Dual Batteries, Marine Switch and solar tender

[Two Shepherds]

We do a lot of dry camping where we depend on battery power. Some camp sites do not allow generators to run during nighttime hours even if they are ultra quiet units. So I fitted my Passport with dual battery boxes housing group 31 deep cycle batts. I used a Marine battery switch for easy selection or disconnecting. You can switch from all off, batt 1, batt 2 or both batteries...
I like the easy disconnecting switch for storage.
I also attached a 3 watt solar tender to the lid of one battery box. It has worked well for keeping the battery topped off during storage.

[matandjen]

Very nice setup. Which solar charger manufacturer did you go with?

[BirchyBoy]

Are you using those clamps for connecting the batteries? I want some sort of quick-disconnect for storage but didn't think those clamps would be good enough for daily use.

[Two Shepherds]

I bought a two pack of the Sunforce solar tenders from Amazon. I think the same people make them for everyone. I have seen them under the brand name N2Power at Northern Tool, Coleman and Sunforce. Some say 1-3 watt and some claim to be water resistant. I went around mine with a bead of silicone for insurance. The panel came with ring terminals and clamps, I chose the clamps as a last minute idea. They have worked fine. We are talking about a trickle of milliamps so there is no real current to transfer or build heat in a loose connection. The clamps have good tension and a ton of surface area in contact with the posts.
I had a square 5 or 12 watt panel mounted to the top of my old trailer and it worked great as well. Neither were strong enough for me to leave the power on during storage though. The drain of the stereo and other devices would run the battery down.
I also like the group 31 batteries they seem to have about 40% more capacity than the group 24 that came with my trailer. With the original group 24 we would run the battery dead after one cold night of running the furnace, lights and water pump. Now I can easily go a few days without recharging the larger batteries.

I bought ten ft of red and black #6 battery cable from Napa to make all of my connections. I used tinned marine ring terminals with a crimp, solder and heat shrink at each connection. I also redid the cheesy factory ground and power connections where they just crimped a cheap ring terminal onto a wire and let it slowly corrode. The interior lights no longer dim when the water pump comes on.

Here is a factory Keystone crimp on the left and mine on the right.

[Two Shepherds]

The batteries are 80 lbs a piece so if I am staying at park with full hookups I leave battery #2 at home for weight savings. I only store it with one and keep the other in the garage on a Ctek tender.

[Stublejumper]

We do a lot of dry camping where we depend on battery power. Some camp sites do not allow generators to run during nighttime hours even if they are ultra quiet units. So I fitted my Passport with dual battery boxes housing group 31 deep cycle batts. I used a Marine battery switch for easy selection or disconnecting. You can switch from all off, batt 1, batt 2 or both batteries...
I like the easy disconnecting switch for storage.
I also attached a 3 watt solar tender to the lid of one battery box. It has worked well for keeping the battery topped off during storage.

We do mostly dry camping as well so I went with 4 t105s Trojan and 1 interstate deep cycle ,no solar panel yet .I like your idea of of removing some of the batteries to reduce weight.

[howshow]

well i have to say this has all been very helpful ready thanks, i may have a few questions soon :)