Battery Life

[jeffandrews55]

My brand new Vibe TT appears to have bad batteries. After being connected to my truck for 2 hours the battery charge on the panel displayvreads 2/3 charged. 4 days later while sitting in storage batteries are dead. I've checked to make sure everything is turned off inside, breakers are off, etc... Does anyone know what's draining batteries? Or are they just bad?

[bikendan]

Parasitic power drains will empty a battery in just a few days if you don't plug the trailer into power or engage the battery disconnect switch.

And most tow vehicles only provide a trickle charge while driving.

[doc73]

Propane meter will draw, the radio will draw to keep its memory. Also the vehicle may not supply enough power to charge the battery fully in 2 hours if it was low to start.

I have also found that they use the cheapest and crapiest battery to put in your trailer it always seems.

[Bluepill]

1. The built-in charger/converter usually only charges to about 75 to 80 percent of full battery capacity. It is really just a maintainer. A dedicated battery charger will give you close to 100 percent.

2. You should not discharge your batteries below 50% of full charge. That equals 12.0 volts with no loads on the batteries.

3. When not being used or charged, the batteries should be disconnected.

4 The supplied battery meter in the TT is just about useless.

5. Unlike the battery and charging systems in cars and trucks, you have to learn how to properly use and maintain your RV batteries or you will have repeated failures.

GOOD BASIC INFO HERE:

https://www.fmca.com/conventions/pol...batteries.html

[Schvarak]

Originally Posted by jeffandrews55

My brand new Vibe TT appears to have bad batteries. After being connected to my truck for 2 hours the battery charge on the panel displayvreads 2/3 charged. 4 days later while sitting in storage batteries are dead. I've checked to make sure everything is turned off inside, breakers are off, etc... Does anyone know what's draining batteries? Or are they just bad?

Are you reading the correct part of the panel? 2/3 is a holding tank level. The column to the right is the battery level, has a C for charging.
G for good F for fair and L for Low. You might want to install a disconnect switch. I bought one at Harbor freight for under $5 Very easy to install.

[ilmor]

This question comes up a lot. Rather than get involved in a long discussion about what everyone thinks or knows I simply advise reading and learning the following;

The 12volt Side of Life (Part 1)

[Schvarak]

..

[boondocking]

Originally Posted by ilmor

This question comes up a lot. Rather than get involved in a long discussion about what everyone thinks or knows I simply advise reading and learning the following;

The 12volt Side of Life (Part 1)

Take the info on that site with a grain of salt, too much misinformation.

This is one example:

"As the temperature of the battery drops, so will the fully-charged voltage reading. I have found a lot of conflicting information about this phenomenon, but it seems to be safe to say that for each 10 degrees F drop in temp, you can expect to see the voltage drop about a tenth of a volt. (.10 volt) That means that a battery at 32 degrees F with a no-load voltage reading of 12.35 volts is fully charged."

That is only one example of the various inaccurate info.

[Mike223]

Is this battery right for my 2018 Wildwood 23bhxl? I don't boondock but just want to change out my battery for a new one.
Mike
Weize 12V 100AH Pure GEL Deep Cycle Rechargeable Battery, For Solar Power System RV House Trolling Motor Wheelchair, Universal

[CHICKDOE]

to mike223: yes that battery would work 'right' for you. but if you really wanted to ask is this battery optimum for me that is another question entirely. my reason for responding is that i saw it is a GEL battery. i have absolutely no experience with them but it is my impression that they are probably the least commonly used type of battery for an rv.

there are so many variables in selecting an optimum battery. things like price, how you use it, maintenance vs no maintenance styles, 12 vs 6 volt, etc.

so if you want to use it go ahead. it will work. but could you do better or worse? unable to tell.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by Bluepill

1. The built-in charger/converter usually only charges to about 75 to 80 percent of full battery capacity. It is really just a maintainer. A dedicated battery charger will give you close to 100 percent.

That's news to those who manufacture those units as well as the majority of those who use them.

Maybe there's one brand that might not charge as quickly as most others but any multi-stage converter charger that charges at a bulk rate of 14.4 volts or so, and provides 13.25 or so on Float, will charge any good Lead Acid battery to 100% without the help of a separate battery charger.

[CincyGus]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

That's news to those who manufacture those units as well as the majority of those who use them.

Maybe there's one brand that might not charge as quickly as most others but any multi-stage converter charger that charges at a bulk rate of 14.4 volts or so, and provides 13.25 or so on Float, will charge any good Lead Acid battery to 100% without the help of a separate battery charger.

X2- (maintainer) May have been true years ago but many if not most RV's are today sold with a 3 stage charger that will do a decent job of keeping your battery charger if plugged into shore power.

Mike223- If you don't boondock, pretty much any "deep cycle" battery will work for you. Most campers come with a cheap group 24 (one of the smaller batteries on the market). It's enough to run lights, fans and the radio for a few hours for a day while disconnected if your not running much else. I generally suggest to people to at least move up to a group 27 to give you a little more usable power but if you truly never will camp without power, there is no need.

Just remember to install a battery disconnect if you don't already have one and make sure that EVERYTHING is connected behind that disconnect switch and there are no wires straight to the terminal of the battery that will continue to be parasites even with it is disconnected. This will prevent your battery from being dead if you have it in storage and not plugged into shore power.