DX3 Batteries - Expectations and options

[WanderingPhoto]

Hi All - I'm on my first extended trip in my, new to me, 2018 DX3. I know batteries are covered a lot, but I couldn't find these specific answers....

1) Expectations - I am currently camping in a National Park campground with generator hours from 8am - 10pm. I am running the generator a few hours in the morning and then from 8pm-10pm every night. Solar has been actively charging throughout the day (only 200 watts though).

I am running the inverter overnight to keep the fridge on. Its been cold-ish (30's) so the aqua hot fans have also run. I have a few small appliances (Apple TV, hotspot and cell extender plugged in). Thats it. I'm surprised to find that my batteries are only last 6-7 hours in that configuration. I have to get up around 5am and turn off the inverter so the batteries don't dip below 12v (and I turned off the auto-start so it doesn't kick on the generator).

Being the second owner, I do not know how the batteries were cared for. I am going to have them tested as soon as I get home.

QUESTION - In your experience, how long do the factor 4D batteries last when running the inverter/fridge?

2) Extra Battery - I will want more capacity than I have now. So if the batteries test out okay, I would like to add a third battery. Brian has indicated that there is room for three. Has anyone added a third? Could you please share the layout in the tray you used?

3) Upgraded battery - If I do have the replace the batteries, one option would be to go with 8D instead of 4D. Its about $100 more / battery. Any reason not to do this? Has anyone gone this route? I wonder if three of those will fit?

THANKS ALL!

[Bill Davis]

Originally Posted by WanderingPhoto

Hi All - I'm on my first extended trip in my, new to me, 2018 DX3. I know batteries are covered a lot, but I couldn't find these specific answers....

1) Expectations - I am currently camping in a National Park campground with generator hours from 8am - 10pm. I am running the generator a few hours in the morning and then from 8pm-10pm every night. Solar has been actively charging throughout the day (only 200 watts though).

I am running the inverter overnight to keep the fridge on. Its been cold-ish (30's) so the aqua hot fans have also run. I have a few small appliances (Apple TV, hotspot and cell extender plugged in). Thats it. I'm surprised to find that my batteries are only last 6-7 hours in that configuration. I have to get up around 5am and turn off the inverter so the batteries don't dip below 12v (and I turned off the auto-start so it doesn't kick on the generator).

Being the second owner, I do not know how the batteries were cared for. I am going to have them tested as soon as I get home.

QUESTION - In your experience, how long do the factor 4D batteries last when running the inverter/fridge?

2) Extra Battery - I will want more capacity than I have now. So if the batteries test out okay, I would like to add a third battery. Brian has indicated that there is room for three. Has anyone added a third? Could you please share the layout in the tray you used?

3) Upgraded battery - If I do have the replace the batteries, one option would be to go with 8D instead of 4D. Its about $100 more / battery. Any reason not to do this? Has anyone gone this route? I wonder if three of those will fit?

THANKS ALL!

If your boondocking with a residential fridge you may want to go lithium and add more solar.

[Webefine]

You can turn your fridge off before you go to bed, as long as you keep it closed it will stay cold all night.

[DavidMort]

We are doing the same thing as you in national parks. Run generator 1.5 hrs in am and 2 hrs in evening. Have three batteries rated around 400 amp/hr.

We watch tv, run frig, computers lights fans. If cold run furnace. If we have been driving hours to get to campground batteries are almost fully charged and the 2 hrs charging in the evening brings them up. If you look at the charging current and it is below 5 amps you probably are close to full charge but will depend on your batteries and charger settings. First morning we are at 12.5 V when I get up and turn generator on. Run 1.5 hrs. brings it up to 13 ish v. When we get back in the afternoon back to 12.5 v. Run generator from 5-7 pm brings the batteries back up. Next morning typically 12.3 v. So we are not getting batteries fully charged in the time we have but we can maintain this level. This has been pretty consistent for us over the last few weeks.

Our charger puts out 100 amps for the first hour or so. Then the current falls off as the batteries charge up. If the batteries are drained more the charging current will remain at 100 amps longer. Tonight it had dropped to about 50 amps when I shut it off. So say 170 amp-hours of charge every evening. Note that the voltages above are under 5-7 amp load. If voltage is at 12.3 V in morning putting an additional load on it will pull it down 1 or 2 tenths. (generator start or furnace)

Right now it has been 4 hrs since charger was on. Running lights tv fans, computers we are at 12.6 V.

An extra battery will help. There is a maximum rate you can charge the batteries. If I only had two batteries instead of three I could only charge at 66 amps max. So the most charge I could put into the 2 batteries in 2 hours of charging would be around 130 amp hours.

Solar charging only replaces some of the drain on the batteries. I think I have seen up to 8 amps on ours but I really haven't looked at it carefully.

[FOURWHL]

I just got off an extended (13 nights) boondocking stay with a DX3 with residential fridge and upgraded batteries and solar. Here's what I have/ found

Upgraded batteries from 440Ah AGM to 750 Ah FLA

Added 600w of solar

We were in a canyon so my solar was making about 2 kWh per day on average. This is about half of what I need to offset my daily usage.

So to supplement I'd run the genset 2 hrs every morning. What was nice about this setup is with the extended capacity I can make sure my daily usage happens between 60 and 80 percent SoC so that when I fire the gen it's in full bulk or heavy absorption while it's running. Then the solar works on the absorption the rest of the day.

