# Your OUTBACK batteries...



## NDJollyMon (Aug 22, 2003)

This is a repost from another question, but thought I'd share:

*Batteries...*
The more, the merrier! They power your:
lights,
furnace,
slide outs,
tongue jacks,
LP gas alarm,
radio,
water pumps...etc.

If you want to know more about your batteries, or how to change them...Go Here!
12 Volt Side of Life 
This is a great site, and explains a lot.

The standard OUTBACK comes with one 12 volt battery. You can add a second 12 volt battery (same age/size/brand) and hook them in parallel. This will give you more AMP Hours, and last longer dry camping. (but not as much as below)

If you want *MAXIMUM * juice for extended operation:
Replace the 12 volt batteries with 2 (or more) 6-volt Golf Cart Batteries. This is what I did. They will give you more _Amp Hours_ than 12 volts, and last longer, as they are TRUE deep cycle batteries. They are a little larger/heavier, but they fit in the brackets provided on the OUTBACK. Mine are set up just like show on the site above. I bought the 6 volts from SAM'S CLUB for around $50 each. I got the wiring from BATTERIES PLUS for under $10. They are hooked in series, so the voltage is stepped up to 12 volts. (positive to negative) It all fits under the big white tongue cover. ( I don't have them in plastic boxes)
Serious Dry Campers use several 6 volt batteries in series.

When SPRING THAW comes around here...I'll get some pictures and post them in the gallery. It wasn't very difficult or expensive to do this mod, and I feel much more comfortable going out for a weekend trip without hookups.

PS...it only took ONE TRIP running out of juice in the middle of a cold night before I switched to 6 volts!


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

Good post, I would also add Bill Darden's Battery FAQ to good pages to bookmark and read when you can.

I've always run 6v on my PopUp and Kiwi and now I put new Interstate Batteries on my Outback. I really love that fact that Keystone designed the tongue to hold two batteries too, makes deep cycle charging easy.


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## timeout (Feb 13, 2004)

NDJollyMon,
The 12 volt side of life was a great resource, thanks. My 28RS-S only has ons battery. I planned to buyu another 12 volt this spring but after reading the link you posted may just convert to the 6v golf cart batteries..


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## wes1966 (Feb 22, 2004)

Has anyone done a mod to make disconnecting the battery easier? We will be using the camper many times over the summer and it might sit for about 2 weeks at a time so I don't want to have to disconnect the battery. I was thinking that a switch could be installed between the battery and the ground point on the tounge. Any comments?


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## hatcityhosehauler (Feb 13, 2004)

I was considering the same type of mod, but as I haven't taken delivery yet, I don't know just how I will go about it. I would think you would need one BIG switch. If anyone has done this, perhaps they could elaborate.

Tim


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## wes1966 (Feb 22, 2004)

I had inspected the ground wire and it had printed on it 6 gauge. This is a good size wire. I will make a trip to our local farm supply store and see what they have. Depending on the cut I might have to install some additional wire but this should make things easier.


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## NDJollyMon (Aug 22, 2003)

This is a typical battery disconnect switch. Once installed, you simply throw the big lever to disconnect.

Camping World Disconnect Switch


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## ngc1514 (Sep 10, 2003)

I added one of those knife switches last year and it works great. A suggestion: do not use it on the positive connection, but open up the ground side when you open the switch. The reason is simple: if it's on the positive lead it's a lot easier to short out the switch to ground. Just like when working on a car's electrical system, the suggestion is to always life the ground rather than the hot lead off the battery.

Mounted the switch on the trailer A frame. It's a lot easier to access after getting rid of the LP tank cover and replacing that with the vinyl cover from Camping World.


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## jtwcummins (Mar 20, 2004)

Perko makes a marine battery switch that I installed on my 21rs. It is water proof and mounted to the frame near the battery on door side of TT. It allows me to run on either battery or both in parallel and shut off all battery output to TT, only on tounge jack has power.

Very easy install. Cost $20 at boatersworld.com


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