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Olddawgsrule 
Senior Member 
Joined: 20 Sep 2017 Location: New Hampshire Online Status: Offline Posts: 1014 |
 Topic: BatteryPosted: 05 Nov 2019 at 7:32am |
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Incase someone doesn't have one, here's my SOC voltage chart.
 I will say I see 'at rest' a bit different than OG. To me a true read comes after 12hrs (some say 24hrs) and find that pretty darn accurate. An hour or so will tell you if you have a issue though. I also find a battery 'wants' to be used. Letting it just sit for months, even on a maintainer is not use.. I do plug in over the winter when required, I draw down the battery, typically 80% (275 watts) and usually my panel will catch it back up, if not I'll plug in. I do recommend a meter like what I use that shows cumulative wattage. I have another on my panel. I think I was checking Refrigerator draw on battery in this picture.  |
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lostagain
Senior Member
Joined: 06 Sep 2016 Location: Quaker Hill, CT Online Status: Offline Posts: 2587 |
Posted: 05 Nov 2019 at 6:34am |
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We use 2 Costco/Interstate 6v 220 AH batteries. When home the trailer is plugged in so they're getting a continuous charge from the WFCO converter but I've never had a noticeable problem with over charging. I check the water level frequently and have rarely needed to ad water, mostly when it's been really hot. We keep the batteries in a tongue box so it's really easy to access them to check the water level. My brother-in-law has bank of 4 of these same batteries in his class A that have lasted for almost 10 years.
I agree with offgrid, avoid over charging, discharging below 50%, and never let the water get down to the plates or below. Simple battery maintenance ensures a long battery life.
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Never leave footprints behind.
Fred & Maria Kearney Sonoma 167RB Our Pod 172 2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost |
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jato
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Feb 2012 Location: Kewadin, MI Online Status: Offline Posts: 3227 |
Posted: 04 Nov 2019 at 4:31pm |
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Thanks to both Olddawgsrule and Offgrid for the replies. That is why I enjoy this forum so much, something new to learn everyday, or is it because I am forgetting so much? Yes, electrolyte level is crucial to battery life, as is not under or overcharging, and keeping the battery clean, posts, ect. Over the past nearly 9 years I average twice per year that I add distilled water to each battery. I will not purchase any battery whereby I cannot access the cells to add water, something that is becoming more difficult with smaller batteries, at least in the area where i reside.
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God's pod
'11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
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offgrid
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290 |
Posted: 04 Nov 2019 at 3:55pm |
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A little more battery 101.
The biggest killers of lead acid battery life are excessive discharge and overcharge.
On the discharge side I agree with the 50% state of charge minimum for deep cycle batteries. That occurs at about 12.2V so you really need a voltmeter to measure it properly, the little lights in the trailer aren't very useful, to be kind about it. The 12.2V should be measured with the battery at rest (no significant charging or discharging) for a half an hour or longer. After you take that measurement once or twice and relate it to the lights and to how much electrical load you're been taking you begin to get a pretty good idea what you have and don't have to measure it all the time. Or if you want to do it the old school way you can get a hydrometer (they're cheap) and measure the electrolyte specific gravity. Sulfuric acid is heavier than water. The lower the state of charge the lower the sulfuric acid concentration is and the lower the SG is. SG should generally be around 1.18-1.2 at 50% state of charge. On the overcharge side the WFCO chargers in our Pods seem to have a tendency to overcharge the batteries pretty heavily when left on which can consume the water and expose the plates in a few weeks. At least mine does that. Exposed battery plates are baaad.  So check the water level frequently and/or shut the charger off for awhile after you've recharged. Use only distilled water and bring the level back up to the little slots below the caps. If you add water turn on the charger for a day or so to mix the distilled water with the sulfuric acid (which tends to stay at the bottom). The other killer of batteries is heat. Contrary to popular belief cold weather is good for batteries as long as they are kept charged. They won't freeze if charged well, even in extreme cold. But hot weather will kill them because it accelerates internal corrosion of the battery plates. Nothing really you can do about it, we all live where we live, but don't expect to get the same battery life Jato is getting in MI if you live in FL or AZ  |
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
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Olddawgsrule
Senior Member
Joined: 20 Sep 2017 Location: New Hampshire Online Status: Offline Posts: 1014 |
Posted: 04 Nov 2019 at 12:53pm |
Bang for the buck theory on purchasing. For the higher $$ for the Trojan's I would hope it's a thicker plate, but I don't know for certain. I could find anywhere I could compare build spec's. I saw the Duracell weighed more (I thought the Trojan would have if the plates were thicker). From there it was Warranty and ah rating (well and some reviews..). Then cost. Duracell won. The T-105's and my Duracell Ultra's spec's are very close. My dual Duracells are rated at 230ah each (at 6v's). As you know when wiring in series, voltage goes up and amperage remains. So now I have dual at 12v's and still the 230a rating. A 6V FLA should not be drawn below 50% (if you wish them to last), so that divides the 230ah in half, 115ah. I tend be conservative on my values, knowing things are not always as stated, and say I have 100ah usable power. Hope that helps. |
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SteveA
Groupie 
Joined: 19 Jul 2017 Location: Sandpoint Id Online Status: Offline Posts: 56 |
Posted: 04 Nov 2019 at 12:14pm |
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Good info Offgrid, thanks!
