Battery life

[Berjr1]

So just wondering how long of life should you expect to get out of the battery in general use. I am not talking about how long in hours but before you have to recharge it But in general replacement, We only have the one battery, thought about adding a second but we have had good service with just the one in out unit. So anyways we just replaced it. We got just about 5 yrs out of it

[NMWildcat]

I average 4.5 years with two cheap marine batteries that I abuse frequently.

[Kaadk]

I replaced my first battery in my 4th season, but I made the mistake of leaving it in the trailer over the first winter we had it and had to have it recovered.

The second battery went with the old trailer when we upgraded it, had 2 years on it then.

[pgandw]

It varies greatly with how you use/abuse your batteries. Many times the abuse is inadvertent - at least in my case.

I typically get 5-7 years out of the batteries in my cars, never less than 4.

I trashed the battery for the John Deere tractor in 6 months - left it in the tractor in the winter after I bought it, not realizing there was a parasitic drain. I did the same thing with my first pop-up.

On the second pop-up, I went through a couple of Group 27/29s in 4 years before I realized how much battery capacity the heater needed for 9 nights at Lake Tahoe.

Having thought I learned the lessons from the past, on my 2014 A122 A-frame, I had the dealer install a 2nd battery when we took delivery. Unfortunately, I did not catch that the WFCO converter would not go into trickle mode, causing one of the batteries to fail after one year. The failure ended up damaging the 2nd battery.

I replaced the two Group 24 batteries with Interstate GC-2s from Costco. I also replaced the converter and installed a cutoff switch so I wouldn't have to mess with connecting/disconnecting the batteries. With those changes, the GC-2s were going strong after 4 years when I sold the camper this summer.

I have installed the same GC-2s in the new A-frame. Since I was alert for the issue, I found this WFCO converter won't go into trickle mode, either. So I have disconnect switch, PI converter, voltmeter, voltmeter switch, and switch for stereo lined up for installation over the next month or so. I fully expect to see 5+ years out of these GC-2s barring something stupid on my part.

Fred W
2019 Flagstaff T21TBHW A-frame
2008 Hyundai Entourage minivan
camping Colorado and adjacent states one weekend at a time

[babock]

I had a friend that used the RV Marine batteries. He claimed he could get 4 years out of them. Of course he had around half the capacity that he started with by the time he replaced them.

It's actually not the amount of time but the number of discharges and the depth of discharges that determines battery life. Also, not keeping a flooded lead acid or AGM fully charged when not in use and as soon as possible after discharging is important to limit sulfation.

There are charts on every battery manufacturer's website that shows capacity vs number of discharges and depth of discharge.

[Berjr1]

It hardly had any abuse on the battery once and a while the heater this spring and the cabin lights, rarely did we use just the battery to put out the awning and the slide on our unit , yes the battery stayed out all winter, but the camper was was always plugged in so i assume it was charging. perhaps I should stick a meter on it just to monitor it once in a while. I first thought perhaps 4 yrs was pretty good but now i am thinking since it always had a tickle charge perhaps there is something else

[bikendan]

I had dual 12v marine batteries from Costco. They were still working great 10 years later when I sold the trailer.