Using just one 12V

[GMcKenzie]

My 2 6V batteries appear to have given up the ghost. After charging them and having them disconnected from everything, they still dropped to 10V in 2 days.

I'm not planning any powerless camping in the near future, so is there any issues with putting in a single 12V for this season?

[Festus2]

If you're not going to be doing much, if any, dry camping from now on, you should be good with having just 1 12v battery. I'd go for a good quality Group 27 or 29 rather than a 24 but depending upon your needs, a good 24 will do the job.

[Outbackmel]

Our 2011 Outback 5er ( triple slide) came with 1 battery and it continues to serve us well 2 years down the road. We never dry camp.
Life is good.

[hankpage]

Our '07 Cougar came with one 12v and it is still working. http://www.keystonerv.org/forums/picture.php?albumid=251&pictureid=1170 We don't dry camp and the trailer has shore power all the time. Battery is only used while on the road and will still run the furnace over night for a few hours. I just realized how old it is :eek: ..... I think I'm pushing my luck. You should be fine with one good 12v. JM2¢, Hank

[GMcKenzie]

If you're not going to be doing much, if any, dry camping from now on, you should be good with having just 1 12v battery. I'd go for a good quality Group 27 or 29 rather than a 24 but depending upon your needs, a good 24 will do the job.

More a question of what is in the garage right now. Got enough other bills to deal with and didn't want to spend anything if not needed.

Looked at Costco and their batteries are cheaper ($115) but seem to be real weak (115RC).

Need to also take a stab at rejuvenating what I have.

[jsmith948]

FWIW - replaced our group 24 12v with two 6v golf cart batteries from Costco.
$89 or $90 (89.99?) each. 200 AH & no problems.

[SteveC7010]

My 2 6V batteries appear to have given up the ghost. After charging them and having them disconnected from everything, they still dropped to 10V in 2 days.

I'm not planning any powerless camping in the near future, so is there any issues with putting in a single 12V for this season?
In your situation, one 12vdc marine/rv deep cycle battery should work just fine.

[2011 keystone]

Rather than starting a new thread I will ask a battery question here.
I was given a brand new CAT 1000cca group 31 90 amp hr cap part number 175-4390
battery. does any one no of any problems I would have useing a battery this large?
The only thing we ever use the battery for is our electric tounge jack and to run the fridge while traveling.

[warsw]

Rather than starting a new thread I will ask a battery question here.
I was given a brand new CAT 1000cca group 31 90 amp hr cap part number 175-4390
battery. does any one no of any problems I would have useing a battery this large?
The only thing we ever use the battery for is our electric tounge jack and to run the fridge while traveling.With that huge CCA (1000) and low amp hr cap (90) it is definitely a starting battery. Used in a deep cycle app it may not last very long but, FREE is a very good price.

[GMcKenzie]

FWIW - replaced our group 24 12v with two 6v golf cart batteries from Costco.
$89 or $90 (89.99?) each. 200 AH & no problems.Going down to the US while staying at Harrison so will look when I'm down there. Prices up here seem a bit much for what I can get at Costco.

[suza]

We do a lot of dry camping so are looking to replace our stock 12v battery, which just isn't cutting it, with two 6v golf cart batteries. Would appreciate feedback on brands/types (good or bad). Has anyone tested Costco's. How are they working/holding up?

Thanks

[Festus2]

I have used Trojans (T105) - not only in our RV but also in our "ex boat". Over the years, they have never let me down and have given great service. There may be better ones out there (Turettes, for example) but can't afford them.

I would recommend Trojans but others have their own favourites.

[suza]

I have used Trojans (T105) - not only in our RV but also in our "ex boat". Over the years, they have never let me down and have given great service. There may be better ones out there (Turettes, for example) but can't afford them.

I would recommend Trojans but others have their own favourites.

Thanks for your recommendation. Have to see where we might purchase them locally. Our next dry-camp trip is in a couple of weeks.

[GMcKenzie]

Hitting a provincial site this weekend so bit the bullet. One has held a charge in the garage for more than a month so I did a bad thing and just bought one to replace the bad one. Both look to be 115ah so I just will watch them.

