Recommend battery

[Baferg94]

Hi everyone! I just recently bought a coachmen apex 300bhs and I believe I messed up and forgot to turn everything off while storing and drained my battery. I’m trying to charge it up and but wanted to get ahead of things in case it’s shot and ask what everyone’s recommendations are for a good replacement battery? From what I’ve been looking up it sounds like the dealers installed batteries are junk anyway so I’d rather not bother with warranty just to still have a battery that’s not very good. Thank you in advance

[SeaDog]

Welcome to the forum its a great place to get your questions answered. I don't know that the dealer installed batteries are junk with that said I doubt they are installing top of the line in most cases. I have two Interstate deep cycle (installed by the dealer) that have performed great and lasted for years on my rig.

[FrankG]

Welcome

Your Apex should of come with a 100W solar system. Stored outside this is enough to keep the battery happy with parasite loads. If stored inside or under that large tree you need to consider other options. With adapters you can plug it into a standard 120V outlet and let the converter keep the battery charged. If no external power or Sun is available you may have to physically disconnect the battery. Depending...your disconnect may not remove all the parasite loads.

I always keep our 5th wheel plugged in to a 120V receptacle 24/7 for months at a time with no ill effects. Our current Surveyor has a 80W solar system and it keeps the battery charged and happy. We never turn the disconnect off and it is stored under the Florida sun. Towing it all day with the 12V compressor refrigerator on we always reach our destination with a charged battery.


Your battery(s) need to match your lifestyle.

[Tabasco_Joe]

Battery recommendations would be influenced by how you intend to use the camper and reliance on off shore power.

BTW, I just put a deposit on an Apex 256BHS. Due this fall.

[Jay2504]

A picture of what you have with the cover off would help. Jay

[itat]

Originally Posted by Baferg94

Hi everyone! I just recently bought a coachmen apex 300bhs and I believe I messed up and forgot to turn everything off while storing and drained my battery. I’m trying to charge it up and but wanted to get ahead of things in case it’s shot and ask what everyone’s recommendations are for a good replacement battery? From what I’ve been looking up it sounds like the dealers installed batteries are junk anyway so I’d rather not bother with warranty just to still have a battery that’s not very good. Thank you in advance

Let us know how often, if ever, you camp without an electrical hookup. That’ll guide any recommendations.

If you never camp without an electrical hookup, then a single deep cycle Group 24 battery like an Interstate SRM-24 will work fine for the most part. I’m in that situation but I’ve experienced a few power outages at campgrounds and once had a Group 31 battery die before power came back on (of course that was before LED bulbs). So I opted for a couple Trojan T-105 6 volt batteries connected in series. Definitely overkill for my needs but I doubt that I’ll ever run out of power in a blackout ever again!

[Baferg94]

Thank you everyone for the input. Found out I had a blown converter and it just drained the battery but I’ve got that fixed and seems the battery is still good. I don’t typically go without full hookup so it doesn’t need to be anything too special I’m just interested in reliable and will keep the suggestions in mind when this one does finally go bad