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2017 179 1/2
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jato
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Feb 2012 Location: Kewadin, MI Online Status: Offline Posts: 3227 |
Posted: 04 Nov 2019 at 9:12am |
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[QUOTE=Olddawgsrule]
Well said Offgrid! Same point I would have made yet you said much better.
Jato: I agree that charging within the 'real' usage rates extends the life of a battery. I use a voltage chart to check my SOC (at rest). I use FLA's and run only to 12.4 (with the occasion of a 12.3). I'm a pretty firm believer that 12v's should only be drawn to 75% SOC and 6v's to 50%. My last set of 12v's lasted me 14yrs+ staying within this guideline. This is my second year using 6v's. My choice this time around was a pair of Duracell 230ah 6v's. This gives me a usable rate of just over 100ah (SOC to only 50%). Question, How did you arrive purchasing the Duracell over Trojan brand? Being a golf course guy our Yamaha's use a 48 volt system (6 - 8 volt batteries) and as far as I knew Trojan is supposedly the best you can get. Do the two offer the same amount of AH when wired in series? I thought the Trojan T 105 or 120 offer 120 AH whereas the Duracell you state give you a usable rate of just over 100 AH or am I just reading your post incorrectly? Thanks, I appreciate your expertise in this area and I know the day will come when I will be retiring my 'old' batteries with some fresh 6 volt ones.
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God's pod
'11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
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Olddawgsrule
Senior Member
Joined: 20 Sep 2017 Location: New Hampshire Online Status: Offline Posts: 1014 |
Posted: 04 Nov 2019 at 8:59am |
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Well said Offgrid! Same point I would have made yet you said much better.
Jato: I agree that charging within the 'real' usage rates extends the life of a battery. I use a voltage chart to check my SOC (at rest). I use FLA's and run only to 12.4 (with the occasion of a 12.3). I'm a pretty firm believer that 12v's should only be drawn to 75% SOC and 6v's to 50%. My last set of 12v's lasted me 14yrs+ staying within this guideline. This is my second year using 6v's. My choice this time around was a pair of Duracell 230ah 6v's. This gives me a usable rate of just over 100ah (SOC to only 50%). I am also a fan of doing a Power Audit to determine just what 'you' need. I'm finding I have far more then I've required. Between TV and Solar charging, I would have been fine in a 60-80ah range.
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offgrid
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290 |
Posted: 04 Nov 2019 at 6:13am |
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Just a little battery 101.
If you have a choice, connecting 2 6V batteries in series is better that 2 12V ones in parallel. In a series configuration there is only one path for current to take in and out of the batteries, so they get charged and discharged equally all the time. In a parallel configuration there are two current paths, so one battery inevitably gets exercised more than the other one. This gets worse as the batteries age and start to have more variation in cell internal resistances.
If you do need to have batteries in parallel, take the positive output cable from one battery and the negative from the other, that will reduce (but not eliminate) the current imbalance between the two. One other point, deep cycle batteries are not designed the same as SLI (starting, lights, and ignition) automotive batteries. SLI batteries have many more thinner battery plates so there is a lot of surface area that can produce the high currents a starter needs. But because the plates are thinner they don't have much capacity to cycle deeply. Deep cycle batteries have fewer thicker plates so they can't produce high currents, but the thicker plates are much more tolerant of cycling. The "marine" batteries are a compromise between the two, so they can both start an engine while still having some cycling capacity. But like all compromises they don't do either job as well as could be. Since trailer batteries are never called upon to produce the kind of high currents a starter takes, a true deep cycle battery is a better choice for our purposes. |
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
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jato
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Feb 2012 Location: Kewadin, MI Online Status: Offline Posts: 3227 |
Posted: 03 Nov 2019 at 6:07pm |
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Currently we own a pair of 12v Interstate deep cycle, group size 24 batteries that are going to have their 9th birthday in March 2020. I never thought they would last this long and said years ago as I posted a similar question that I would replace with a pair of 6v. golf cart batteries. That was 5 years ago, and now . . . . I haven't changed my mind on that. We were gone the whole month of September in CO and UT and boondocked the majority of the time, being in national parks. We can go 6 days with our 2 batteries, night temps were often in the mid 30's to mid 40's so the furnace was the major culprit in draining the batteries, plus the fact I like to sleep in my 177 w/o ice on my nose in the morning. We change out each battery when the voltage reads 12.3, don't want to take it lower than that, maybe that is why they have lasted as long as they have.
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God's pod
'11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
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Battery