6 Volt setup

[zuley]

Good morning. Question regarding 6 volt set up verses 12 volt and the aspects of charging. I switched my battery set up last night from 2- 12 volt group 27 batteries to a dual 6 volt set up on my 2013 Elite 23RB. I purchased the batteries from an industrail supplier that we deal with at our shop. Set up and wiring the new batteries was painless. I do not have a propper volt metre but was able to plug a small inverter into the cigarette lighter above the tv. The voltage shown was 12.4 volts. I'm not certain how close to true this reading was. The trailer was plugged in over night. This morning using the same inverter gauge the voltage read 12.5 volts. So my question(s) is/ are 1. how accurate are these little idiot gauges in the inverters and 2. is the onboard charger in the trailer powerful enough to charge up 6 volt batteries?
We boon dock for two weeks every summer. Hoping this did not turn out to be another one of my lifes **** ups!! I've got my little Champion 2000 that I can hook my battery charger to directly but I'm hoping not to have to do that.
Thanks all.
Dave

[Desert185]

What year is your trailer? Mine is a 2014 and has a WFCO, three-stage, "smart charging" converter. No worries on charging the golf cart batteries.

Also, if you have a surge protector that reads amps being used, you can see when the battery charge levels off to trickle mode.

[randy69]

First of all your wired right because your voltage is right. When I bought my th I had them take out the 2 12volts and replace them with 2 deep cell 6 volts. Nothing changed except 1 extra wire to put them in series with each other.

[Lawdog]

Short answer: you are good to go. I prefer the Progressive converters to the WFCO, but that's another matter. What you have will charge your two 6v batteries well enough.

You should not expect two weeks of capacity, however. You will want to run your Champion from time to time to keep the batteries going over a trip that long.

Do yourself a favor and go grab a basic multi-meter/voltmeter. I have one in my RV toolbox and another I hardwired to my batteries so that I'm cheking it right at the source, not after the current has gone down a long disatnce of wire. They're easily had for under $20 here in states, shouldn't be too much different for you in ON. You'll want this because you want a little precision here. Note that the voltages will fluctuate some from night to morning and vice versa and load and use, etc. Also note that a voltmeter or similar device will only give you a momentary snapshot and you have to remember that use, load and other factors will come into play.

Good luck and enjoy the new setup.

[hankaye]

zuley, Howdy;

One other thing, ... check the water level on a regular basis it will help them
to help you for a long and enjoyable relationship.

hankaye

[zuley]

Thank you all. Everything is working great, now that is. Further to the story if I may... Everything wired up easily. Clean job. Fluctuated between 12.4 and 12.5 volts on the LCD display on my portable inverter. Same reading the next morning, hense my post and questions. Last evening I noticed the microwave display was not lit up with the trailer plugged in. Got into panic mode thinking I had done bad. Everything 110 inside was dead. Dismantled the 6 volt re re hooked up the 12 volt system. Same deal. By my limited knowledge I'm thinking I had somehow cooked the inverter. With my tail tucked firmly between my legs I ventured into the house to let the warden know that holidays planned for next week were subject to change. Luckily my next door neighbor is an electrician. He came over and started checking wires and circuits. Yes, it was dead. It was when he asked me to unplug the power again that the female side of the extension arked that we looked at the cord. Nothing wrong with the camper, it was a faulty connector on the extension cord. Ironic that it just happened to pop up at the same time I was making some modifications to the power side of the trailer. Got it all back together and was showing 13.6 volts this morning after being plugged in all night. Holidays are back on as planned.

[hankaye]

zuley, Howdy;

Good to hear that it was all figured out and you will have a good weekend.

hankaye

[kampfitt]

I might offer you read Handy Bob all about batteries and how charge and care for them. Also a lot on solar for boondocking.
https://handybobsolar.wordpress.com/

[Desert185]

Great info there. Thanks for posting.