Consider your loads carefully, and use alternate sources of energy. Instead of lights in your camper, you can use a battery powered flourescent at night for area lighting.
Plan to cook using your propane stove as much as possible, perhaps bake dinner for warmth rather than something outside. Your camper batteries will save some capacity.
Instead of cold cereal, again use your stove to cook breakfast. Keep heat in as much as possible if it's an issue. Carry extra blankets... we have checked the thermometer in a drawer in the morning in our camper, and it was below 40F inside, yet we were comfy in bed. Cooking breakfast warmed it up until we were in our T-shirts inside again.
If you have a big pot or cooker, heat up a pot of water to boiling, then just let it sit on the stove. The radiant heat from the hot water will prevent that furnace from robbing your battery.
Just because we have the ability to watch TV, and be warm and cozy inside, remember...you are camping. If you need to put on a touque to be warm, well then do it. But don't spend money on what you don't need....
or get a generator.LOL
Mike and Carole
2000 Ford F350 SC PSD "Newman"
1994 Snowbird 8'10" "Rosietoo"
2005 16.6 Double Eagle
Well I'm running into another snag on the whole camper wiring issue. it looks like I'll be able to get enough wiring done to put the batteries in parallel for charging but i won't be able to put the isolators or the battery switch in like planned. The type 31's are going to be my best bet, and probably going with the Trojans. I was informed in a phone call tonight that the Belly bar won't be ready to install until after my vacation starts (free work at their schedule is a blessing and a curse) but I can have it installed without the sand blasting and polyurethane epoxy painting this Saturday provided I do the cutting and prep work for welding. So with that, I'm going to shoot for wiring the charge circuit in the truck and working on the belly bar Saturday morning before I go to work.
Add in I only have one free weekend before my vacation after this one (the next two weekends are tied up with community and family commitments) so it becomes a "One Shot" get it done deal.
I'll be checking out the Trojan Dealer in Millbury MA one day next week and see if I can get the type 31's when I stop or shipped in before the "One shot" weekend.
There is just not enough time to get these things done.
Thanks for the input so far.
Matt
Life is short, Play harder.
2002 GMC Sierra 1500 Regular Cab Long Bed 4.3L V6 Automatic 2WD
Have you ruled out a small quiet generator? I have a single Gr 27 Trojan SCS 200 AH battery and a 29 pound generator to recharge a few hours each day. One gallon of gas for a week of dry camping. Beats hauling all that lead around.
If I may provide some corrected information about a couple of Trojan batteries mentioned above....
The group 31 deep cycle Trojan is rated at 130 Amp Hours, not 225...225 is the number of minutes this battery will operate a 25 amp load till the battery drops to 10.5 volts. Advertising can be deceiving...you have to read the spec's...Trojan uses the '225' in their Part Number, but it's not the Amp Hour Spec!
Amp Hours are the 'gallons' in your electronic 'fuel tank' (battery) and is an indication of it's true capacity.
The Minutes rating at 25 amps can be used to compare battery types, etc., but is not really usable to estimate how long it will run your stuff.
The other Trojan mentioned was a Group 27 deep cycle...this battery is rated at 115 Amp Hours....the '200' is the Min's @ 25 amp load rating. Again, check the specs carefully.
'Cold Cranking Amp' ratings, 'Cranking Amp' ratings, and 'Marine (or RV) Cranking Amp' ratings are another way to express a battery's capacity to provide energy for STARTING batteries...NOT Deep Cycle types to run the RV's lights, etc.
These ratings were devised by the AD people to make their stuff look better than the other guys...
CCA are the available Amps @ 0 degrees f.
CA are the available Amps @ 32 degrees f.
MCA are the available Amps @ 32 degrees f.
A battery will perform better as the temp is elevated in tempature...so the CA and MCA ratings will be higher by about 15% above the CCA ratings...so if a company lists it's rating as 'Cranking Amps'...it looks kinda like 'Cold Cranking Amps' but will have a higher number due to it's being tested at the higher temp!
These ratings were intended to allow users to compare various batteries for their performance...but the AD people got involved to cloud up the issues, unless you know the meanings of the ratings.
For STARTING, look at the CCA (or CA) ratings...the higher the better to crank the engine's starter.
For INSIDE the RV, look at the Amp Hour ratings...the higher the better.
Hope that's useful...sorry to be so long winded...I too type more when I'm warmed up...
OK, I stopped in yesterday to Northeast Battery and they carry the Trojans and UltraPower brand deep cycle batteries. Has anyone had any experience or problems with the Ultrapower batteries? I can get them for $152.50 each, rated for 215 Min @ 25A draw versus the 225 Min @ 25A draw Trojans for about $200.00 ea.
So what would be better? Unfortunately the Ultrapower has no AH rating on their spec sheets, but it's 10 minutes less than the Trojans.
If they do not talk about Amp Hour (AH), I would avoid them for deep cycle applications. They may be great, but if they are not talking AH, I would have to ask why. I encourage you to read Mexray's post carefully.
If I did not go with AGM batteries, I would use the Trojans. It could be a little more for the name brand, but could also be a little more because they are tried and proven.
Sportsman Matt wrote: OK, I stopped in yesterday to Northeast Battery and they carry the Trojans and UltraPower brand deep cycle batteries. Has anyone had any experience or problems with the Ultrapower batteries? I can get them for $152.50 each, rated for 215 Min @ 25A draw versus the 225 Min @ 25A draw Trojans for about $200.00 ea.
So what would be better? Unfortunately the Ultrapower has no AH rating on their spec sheets, but it's 10 minutes less than the Trojans.
Thanks
Matt
Matt,
First off, I have no experience with Ultrapower batteries. However, based on the information Mexray provided above, the value of a "minutes @ 25 amp draw" spec may not be all that useful. The fact that Ultrapower does not even supply the more important AH rating for their battery would concern me more than the fact that the Trojans cost more.
Reddog1 wrote: If they do not talk about Amp Hour (AH), I would avoid them for deep cycle applications. They may be great, but if they are not talking AH, I would have to ask why. I encourage you to read Mexray's post carefully.
If I did not go with AGM batteries, I would use the Trojans. It could be a little more for the name brand, but could also be a little more because they are tried and proven.
Wayne
Absolutely take MexRay's advice with one addition: if two six volts are wired in a series the batteries are not two batteries, it is one 12 volt!
For what it's worth, if I had the room in my old Lance Squire 3000, I'd would have gladly stuck two 225Ah 6-volts in there instead of a 150Ah 12-volt Trojan T1275: that would have given us two more days of power.
For a watered-down version of the basic ins-and-outs of operating a 12 volt system, like mentioned before, check out The 12-Volt Side of life, and if you'd like to know more ends-and-outs find a copy at your local library of Managing 12 Volts by Harold Barre.
Knowledge is power, the power to earn and save money.
Good Luck,
Rev. Leonidas
* This post was
edited 05/08/08 10:39am by RevLeonidas *
This will probably start a lot of dialog, but I am not at all convinced that two 6-volt batteries are any more (or as) efficient than two 12-volt batteries. You can get the same AH with either. I do not see a cost savings, and if I loose one 12-volt battery, I still have AH. If I loose one of two 6-volt batteries, I have nothing.
Offline
.jpg)
