6 Volt Battery

[CampinGpa]

We purchased a 2018 Cedar Creek Hathaway Edition and has a 1000 watt inverter and a Residential Refrigerator in July 2018 it came with two Twelve volt battery's. power volt V24s.I don't think I like them. I have seen on the form that everybody's recommending going with two 6 volt battery's . Was wondering if I had to make any changes to hook up and run the two 6 volt batter's. Do to not staying charged up the two power volt 24v may have froze up it looked like it had slush in it. did not realize that the battery disconnect shut off didn't stop the discharge on the battery's. and to hook up the two 6 volt is red to red and black to black. someone told him it hooks up red to black. that just does not sound right to me . But I am not familiar with 6 volt battery's THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP

[cavie]

Originally Posted by CampinGpa

We purchased a 2018 Cedar Creek Hathaway Edition and has a 1000 watt inverter and a Residential Refrigerator in July 2018 it came with two Twelve volt battery's. power volt V24s.I don't think I like them. I have seen on the form that everybody's recommending going with two 6 volt battery's . Was wondering if I had to make any changes to hook up and run the two 6 volt batter's. Do to not staying charged up the two power volt 24v may have froze up it looked like it had slush in it. did not realize that the battery disconnect shut off didn't stop the discharge on the battery's. and to hook up the two 6 volt is red to red and black to black. someone told him it hooks up red to black. that just does not sound right to me . But I am not familiar with 6 volt battery's THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP

Yes. 2- 6 volt batteries Red to black = 12 volts. In series Just like a flashlight.

2- 12 volt batteries are red to red black to black = 12 volts. That's in parallel.

Yes if you change what you have you will need to change the wiring. Find someone to help you.

[Justice12t]

Originally Posted by cavie

2- 12 volt batteries are red to red black to black that's in Pharrell.

2 - 12 volt batteries make a singer?? that's awesome I'll have to try that when I get home!

Google search 6 volt batteries and go to images. There will be some simple diagrams to follow. But like the above post, + to - makes 6v, 12v. Also generally 6v batteries are bigger (taller I think) than 12 volts so make sure you have room where your batteries are. Good luck!

[cavie]

Originally Posted by Justice12t

2 - 12 volt batteries make a singer?? that's awesome I'll have to try that when I get home!

Google search 6 volt batteries and go to images. There will be some simple diagrams to follow. But like the above post, + to - makes 6v, 12v. Also generally 6v batteries are bigger (taller I think) than 12 volts so make sure you have room where your batteries are. Good luck!

I hate auto spell. Especially when I don't read it.!

[Dave_the_Piper]

Originally Posted by CampinGpa

We purchased a 2018 Cedar Creek Hathaway Edition and has a 1000 watt inverter and a Residential Refrigerator in July 2018 it came with two Twelve volt battery's. power volt V24s.I don't think I like them. I have seen on the form that everybody's recommending going with two 6 volt battery's . Was wondering if I had to make any changes to hook up and run the two 6 volt batter's. Do to not staying charged up the two power volt 24v may have froze up it looked like it had slush in it. did not realize that the battery disconnect shut off didn't stop the discharge on the battery's. and to hook up the two 6 volt is red to red and black to black. someone told him it hooks up red to black. that just does not sound right to me . But I am not familiar with 6 volt battery's THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP

My Cedar Creek came with four 6 volt batteries, I was constantly adding water to the batteries. Talked to on of Forest River electrical techs at a rally about this. His reply was that the converter model that my unit had does not like 6 volt batteries and it was common problem. I remove the four 6 volt batteries and replaced the with two 12 volt deep cycle batteries. We do not boondock and this has proven capable of handling the electrical requirements of our unit. now I expect the electrical gurus to say that 12v vs two 6v in series is the same. All I can say is I made the recommended change and my issues went away. Y,all can do as you please, it worked for me.

[njfishing]

Here's how to wire two 6 volts in series https://www.etrailer.com/question-60431.html

[formerFR]

6v batteries tend to be a real 'deep discharge' type for RVs, and probably best suited for your situation, if you are contemplating a change anyway. Go for a standard 6v Golf Cart GC type battery, found at Power Sports and Boating stores, if you don't have an RV dealer nearby.

