Have some battery questions

Volvodriver · 08-09-2013, 10:24 AM

Would like to ask some questions on battery power. Have the single deep cell that the rig came with. What would it do to the battery if we were passing through an area and just stopped in a parking area?

I use a c-pap and we have an adjustable bed frame. Can we move the bedroom slide a little and use the c-pap and bed adjustment for one night without taking the battery down too low or do we need to invest in more batteries? I would like to get by without a genset for now, if possible.

Thank you, Dave

Triguy · 08-09-2013, 10:27 AM

Dave,
Can you tell us what battery you have? Sounds to me like a basic group 24 but it would be good to know and also tell us what Ah its rated for?

Brother Les · 08-09-2013, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Volvodriver

Would like to ask some questions on battery power. Have the single deep cell that the rig came with. What would it do to the battery if we were passing through an area and just stopped in a parking area?

I use a c-pap and we have an adjustable bed frame. Can we move the bedroom slide a little and use the c-pap and bed adjustment for one night without taking the battery down too low or do we need to invest in more batteries? I would like to get by without a genset for now, if possible.

Thank you, Dave

I have stopped over the years at many of the 'rest areas' overnight as I am going across country. Your tow vehicle will be charging your batt as you go down the road (if everything is working correctly). This is what I do if I need to run out a slide a little. I keep the tow vehicle running while it is plugged into the unit and run the slide out a little to where I want it. Then I would shut my truck off and unplug it from the unit. I know that the truck should have no power drain if I left it off, but I am a little leery and would much rather have a dead batt on the unit instead of my truck. Anyway, your batt (if it keeps a charge anyway) should have no problems moving the slide by the batt by themselves. If your 'batt' does 'die', just plug the unit into your tow vehicle and start it and you should get a charge/ full power to move the slide back in.

rotorhead1250 · 08-09-2013, 11:55 AM

Yep, what Brother Les said. (Les, good to see ya over here from FTE!)

Brother Les · 08-09-2013, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rotorhead1250

Yep, what Brother Les said. (Les, good to see ya over here from FTE!)

Hello from the Brotherhood. Good to see friends from forum to forum.

Volvodriver · 08-09-2013, 02:19 PM

When you say plugged into the tow unit what exactly do you mean? The only connections between my tractor and the rig is heavy power cord that controls lights and brakes, the connection for the back-up camera on rear of fifth wheel and the break away cable from air hitch to pin box.

MY battery is a continental marine/rv battery marked 24tm deep cell. Can not tell what an AH is or where to find this.

Dave

Brother Les · 08-09-2013, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Volvodriver

When you say plugged into the tow unit what exactly do you mean? The only connections between my tractor and the rig is heavy power cord that controls lights and brakes, the connection for the back-up camera on rear of fifth wheel and the break away cable from air hitch to pin box.

MY battery is a continental marine/rv battery marked 24tm deep cell. Can not tell what an AH is or where to find this.

Dave

There should be a Fused Battery lead from the tow vehicle to the towed unit via the connection that is along with your brakes/lights/turn signals. You can get all of the power (battery) that you need from your tow vehicle for your tow unit (as long as the towed unit has a batt) that you need as long as the tow vehicle is running and the connection is hooked up. On a 7-way pin connector it will be the upper right hand corner pin. Scroll down to the 7-pin connector for an example.
Trailer Wiring Diagrams | etrailer.com

Volvodriver · 08-09-2013, 03:01 PM

Many thanks for the response. I understand a lot better now. I have a three battery system for the tractor so I should have plenty of battery power for what we would like to do occasionally.

So to sum up, as long as we go down the road, charging up, we should be fine for 7 or 8 hours on house battery service, and its a good tip to disconnect when setting like Brother Les has advised.

Dave

Triguy · 08-09-2013, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Volvodriver

MY battery is a continental marine/rv battery marked 24tm deep cell. Can not tell what an AH is or where to find this.

Dave

Dave,
You got a lot of good information but let me answer your question about the battery. Your battery is a marine group 24 and Continental does not calculate or list its capacity at the 20-hr rate for Ah so that is why you couldn't fine it. Here is some detail ... Battery Detail: TM-24 | Continental Battery

The RC of this battery is about 150 and one can only guess what the 20hr Ah rate would be. If its like many group 24 batteries, than I would guess about 70-75Ah at the 20-hr rate.

That would give you about 35 useable Amp-hours because you don't want to discharge more than 50% state of charge. So, you just need to calculate your nightly electrical usesage with your cpap, bed frame and whatnot and make sure its not over 35. A camping buddy calculates his cpap uses about 22Ah over 8 hours. YMMV!

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