It will drain a pair of golf cart batterys to 50% charge or so in 2-3 weeks.
> 
> So, when in storage either disconnect the battery or install a battery disconnect switch.
> 
> ...


Thanks! There's a ton of good info there. The manual doesn't really say much about the battery life, and we didn't get any documentation on it. Now we have something to go on in case we start doing any dry camping. Also have a duracell powerpack 600 that can be used to jump start a vehicle, so I'll have to look at the documentation to see if it will charge the rv battery. I used it while tenting to run a small fan and charge my cell phone for 3 days and didn't really wear it down.

Good stuff. Thanks a lot!

Sharon


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## ED_RN (Jun 25, 2006)

Your Duracell might make one pot of coffee, doubt that even. It won't charge your battery. Their web site says's it has 28 Ah when fully charged and will run 5 minutes with a draw of 480 watts. You can't really drain it because it shuts off when the voltgawe drops. Best advise for coffee is an old style percolator or a stove top drip coffee maker. Coleman makes a drip coffee maker that works using the heat from a camping stove burner. 
IMO one 12 volt is not very usefull for dry camping. Two 12 volt or 6 volt(more expensive) should get you several days if you keep an eye on the lights other stuff. If you want to use the electric coffee maker , hair dryer, etc consider a small generator. A small gen will also recharge the battery(s).If you are planning on needing air conditioning then you need a bigger generator or two that will connect together. The important thing that took me some time to learn is that if you constantly drain the batteries and then recharge them you shorten their life.


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## raynardo (Jun 8, 2007)

I used to be at the mercy of my batteries, never 100% satisfied even after I switched to two 6v golf cart batteries.

A generator helped, but even quiet ones become somewhat annoying.

This year I had a solar panel and controller installed and I think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Every day my batteries are fully charged silently for free!


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## KTMRacer (Jun 28, 2010)

ED_RN said:


> Your Duracell might make one pot of coffee, doubt that even. It won't charge your battery. Their web site says's it has 28 Ah when fully charged and will run 5 minutes with a draw of 480 watts. You can't really drain it because it shuts off when the voltgawe drops. Best advise for coffee is an old style percolator or a stove top drip coffee maker. Coleman makes a drip coffee maker that works using the heat from a camping stove burner.
> IMO one 12 volt is not very usefull for dry camping. Two 12 volt or 6 volt(more expensive) should get you several days if you keep an eye on the lights other stuff. If you want to use the electric coffee maker , hair dryer, etc consider a small generator. A small gen will also recharge the battery(s).If you are planning on needing air conditioning then you need a bigger generator or two that will connect together. The important thing that took me some time to learn is that if you constantly drain the batteries and then recharge them you shorten their life.


We found the best coffee solution for us and it's inexpensive. It's an Areopress, available on amazon. Basically a french press w/o the mess involved. Instead of cleaning out a mess of grounds, what's left is a compressed pad of grounds that pops into the garbage can. And it's small and compact. Much easier than trying to take along any kind of stovetop coffee maker. It is easy to make on or two cups at a time.


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## Camp Callahan (Oct 17, 2008)

raynardo said:


> I used to be at the mercy of my batteries, never 100% satisfied even after I switched to two 6v golf cart batteries.
> 
> A generator helped, but even quiet ones become somewhat annoying.
> 
> This year I had a solar panel and controller installed and I think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Every day my batteries are fully charged silently for free!


What size Solar panel did you get, and was this a permanent install, or is it something you pull out of the trailer when you camp? Any info on this would be great.


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## Dan Borer (Feb 6, 2009)

Tom--

I know you didn't ask me the question, but on my Outback I put a 60W panel on the roof for a permanent mount. That gave me about 3 amps per hour and I never ran out of battery (using a pair of Costco 6V batteries). I did still use power carefully though. I will be adding a 120W to my Mountaineer soon and will have over 6 amps charge per hour to charge my 4 Costco batteries. The best deal I found on solar panels is right up the street from you in Norco at Solar Boulevard ( http://www.solarblvd.com/Solar-Panels-&-Systems-12-Volt-Solar-Panels/c1_269/p2667/Solar-Cynergy-120-Watt-12-Volt-Solar-Panel/product_info.html ). They have the Solar Cynergy 120W cells now for $174.


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## raynardo (Jun 8, 2007)

Camp Callahan said:


> What size Solar panel did you get, and was this a permanent install, or is it something you pull out of the trailer when you camp? Any info on this would be great.


I have an 80watt panel permanently mounted on the roof. The whole system, including the charge controller is a kit by Samlex. I highly recommend this quality system.


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## JDStremel3 (Sep 18, 2012)

I just bought a 230RS and was considering solar panels. Has anyone installed the solar panels themselves? How are the wires from the panel(s) ran to the charge controller then to the battery? I was considering getting a solar kit and doing it myself vs dealer as I am an engineer. Thanks in advance for the info!


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## willingtonpaul (Apr 16, 2010)

the panels are pretty easy to install. i would recommend getting tilting mounts, so you can clean the roof under the panel and get proper airflow around the panel. heat kills the efficiency of solar panels. i connected my (4) 85watt roof mount panels to a junction box, then ran one wire down the fridge vent and in the underbelly, to a charge controller mounted in the front storage compartment. then from the charge controller to the battery tray up front (i highly modified my tray to accomodate (4) 6v batteries, total reserve is 450 amp hours). make sure you use proper gauge wiring based on the distances and amps you are planning to put out, and use the proper fuses and grounding to assure the system can't be damaged inadvertently. also, you pretty much get what you pay for with solar panels. you will often see panels for sale that claim the same wattage and / or amperage outputs. but the devil is in the details: the more expensive one has better low light performance, or if parts of the panel are shaded by leaves or other obstructions, the performance of the cheaper panels is horrible.

in addition to the 340 watts on the roof, i have 270 watts of portable panels. if we are parked in the shade, or have overcast conditions and i need maximum power, i can deploy these panels. in full sun, i can put out a little over 35 amps an hour with the full array out. the rooftop system puts out a little less than 20 amps on it's own in full sun. i have a 2000 watt inverter and can run everything in the trailer save the AC. i have stopped bringing any gensets now, and it is beautiful to not have to deal with them.

if you want more pics, shoot me a PM. i also have a few components for sale (an extra blue sky charge controller and a portable panel) if you are interested. i am happy to help you design your system, it has become a hobby (and somewhat of a fascination/ obsession) with me. being totally off grid camping is pretty awesome. when we are at the beach and i fire up the vacuum to suck up all the sand the kids bring in, have the TV going outside, and my wife blow dries her hair, all the neighbors want to know what kind of genny i have that is even quieter than their honda 2000's.

i also feel that making coffee off the inverter is the biggest waste of energy there is. perk coffee is a much better alternative, and IMHO tastes better anyhow. it drains amps and pulls down voltage real quick. i would say the same about the hair dryer, but that keeps DW happy, so that is all i have to say about that.....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157631313939670/


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