Two 6v batteries have to be wired to give you 12v output, so yes, they are wired differently than your current 12v batteries.
Since two 6v batteries have to provide the 12v output, they must be wired in 'Series', which means that the POSITIVE terminal of one is connected to the NEGATIVE of the other, which raises the output to 12v. You might also wrap this wire with a Black or Red electrical tape 'flag'.
The terminals that are left now accept the wires from your coach, just like the former ones.

This wiring scheme means that you'll have a wire 'left over' from your current setup, since you now have 4 wires, instead of only needing 3 with two 6v batteries, in series.

[CampinGpa]

Maybe I should stay with the two 12 volt battery's and swap out the two power volt V24 with Interstates or is there any good recommendations out there? I had interstate in my TT and it work good

[boondocking]

If you boon dock a lot then go with a pair of 6 volt. If you always stay in campgrounds with full hookups then 12 volt batteries would do you fine.

[CampinGpa]

Originally Posted by boondocking

If you boon dock a lot then go with a pair of 6 volt. If you always stay in campgrounds with full hookups then 12 volt batteries would do you fine.

Thank you we don't boondock. Just campgrounds

[MR.M]

Originally Posted by CampinGpa

Maybe I should stay with the two 12 volt battery's and swap out the two power volt V24 with Interstates or is there any good recommendations out there? I had interstate in my TT and it work good

Inverter with residential fridge i would go with true deep cycle 12 volts batteryies . trojan , us battery , even interstate makes a true deep cycle 12 volts

[boondocking]

Originally Posted by CampinGpa

Thank you we don't boondock. Just campgrounds

Then Interstate 12v would work just fine for you.

[CampinGpa]

We will check on the Trojan battery's. I know we can get interstate battery's here in Omaha Nebraska. This Forest River Forums is awesome and you all are a great help. Hope to meet you all at the 2019 international rally providing we get to reserve a spot. I keep watching for more information on it. THANK YOU ALL AGAIN

[CHICKDOE]

before you do anything you should fix the problem with the battery disconnect. it is quite typical that the factory installed disconnect switch does not disconnect ALL loads from the batteries. this leaves some small loads that will drain the batteries over a time period of a week or so. if you are going to leave the batteries in storage for some period of time you need to disconnect ALL loads. you can install your own disconnect switch to do this or you can remove a battery cable. but you need to ensure that you can disconnect ALL loads. and before you store the batteries you should make sure they are fully charged. a fully charged disconnected battery will stay that way for months.

not everybody recommends 2 6-volt batteries. for every one that does there is probably another person that recommends 12 volt batteries. and this is just part of decision tree. then you can ask for opinions on battery types: flooded, gel, agm, and lithium. and you will get recommendations for each. just type the word battery into the search bar, get a cup of coffee, and read until you can't take it any more.

you don't even have to type in the word solar!

[CampinGpa]

Originally Posted by CHICKDOE

before you do anything you should fix the problem with the battery disconnect. it is quite typical that the factory installed disconnect switch does not disconnect ALL loads from the batteries. this leaves some small loads that will drain the batteries over a time period of a week or so. if you are going to leave the batteries in storage for some period of time you need to disconnect ALL loads. you can install your own disconnect switch to do this or you can remove a battery cable. but you need to ensure that you can disconnect ALL loads. and before you store the batteries you should make sure they are fully charged. a fully charged disconnected battery will stay that way for months.

not everybody recommends 2 6-volt batteries. for every one that does there is probably another person that recommends 12 volt batteries. and this is just part of decision tree. then you can ask for opinions on battery types: flooded, gel, agm, and lithium. and you will get recommendations for each. just type the word battery into the search bar, get a cup of coffee, and read until you can't take it any more.

you don't even have to type in the word solar!

