On this trip we had daytime temps in the low 70s and night time temps in the 50s which meant I wanted to use the furnace at night. The first night the furnace lasted till about 4 a.m. and then we got air blowing but no ignition. We tested the furnace with the generator on and it blew hot and strong. The blower on the furnace had gotten weak which we attributed to low voltage. We suspected our house batteries.
We though it would be simple to replace our batteries with the same set up. We have two 12 V batteries in parallel. They are dated 2006 and 2007 and rated for 950 CCA. However in researching replacement batteries all the info on-line says our setup is terrible and will die within a year. They were put in by the previous owner. We had used them successfully ourselves for 5 years and they are 8 years old at least. We never worried about the furnace, the lights or anything while boondocking. They seemed remarkably strong.
They were Energizer E31C. They were sealed and basically maintenance free. We checked the water level yearly but never had to add any. We can't find them any more. However they are apparently starter batteries and not deep cycle 12V or golf cart deep cycle 6V which everything says is preferable and you will get 4-7 years usage. Of course you can see my confusion because we did get 8 years and we primarily boondock which apparently you shouldn't be able to do.
To further complicate things, while taking them out it was found that the cutoff switch we
installed last year had a loose connection which could have accounted
for the lower voltage at the furnace. We tightened it, tested the
furnace and all seemed ok, although the blower seemed a little weaker
than it was when we bought the RV. So the batteries were dismounted and
taken to an auto parts store for testing. The 2007 one was producing 350
CCA and the 2006 one was 650 CCA. So they probably should be replaced.
So after much discussion between the two of us on the apparent internet preference for two 6V deep cycle in series vs two 12V deep cycle in parallel vs. our current set up of two 12V starter batteries in parallel we are leaning toward the two 12V deep cycle in parallel.
The problem we saw with the two 6V deep cycle golf cart batteries is that although they provide the longest amount of current if one starts to go bad you are stuck with not being able to run anything.
Our current set up is a proven winner. We know it works with how we camp and how we charge.
However maybe a good compromise is the two 12V that are supposed to be deep cycle. We talked to camping world and they have AMG sealed batteries from Exide that we will look at tomorrow.
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Wow! Those AGM batteries are expensive. They also had Exide 31 MDC for around $140, 900 Marine Cranking hours, 205 Reserve, 115 @20 A.H. 1 yr warranty. So this became our battery to beat.
We decided on the Walmart EverStart Maxx Group Size 29 Marine Battery 29DC (Deep Cycle) for $99.99. 61.7 lbs, Reserve Capacity 210 and 114 A.H. 2 year warranty.
The warranty is what did it for us over the O'Reilly SuperStart Marine 31DCM, 1 yr warranty , Reserve Capacity 210, 20 hr Am/ rating 105 A.H. We also looked at Costco (no big batteries available and specs. hard to find), Sams Club (most interesting one was not sold in CO), Batteries Plus SLI31MDC (hard to find warranty info & specs. $120), Sears Diehard $112 and Advanced Auto Parts.
Digging around for specs. and trying to compare the products was challenging. Walmart also did not have the specs. in the product description, you had to go to the Q&A. They also have two 29DC products. One with a one year warranty and the MAXX version with the 2 year warranty.
Hope the new batteries are working out for you. We replaced ours (more than once) with Group 29's, and you get more amp-hours with similar size. After we got solar, the battery behavior became an issue. Upon returning from a cruise last December, we found that one cell had gone bad, and that battery was boiling, being fed happily all that time by the solar system. We did a quick replacement at Sams Club, but when in Quartzsite in January of this year, we replaced with gel. They have behaved quite well since. You have to do a couple of setting changes to your charger for the gel, but they do not need constant service.
ReplyDeleteSince you are outside so much, you might consider a couple of solar panels and controller. It has to be sized and designed for you, so you need a very reputable service outfit to set it up. Panels are cheap these days, the controller costs the $$. You can even get portable panels that are taken out when you get to your campsite.
Hi Bob! Hope you and Sandy are well. Thanks for the info. We've only had one trip with the new batteries but they did well. We always had no trouble running the lights, furnace etc. with the old ones. Probably because we don't have slides or fancy electronic do dads in the RV. We charge our phones, tablets etc while on the road with the generator running so it doesn't impact the batteries. We also don't run a TV in the RV. My husband uses a tablet for movies and I read books.
ReplyDeleteWe do have two solar panels. One small one that we put in the windshield when it is stored to keep the batteries topped off. The second is much larger and we put that out when boondocking to recharge them. Usually we just put it out somewhere in the sun but this last trip my husband ran some wiring up the back ladder so he can put it on the roof. This worries me a bit because I can see us driving off with it still up there and forgotten.
We've talked about mounted ones but we are both reluctant to drill holes in the fiberglass roof.
This past trip the big one fell out of the storage bay when we opened it so it is now cracked. Not sure how well it is still working so we'll be revisiting our solar strategy.