Picked up the Costco one.

[Andymon]

Along the same subject, will two deep cell 12 volt batteries make it through three days of dry camping? It's just the two of us.

[Festus2]

Along the same subject, will two deep cell 12 volt batteries make it through three days of dry camping? It's just the two of us.

That's a difficult question to answer with a simple "yes or no". Yes, IF you are frugal with the use of those items that draw on your battery -- lights and water pump in particular. There are ways of cutting down on the use of these - candles, having water in containers and pour from those rather than pump it, use a bucket of water in the bathroom to flush the toilet rather than run the pump, and so on.

You can always hook up to your TV and run the truck for a while to give your batteries a bit of a boost and when you are setting up or packing it up to go home, hook up your truck to the RV when running out the slides, operating stabilizers, etc.

Of course, your batteries need to be fully charged and in good condition before you start dry camping. No sense starting out with your batteries 3/4 charged!

If you are careful with the lights and the pump, then you should be ok for 3 days.
Keep an eye on it and if the batteries start showing low, then it's time to get them back up to charge somehow.

You didn't mention about if you had a generator or not - I am assuming you don't have or want one.

[Andymon]

That's a difficult question to answer with a simple "yes or no". Yes, IF you are frugal with the use of those items that draw on your battery -- lights and water pump in particular. There are ways of cutting down on the use of these - candles, having water in containers and pour from those rather than pump it, use a bucket of water in the bathroom to flush the toilet rather than run the pump, and so on.

You can always hook up to your TV and run the truck for a while to give your batteries a bit of a boost and when you are setting up or packing it up to go home, hook up your truck to the RV when running out the slides, operating stabilizers, etc.

Of course, your batteries need to be fully charged and in good condition before you start dry camping. No sense starting out with your batteries 3/4 charged!

If you are careful with the lights and the pump, then you should be ok for 3 days.
Keep an eye on it and if the batteries start showing low, then it's time to get them back up to charge somehow.

You didn't mention about if you had a generator or not - I am assuming you don't have or want one.

Thanks for the reply. No, I do not have a generator although I have been doing so research on solar. Not saying a gen is out....
We just have a couple of really nice place that would be fun to be at and they are dry camping. We can be frugal on the electric.

[suza]

Along the same subject, will two deep cell 12 volt batteries make it through three days of dry camping? It's just the two of us.

Andy: We can make it through two days with one battery, provided, as Festus2 says, we are frugal with our power usage, so two should last you three days, if you follow energy conservation tips. I don't mind packing water instead of pumping and most non-hookup parks do have running water. Plus, flushing the toilet, in the middle of the night is a lot quieter using a bucket :) Also, I think we will invest in LED bulbs for at least the interior lights we use the most. Of course, the AC and heater would be out of the question.

On our last trip, our battery got so low, the fridge wouldn't fire (ours takes just a little less than 10v to keep the propane going). Found out, if you don't open the fridge, though, it will stay cool several hours. Ours went off at about 10pm and was still 42 degrees when we got up in the morning and the ice cream hadn't begun to melt (just softened). We did have a bucket of ice and two cold packs in the freezer, which probably helped. Fridge was only 1/2 full.

Do heed Festus2's warning: always make sure your battery is fully charged before you take off. We neglected to do this last time (probably why we ran out of power) and in a day, we were down to 1/3 power :o Also, having the RV hooked up to your running TV when extending levelers and slides will prevent unnecessary draining of your batteries.

Let us know how your next dry camp goes. We are trying it again in a couple of weeks, but I think we'll take the generator this time :)

[GMcKenzie]

Thanks for the reply. No, I do not have a generator although I have been doing so research on solar. Not saying a gen is out....
We just have a couple of really nice place that would be fun to be at and they are dry camping. We can be frugal on the electric.

You need a lot of solar to keep batteries charged. I have an 85w kit and it does help a little (I don't take it if just going for a weekend) but that is effectively enough power to run a single household light and that is it's peak production under full sunlight.