Thank you I was thinkin about putting a disconnect switch on the battery terminal but do I both battery's

[W5CI]

I would go with 4 6 volt batteries ,

[CHICKDOE]

i'll try to help clear up the confusion. in an ideal situation with 2 12-volt batteries there should be 4 cables that actually attach to the batteries. two of these are jumpers to connect the batteries together. one of these connects the positive terminals together, the other one connects the negative terminals together. these cables carry power between the batteries. you don't want to do anything to these short cables, just leave them as is. then there should be positive cable connected to the positive terminal of battery #1 and a negative cable connected to the negative terminal of battery #2. these
cables carry current out of the batteries, to the load, and back into the batteries.

there may be (most probably is) multiple cables connected to the positive battery terminals. they may be connected to only one of the positive terminals or some could be connected to one positive terminal and some to the other positive terminal. if possible, you want to rearrange them so they all are attached to only one positive terminal. most likely there is only one cable connected to the negative terminal. again you want to positive cables attached to the positive terminal of battery #1 and the negative cables attached to the negative terminal of battery #2.

now you can install a disconnect device on one of the battery terminals that has the external cables attached to it. the disconnect device will work on either the positive or negative terminal. there is some rational for installing it in the negative terminal but it will work on either. by configuring the positive and negative cables so all power flows out of one battery terminal a disconnect device installed on one of these terminal will stop all current from flowing so that the batteries do not discharge.

i hope this helps. its not real hard if you envision how the current leaves and returns to the batteries. you want one exit point and one entry point and then a single disconnect device can control one of those points.

[tomkatb]

We picked up our Hathaway 34RE last March.

On the door of the battery compartment there are two wiring diagrams. 2 6’s and two twelves.

Our battery area perfectly fits 4 Interstate GC2 batteries giving 460 amps. Now you are likely less than half of that. About $400 at Costco or Sams.

In your case if you anticipate long travel days in hot weather or boondocking, then you want the max amperage possible.

In my unit 4 12’s or 3 12 volt batteries would not fit. Smaller batteries like 24’s might fit but less amps. First choice would be lithium however they cost 900% more.

Measure your space and make your decisions.

For some reason golf carts use 6 volt batteries. Generally due to their construction they tend to tolerate abuse better. Most us us are hard on batteries. They should last 5-6 years.

When we shut off our disconnect I think only the front jacks stay on. Batteries seem to hold charges well so far. We checked them last Sunday.

[FFred]

The reason folks that boondock prefer 6V batts is they usually have a better" 20 hour rate" the reference by which all deep cycle batts are judged.

The reason is the lead does the work , and there is more lead in 6v than 12v batts as the case spacers take up room .

Batts are sold by the outside size of their cases , so 24 or 27 or 31 or 4D or 8D are like shoes , size only, NOT the ability of the contents to store energy and do work.

The "20 hour rate" is how to measure capacity of one deep cycle batt vs another.

If you see CCA or MCA it is NOT a deep cycle or GC (golf cart) but some sort of starting or multi purpose boat batt , not what you need.

Take a look at the Trojan or Surette batts sites for some education.

Good batts must be cared for by never discharging them too deeply before recharge .

Voltage is a very poor measure , a SOC , "state of charge" meter is a gas gauge that will monitor all charging and discharging .

A SOC above 50% is considered best for long batt life.

[CampinGpa]

Originally Posted by tomkatb

We picked up our Hathaway 34RE last March.

On the door of the battery compartment there are two wiring diagrams. 2 6’s and two twelves.

Our battery area perfectly fits 4 Interstate GC2 batteries giving 460 amps. Now you are likely less than half of that. About $400 at Costco or Sams.

In your case if you anticipate long travel days in hot weather or boondocking, then you want the max amperage possible.

In my unit 4 12’s or 3 12 volt batteries would not fit. Smaller batteries like 24’s might fit but less amps. First choice would be lithium however they cost 900% more.

Measure your space and make your decisions.

For some reason golf carts use 6 volt batteries. Generally due to their construction they tend to tolerate abuse better. Most us us are hard on batteries. They should last 5-6 years.

When we shut off our disconnect I think only the front jacks stay on. Batteries seem to hold charges well so far. We checked them last Sunday.

THANK YOU This is me