Adding a 2nd Battery.

[bradacc]

Trailer is 4 months old and I'm thinking about adding a 2nd battery. It came with this guy and I was wondering if I could just buy another one to add in, or do I need to start with 2 brand new ones? I have ~$250 to spend so don't want to go crazy. Want to look into battery monitoring that's a step up from the light tree inside as well.

Thanks in advance for any and all replies!

[Flybob]

The battery is most likely new enough a similar battery can be added, however before you spend any money you should analyze what you expect to need it for. You can either estimate/calculate the AHr requirement you expect to need or measure actual AHr usage on a trial trip. The installed battery is not a true deep cycle battery, but rather a multipurpose one. If you plan to do a lot of off grid camping, I would wait and purchase two true deep cycle batteries when you know your requirements.

[Skyliner]

Your budget allows you to get 2 heavy duty Sam's Club Golf Cart batteries. That will give you 220 amp hours of battery capacity. I've got 4 sets myself.

[Rjpetr65]

I have two 85AH batteries and while not that powerful individually, in parallel hey yield 170AH which is enough for me to power the 12vdc lights (LED bulbs) and other things I need I also power a 1500W inverter for a couple hours each day for my coffeemaker and microwave I installed a switch to disco my converter when I run the inverter so it is not charging my house batteries. I plan on getting solar soon hopefully.

Rich and Doll
RVLife247.com

[Flybob]

I am not trying question your experience, but the math does not work out. A coffee maker or microwave running on an inverter draws about 100A DC from the batteries. With 170AHr battery bank you should be able to run those appliances about an hour max. .

Originally Posted by Rjpetr65

I have two 85AH batteries and while not that powerful individually, in parallel hey yield 170AH which is enough for me to power the 12vdc lights (LED bulbs) and other things I need I also power a 1500W inverter for a couple hours each day for my coffeemaker and microwave I installed a switch to disco my converter when I run the inverter so it is not charging my house batteries. I plan on getting solar soon hopefully.

Rich and Doll
RVLife247.com

[Rjpetr65]

Oh sorry. I should have given more info. I have a Keurig coffee maker and it takes 3 mins to warm up and while running draws only 1500W. It finishes brewing in less than a min or so. My PowerDrive inverter produces 1500W constant and up to 3000W max. I have a 750W microwave and while it uses more power than that, I can easily cook a baked potato etc. I just can’t run those things at the same time.

[Rjpetr65]

For my coffee maker: P=E/I or 1500/12=125/60Seconds per cup is a total draw of 2.0 amps

[Rjpetr65]

Woops. Equation was incorrect but same result. P=E*I which can also be written as I=P/E. Regardless of the switched variables the result is the same 2.0 amps used. My bad 3 year’s electrical engineering at NY Tech finally paying off lol

[LegacyFB38]

I think you meant approximately 2 amp-hours per cup after it has warmed up.

[bradacc]

Anyone have opinions on me getting 2 of these guys instead? Apparently the one I've got now is rated at 85Ah so if I'm understanding this right adding a 2nd one would get me 170Ah, whereas the dual 6er's would get me 215Ah+, in addition to being a more robust deep cycle design. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Based on where we have booked camping spots it looks like most will be dry camping so what I'm trying to achieve is reliable power to get through a day or two of normal use with worst case running the heater all night, followed by an afternoon recharge on the Honda EU1000.

Anyone have a cost effective way to measure actual usage? Those $200 monitors are out of my price range for now.

[boondocking]

Yes, two 6 v GC-2 batteries is a good plan. This is the monitor I use, works like a charm.

[mdstudey]

This is what I bought for our big trip. We are not big power users, mostly lights, charging devices (usually full after charging in truck during drive time), computers and maybe a little t.v. at night or radio. We also have a inverter generator to use as well and I am bouncing back and forth on a 100W suitcase solar or 200W fixed on roof Solar. It is only 15 amps more than what you have choose at $14 to $20 more for each. Don't know if that 15 Amps extra would be worth it to you.