If you want to dry camp a lot, consider switching to LED lights. It is the one thing you can change out that will make a difference. Other than that you need to make new habits. Cooking outside so you don't need the fan, use portable lights instead of the porch light, that kind of thing.

[BldrRob]

I have a question along the battery topic:
It looks our our battery is about dead. Its about 2.5 yrs old. Took the rig out last weekend and it didn't even have enough juice to use the motoroized tounge jack. Strange because the place we have it stored we keep it plugged in for the specific reason of keeping the battery charged. Nothing else is left on when we store it. Fridge is off and open.
So, to finally get to my questions - is there any benefit to replacing the single battery with 2 batteries? Does anybody likeor prefer the marine deep cycle batteris opposed tona standard replacement battery? We go primitive/ dry camp at least once per year if not twice a year. Rest of the time it's water and power minimum.
Thanks in advance!
Rob

[Festus2]

Having 2 batteries may not be necessary if you only dry camp once or perhaps twice a year. You didn't mention how long your stays are without power but you should be able to get 3-4 days in with one battery providing you are mindful of what you use and for how long.
I'd suggest that you look into replacing some or all of your incandescent interior lights with LED's. These will draw far less on your battery -- about 1/9 to 1/10 less - and your battery will last considerably longer with that saving.

[Travlntj]

Thanks for the reply. No, I do not have a generator although I have been doing so research on solar. Not saying a gen is out....
We just have a couple of really nice place that would be fun to be at and they are dry camping. We can be frugal on the electric.

We use a 95W solar panel permanently mounted on the roof and a 55W panel on a 30' cord that plugs into the side of the trailer. The battery is a Die Hard Platinum 31m. All lights have been converted to led's. In warm weather when no heat required, and given a few hours of sun, we can go indefinitely. Most mornings the battery will be around 90%or better and fully charged by evening. If very cloudy we'll limit pump use as suggested elsewhere. With this configuration the single battery seems adequate.

Tom

[BldrRob]

Thanks Festus2. We are typically out only about 3 days when we dry camp. I'll look at picking up some of the LED lamps when I get the new battery.

[suza]

We are happy with our two Trojan golf cart battery upgrade. Since making the switch, we have dry camped three times. The last time, at Timothy Lake, near Mt Hood, we dry camped three days and two nights and only used 1/3 of our battery with the following conservation measures:

1). Extended the jacks and slides while hooked to the PU with the engine running

2). Limited use of incandescent lights; we have installed LEDs in kitchen, bathroom and reading locations. We also have an LED lantern. We are "early to bed, early to rise" so were not inside much, after dark, except to read a bit and sleep.

3). Did not unnecessarily use the ceiling vent and stove fans; ran the water pump conservatively, including 2 "military" showers.

We were outside during most of the day and did not need to use the furnace at all. I estimate we could easily dry camp, under these conditions, for a week.

Before converting to the golf cart batteries, we could barely dry camp for this length of time.

[Jca3]

Where we live we don't have the option of power in the national forest campgrounds. We do a lot of dry camping and still have our 2 original batteries that came with the trailer. We read at night with lights and always use our pump. Our trouble is water storage issues not whether or not we run out of power. We live pretty much as at home, just without microwave and TV. We don't have a generator or solar power and haven't needed it.
In the days of only 1 battery we could do 3 days if we bought a new battery every 2 years, but these two have worked really well for us.

[suza]

Where we live we don't have the option of power in the national forest campgrounds. We do a lot of dry camping and still have our 2 original batteries that came with the trailer. We read at night with lights and always use our pump. Our trouble is water storage issues not whether or not we run out of power. We live pretty much as at home, just without microwave and TV. We don't have a generator or solar power and haven't needed it.
In the days of only 1 battery we could do 3 days if we bought a new battery every 2 years, but these two have worked really well for us.

I agree. With the standard battery set-up, 3 days seems to be the limit. I suppose the manufacturers figure that average campers will only dry camp for a weekend and thus provide the bare minimum. Anything over the average would require other measures, such as battery upgrades or a generator.