Deep Cycle Batteries

[MountainTrippers]

Does anyone know the amp hour rating of the deep cycle house batteries that come in the Solera

[bclemens]

100AH
575 CCA @ 0 F
730 MCA @ 32 F
RC Min @ 25 Amps 160 Min
A.H. Cap. 20hr 100 Ah

[dswiss]

Originally Posted by MountainTrippers

Does anyone know the amp hour rating of the deep cycle house batteries that come in the Solera

if your Solera has been sitting in the dealers lot for a while with a completely drained battery (like mine did), it will be less than 100 Ah. Mine had 70 Ah capacity left.

[rdjjef]

sorry for silly question, but can someone translate B Clemans info below??

100AH
575 CCA @ 0 F
730 MCA @ 32 F
RC Min @ 25 Amps 160 Min
A.H. Cap. 20hr 100 Ah


Thank you.

[Triguy]

Originally Posted by rdjjef

sorry for silly question, but can someone translate B Clemans info below??

Not a silly question at all. These are important terminology for an RVer to understand.

100AH -- AH = Amp Hours is a definition of a battery's capacity.


575 CCA @ 0 F CCA = Cold cranking Amps, or the amps available at 0 degrees to crank a starter for 30 seconds.


730 MCA @ 32 F Marine Cranking Amps or the amps available at 32 degrees to crank a starter for 30 seconds.


RC Min @ 25 Amps 160 Min -- RC = Reserve Capacity. This is the number of minutes a fully charged battery at 80 ° F will discharge 25 amps until the battery drops below 10.5 volts (i.e., fully discharged).


A.H. Cap. 20hr 100 Ah -- A.H. = Amp Hours at the 20-hour rate. There are different rates for different uses. The 20hr rate is typical for comparing deep cycle batteries used in Rvs, trailers, etc. This is the draw from the battery for 20 hours and it will provide a total of 100 amp-hours. Since we never want to discharge the battery below 50%, the first thing we need to do is divide the amp hour rate in half. This battery would actually have 50 amp-hours of realistic use.

This link will give you one source I use and more information if interested...
http://www.batterystuff.com/kb/artic...-basics.html#4

[MountainTrippers]

Been camping with no internet last week @ Point Lookout, Md. Man the deer flies where bad. Nothing I used on them worked. Thanks for the info, we dry camp a lot and they just do not seem to last that long. In my TT I had dual 6 volts with a 20A charger and a 1kw Yamaha inverter gen. It would run 12Hrs @ half load on .6 gal of gas. Wonder why Forrest River does not use gen sets like this.

[MountainTrippers]

Originally Posted by bclemens

100AH
575 CCA @ 0 F
730 MCA @ 32 F
RC Min @ 25 Amps 160 Min
A.H. Cap. 20hr 100 Ah

Is this times 2

[bclemens]

Those specs are for one battery.

As for genet. The problem is a 1kw yamaha gen would not run the A/C.

[MountainTrippers]

Originally Posted by bclemens

Those specs are for one battery.

As for genet. The problem is a 1kw yamaha gen would not run the A/C.

Yes I know that. They make much bigger units that are of the inverter type. They do not need to spin the 3600 rpm to produce the AC 60hz

[mge]

While dry camping, my batteries (less than 12 months old) seemed to drain fast. After a full recharge I did a controlled test at 3 amp continuous draw and both batteries were dead after 22 hours = 68 amp-hours. The batteries are supposed to be 100 amp-hours each. Does anyone know the criteria for warranty replacement? I seem to be getting less than half expected capacity.

[bclemens]

Exide is the battery mfg. Not sure if they would require you to go through an RV dealer or a local distributor. A call to the dealer would be the first step if not.

[Herk7769]

Originally Posted by mge

While dry camping, my batteries (less than 12 months old) seemed to drain fast. After a full recharge I did a controlled test at 3 amp continuous draw and both batteries were dead after 22 hours = 68 amp-hours. The batteries are supposed to be 100 amp-hours each. Does anyone know the criteria for warranty replacement? I seem to be getting less than half expected capacity.

Were the batteries in or out of the camper when you did your test?

Were they rested for 24 hours disconnected before you checked for 100% charge?

What was the rested voltage at the start of your test and the voltage at the end of your test?

What did you use to supply the 3 amp load?

[mge]

The batteries were in the motorhome connected in parallel. I have a continuous voltage readout and can shut off the converter which charges them. I did not have a 24 hour resting voltage but the starting voltage of my test was 13.4v and 30 minutes later under-load it was 12.8v. The load was 16 LED lights in the motorhome. I stopped the test when the voltage was 10.6v under-load at 22.5 hours. The open voltage went up to ~12.4v no load. When same load again was added voltage immediately dropped to ~ 11v.

For anyone's interest: the following are the Solera incremental loads in amps

Furnace running 4.7-5.3
Water Pump running 5.3
Fantastic fan 0.9,1.1,1.3 L, M, H
Bath fan 0.7
Hood fan 0.7
Hood light 0.7
LED awning lights 1.4
Night lights 0.1
Amber door light 1.0
White outdoor working light driver's side 2.0
16 Interior LED lights 3.0

[vinmaker]

I agree. The batteries do tend to drain fast.

Many people buy a small generator to recharge them.

Vin.

[Loefflerh]

where do you connect that "small generator"- directly to the batteries?

[vinmaker]

You simply plug the camper to the generator and have the internal inverter in the camper charge the batteries.

[dswiss]

If your dealer is like mine, he will keep your RV for a month and then tell you they did a load test and the battery holds 'a' charge ( not how much of a charge, just a charge). Therefore, no warranty replacement.
Save yourself a headache and buy a new battery.

[mge]

DSWISS, I agree with you. When I asked a dealer the criteria for warranty replacement, no one seems to know. They call Forest River and they don't have a definitive answer either. I just know that the batteries installed do not and have not ever come even close to the amp-hr spec. I took the batteries into AutoZone and their "starter battery test" says the batteries are good. But without a deep cycle capacity test I don't agree. I have read that it is also common in the battery industry to overrate their batteries. However, I thought I would ask while the batteries are less than 12 months old (the replacement period). The problem appears to be that no one can determine who abused the batteries... dealer before sale or customer afterwards... and "sulfated" them (left them in a deeply discharged state too long) which is a progressive/cumulative/permanent problem for Deep Cycle batteries. They don't die, they just lose capacity. If I choose to replace them at my cost, I'll let you know if it makes a difference.

FYI, I have also determined that the Solera (and maybe others), when just parked with everything apparently turned off, including the battery switch disconnect, still draws current (0.1 to 1 amp) and the batteries will discharge over time. They need to remain on trickle charge or physically disconnected.

[rana]

Your batteries are probably not the issue. More than likely it's your converter/charger that is not giving your batteries a decent saturation charge. Most of those stock converters are pretty lousy. You would want to check with the batteries manufacturer so see what their specs are then check to see what your converter is actually feeding into them and for how long.

A programmable converter/charger is well worth the $$ if you really want to get the most out of your batteries... not to mention extending their useful life.

[Makoto]

Originally Posted by mge

I did not have a 24 hour resting voltage but the starting voltage of my test was 13.4v

Charge your battery, then disconnect charger. wait 24 hours before applying any load. Check voltage. It should read about 12.7 - 12.8 volts. That is the voltage of a fully charged battery. The 13.4 volts you stated in an earlier post hints at a bad battery.

Just my two cents...