Replacement battery requirement

[Montana]

Just bought a 2013 Silverback 33RL.
The battery seems fine and reads 13.5 volts,
but is dated 10/17.


It currently has an
EverStart marine service battery, 24MS2.
1000 marine cranking amps and 135 hours


To be on the safe side I'm thinking about replacing it because of it's age
I'm wondering if this is the correct battery?
Or is another battery series a better choice?


I appreciate your input from your experience.



Thanks

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by Montana

Just bought a 2013 Silverback 33RL.
The battery seems fine and reads 13.5 volts,
but is dated 10/17.


It currently has an
EverStart marine service battery, 24MS2.
1000 marine cranking amps and 135 hours


To be on the safe side I'm thinking about replacing it because of it's age
I'm wondering if this is the correct battery?
Or is another battery series a better choice?


I appreciate your input from your experience.



Thanks

If you always camp with electric hookups and never dry camp or boondock, then that battery is enough.
It's not a true deep cycle battery but is a compromise marine battery.

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[tomkatb]

As I remember this size is about 40 ah.

Like Biken dad said. A minimum.

It was installed to likely replace the rv dealer installed battery.

These are legally a necessity to allow the rv to be on the road. Designed for the emergency brake operation and minimal use for other things.

If you have any need to not plug into shore power every night then it is not enough. Modern rv’s use a ton more power.

Kind of, What are you travel plans?

[PopFla]

If the battery is reading 13.5 volts, you are apparently testing it while the charger is operating. The true test should be done with the charger turned off and after there has been no load for a while.

[Larryneu]

I had a single 12v cat 27 battery that would power my wolf pup 16fq for about 30 hours before recharge while boondocking. Changed to 2 6v deep cycle wired in parallel to give me 12 v at 220ah. 5 days boondocking and still at 62%.
Mine are mounted on the tongue and you need to make sure the added weight doesn't over load the tongue weight of your tow vehicle.

[NJKris]

Don't forget: Just because a battery is 5 years old doesn't mean it is near end of life. It all depends on how well you took care of it. If you didn't deep discharge it often, and kept it topped off and watered it if required, it may last you several more years. If you mostly used shore power when traveling, it did not get abused like a car battery would, and you have not gone through extensive 'charge/discharge cycles'. Now if it was a car battery at 5 years old, I might proactively replace it so you don't get stranded somewhere, but this is not the case.

[sdelam]

Originally Posted by Larryneu

I had a single 12v cat 27 battery that would power my wolf pup 16fq for about 30 hours before recharge while boondocking. Changed to 2 6v deep cycle wired in SERIES to give me 12 v at 220ah. 5 days boondocking and still at 62%.
Mine are mounted on the tongue and you need to make sure the added weight doesn't over load the tongue weight of your tow vehicle.

Fixed it

[NJBreeze]

I would replace it with a Group 27 battery. I don't think you have room for 6V batteries in that unit.

[Larryneu]

Thanks...one of those old age BF'S

[Montana]

Originally Posted by NJKris

Don't forget: Just because a battery is 5 years old doesn't mean it is near end of life. It all depends on how well you took care of it. If you didn't deep discharge it often, and kept it topped off and watered it if required, it may last you several more years. If you mostly used shore power when traveling, it did not get abused like a car battery would, and you have not gone through extensive 'charge/discharge cycles'. Now if it was a car battery at 5 years old, I might proactively replace it so you don't get stranded somewhere, but this is not the case.

Thanks,
I cant say for sure how the battery was maintained but the original owner always used full hookup campsites and really just used the camper a few weeks or so a year.
In storage It stayed plugged in to keep charged.


We will store the camper with electric hookup just a few miles from where we will take it to spend the winter.

[Montana]

Originally Posted by tomkatb

As I remember this size is about 40 ah.

Like Biken dad said. A minimum.

It was installed to likely replace the rv dealer installed battery.

These are legally a necessity to allow the rv to be on the road. Designed for the emergency brake operation and minimal use for other things.

If you have any need to not plug into shore power every night then it is not enough. Modern rv’s use a ton more power.

Kind of, What are you travel plans?

Thanks,

We live in Arkansas and will store the camper in Alabama with electric hookup for converter charging just a few miles from where we will take it to spend the winter.
Probably only have 20 miles of road travel a year.

[corn18]

Originally Posted by Montana

Thanks,
I cant say for sure how the battery was maintained but the original owner always used full hookup campsites and really just used the camper a few weeks or so a year.
In storage It stayed plugged in to keep charged.


We will store the camper with electric hookup just a few miles from where we will take it to spend the winter.

Based on this, I wouldn't replace it yet. See how it does. If it is always charging, then you don't need it to do much.

[MarkEHansen]

It still needs to be maintained properly, and if it wasn't - it could be anywhere from great to junk. I would have it load tested to make sure it can still handle the load before going too far with it.

Note that one critically-important use of the house batteries is to energize the trailer brakes in the event of a separation of the ambilocal cable.