Adding second battery Roo 23SS

[browne02]

Just picked up my new trailer two weeks ago and can not wait till i can use it (being winter in New England) so i figured that we would be doning a lot of dry camping this comming year and would like to install a second battery on the front and would like it to charge the same way as the one that is currently on there ( Truck\AC) any thoughts on how this connection could be done not a wiring expert.

[acadianbob]

They would need to be hooked up in parallel to maintain 12 volts. positive to positive and negative to negative. how long do you expect to be out? you can nurse one good sized battery for 3 days if you economize. maybe you should see whether you really need it before you go through the effort and expense? You probably got a Group 24 with your trailer. Go find a high quality Group 27; or even a 30. Lots more juice.

[MtnGuy]

Safety 1st.....wear a face shield or at least goggles while wiring it up.

Ideally you should have a battery exactly like the one currently on your Roo.

You will want to wire in parallel......positive to positive and negative to negative. I wired a 2nd battery up when I had my Trailmanor, and it worked great. Your charging should be as it is now. I have heard that it best to connect your trailer to the positive of 1 battery and the negative to the 2nd battery, but not sure if that is a big advantage.....maybe others can give some insight.

You can usually get heavy guage wire used for hooking up batteries on garden tractors at your local parts store to jump between the batteries. I also reinforced the wires where they crossed with an automotive type electrical conduit. I don't think it would be bad to fuse 1 of the wires also.....just in case.

Oops, I was composing this when acadianbob was posting his reply.

[bikendan]

i put 2 batteries on my 23SS. my '07 has the battery in front of the propane tanks. i think yours has the battery behind the tanks.
i would recommend 2 6v golf cart batteries if you can do it. they will last a lot longer than 2 12v batteries.

i had clearance issues with my tailgate and electric power jack, so i had to stay with the shorter 12v batteries.
i just used battery cables bought from an auto part store to hook them up.
12v are hooked up parallel and 6v are hooked up in series.
i just bought two cables to hook 2 of the batteries' posts to each other and used the two cables from the trailer for the other 2 posts.
here's a pic:

[browne02]

Thankyou all for your responses i think you answered my question i knew when i was reading on some of the forum that this was a good group to chat with and also trade info.