went dry camping for the last 12 days and noticed after running generator every other day that they were 2 thirds full is all, next day had to use battery boost to start generator. I think these guys are toast, before every trip I check water. Made sure all lights were off when we went to bed. Will have batteries checked. But I think ill go with Trojan golf cart batteries 6 volt.thats what every body in our camp uses. Anything else that i should check. factory batteries usely arnt the best.2 and half years old. Maybe there is warranty on them don't know. Pete
Many factors to weigh in here, but you are probably right. The stock charger in your unit will not charge much past 2/3 anyway, unless run for a long time. You would need to get a high capacity 3 stage charger to do much more than that, and even then, most chargers taper off well before the battery is full.
You may want to check the batteries before you give up on them.
Are we talking about the "2/3" light on your monitor?
When reading the battery; "2/3" is actually "G" or GOOD.
When reading the battery; "F" is actually "C" for Charging.
The Good light will be on any time the battery voltage is above 12.1 volts (or 50% capacity remaining).
So without a GOOD volt meter and a RESTED battery, you have no idea how much juice is actually in there. Your batteries may be perfectly fine.
You can waste a lot of money for no reason if you don't have a working knowledge of how the systems work.
I was talking about the tapering characteristics of the bulk absorption stage of the typical charger in the typical camper... a couple of hours of charging off the generator will not go much beyond 60 to 70 % of the total capacity of the battery, ergo the 2/3 point. I don't suggest anyone ever depend on the panel battery lights for anything, nor voltages, for that matter, unless the batteries have been at rest for 4 hours or more. That is the same thing that you are saying.
I will cease using fractions and stick to percentages.
I was talking about the tapering characteristics of the bulk absorption stage of the typical charger in the typical camper... a couple of hours of charging off the generator will not go much beyond 60 to 70 % of the total capacity of the battery, ergo the 2/3 point. I don't suggest anyone ever depend on the panel battery lights for anything, nor voltages, for that matter, unless the batteries have been at rest for 4 hours or more. That is the same thing that you are saying.
I will cease using fractions and stick to percentages.
Oh, you are absolutely correct. That is why there are stages to the charge.
Here is a graph that explains what is going on in the battery as time progresses and the stages "step down" on the charge rate as the battery fills.
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Lou & Freya the wonder dog
2008 GMC Sierra 3000HD Allison Duramax
2019 Flagstaff 8529FL
AND the bigger the charger, the sooner that it sill go into abs charge, so it is kind of a catch 22. The typical rule of thumb is that when using a generator for a limited time, like several hours, the batteries can be run down to 50% of capacity and charged up quickly to about 80% before the bulk charge kicks off.
So in round numbers a 80 AH single group 24 battery will provide about 25 AH of usable capacity in this scenario, safely and with a short charging time. That's not very much, and is why one day is about all you can expect between charging during dry camping.
This is why a good monitor that shows actual usage is so important, and not the little light on the panel..
howdy all: thanks for all the help. I think my battery thing will be better now, I installed 2 Trojan deep cycle golf cart batteries today and hooked in series, all seems good. I will know more later when we leave in 2 weeks for dry camping.one of the factory 12 volt were bad only 230 ca. Pete
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