What I've found though is the 600w is about enough to offset the usage through the day but not gain what was lost the previous night. I think another 400w would make the difference since the day time overhead is covered so to speak. Right now I only see about 150w going to charging and that's at peak solar hours

[FOURWHL]

Also get a battery monitor if you're going to boondock. Going off battery voltage is at best a guess when the batteries are constantly under load and not rested

[Bethymae]

We added an AGM 150 amp battery to our battery bank and our batteries last through the night to keep our fridge cold and incidentals on. However running the Aqua-hot fans will deplete the batteries by early morning 5-6am. Usually when we are boondocking, we are out in the middle of nowhere, so letting the auto gen start overnight is no problem.
We do plan to upgrade to lithium eventually but make do with what we have now.

[houstonstroker]

The residential fridge is a power hog, especially when it goes into defrost mode. I read somewhere that there is a fix on the Frigidaire units. You can add some wiring and prevent the fridge from going into defrost mode until you have 120 ac power. I would probably shut off the fridge at night.

[WanderingPhoto]

Thanks for all the helpful replies. It sounds like my experience is similar. I am going to explore significantly expanding my Solar and add another battery. The extra battery is probably just to hold me over until I ultimately go to lithium, but if I can get through the night....that would be great for now.

Can anyone with the three house batteries show me your battery layout?

Thanks!

[WanderingPhoto]

Originally Posted by WanderingPhoto

Thanks for all the helpful replies. It sounds like my experience is similar. I am going to explore significantly expanding my Solar and add another battery. The extra battery is probably just to hold me over until I ultimately go to lithium, but if I can get through the night....that would be great for now.

Can anyone with the three house batteries show me your battery layout?

Thanks!

I think I'm going to add the extra battery. Anyone with three batteries able to show me how you laid them out? Is anyone using three 8D batteries?

[Tom in Ohio]

Originally Posted by WanderingPhoto

Hi All - I'm on my first extended trip in my, new to me, 2018 DX3. I know batteries are covered a lot, but I couldn't find these specific answers....

1) Expectations - I am currently camping in a National Park campground with generator hours from 8am - 10pm. I am running the generator a few hours in the morning and then from 8pm-10pm every night. Solar has been actively charging throughout the day (only 200 watts though).

I am running the inverter overnight to keep the fridge on. Its been cold-ish (30's) so the aqua hot fans have also run. I have a few small appliances (Apple TV, hotspot and cell extender plugged in). Thats it. I'm surprised to find that my batteries are only last 6-7 hours in that configuration. I have to get up around 5am and turn off the inverter so the batteries don't dip below 12v (and I turned off the auto-start so it doesn't kick on the generator).

Being the second owner, I do not know how the batteries were cared for. I am going to have them tested as soon as I get home.

QUESTION - In your experience, how long do the factor 4D batteries last when running the inverter/fridge?

2) Extra Battery - I will want more capacity than I have now. So if the batteries test out okay, I would like to add a third battery. Brian has indicated that there is room for three. Has anyone added a third? Could you please share the layout in the tray you used?

3) Upgraded battery - If I do have the replace the batteries, one option would be to go with 8D instead of 4D. Its about $100 more / battery. Any reason not to do this? Has anyone gone this route? I wonder if three of those will fit?

THANKS ALL!

I have added 4 more Gell cell batteries for a total of 6 batteries and 500 watts of solar. I go 3 to 4 days running pretty much what I want other than Air, before the Cummins generator auto starts. Usually it completes a charge of the batteries in about 2 1/2 hours.
All and all Very happy!

[Bethymae]

New poster but a long time lurker. Never can remember my sign in LOL. We ALWAYS worried about batteries in our 2017 DX3 Then we stopped Working. In my humble and jaded opinion. Quit shooting yourself in the foot! Upgrade to Lithium now. We did it, don't regret it! Even at the cost well worth it. I just check the batteries via my phone app every once in a great while. Boondocking Or driveway surfing in freezing conditions in Texas (around 30degrees)easy overnight with power left to make coffee. I can't give you too much more in details, like, what my amp draw is,what the 200 amp solar is bringing in etc..because I don't Worry about the batteries anymore! We installed 4 Battleborn batteries. Pretty easy to do. I still need to "dress up" some wiring. With the exception of a wonky BIM It's been trouble and Maint free. One downer we can't camp where it's freezing like , 25 degrees for a while. Batteries won't take it and neither will we! Good Luck

Originally Posted by WanderingPhoto

Hi All - I'm on my first extended trip in my, new to me, 2018 DX3. I know batteries are covered a lot, but I couldn't find these specific answers....

1) Expectations - I am currently camping in a National Park campground with generator hours from 8am - 10pm. I am running the generator a few hours in the morning and then from 8pm-10pm every night. Solar has been actively charging throughout the day (only 200 watts though).

I am running the inverter overnight to keep the fridge on. Its been cold-ish (30's) so the aqua hot fans have also run. I have a few small appliances (Apple TV, hotspot and cell extender plugged in). Thats it. I'm surprised to find that my batteries are only last 6-7 hours in that configuration. I have to get up around 5am and turn off the inverter so the batteries don't dip below 12v (and I turned off the auto-start so it doesn't kick on the generator).

Being the second owner, I do not know how the batteries were cared for. I am going to have them tested as soon as I get home.

QUESTION - In your experience, how long do the factor 4D batteries last when running the inverter/fridge?

2) Extra Battery - I will want more capacity than I have now. So if the batteries test out okay, I would like to add a third battery. Brian has indicated that there is room for three. Has anyone added a third? Could you please share the layout in the tray you used?

3) Upgraded battery - If I do have the replace the batteries, one option would be to go with 8D instead of 4D. Its about $100 more / battery. Any reason not to do this? Has anyone gone this route? I wonder if three of those will fit?

THANKS ALL!

[johndjmix]

I dont understand why everyone has these issues with the batteries in the DX3. I can run my coach boondocking for over a day with no need for generator. Maybe i got lucky in the battery lottery?


No lithium, no extra batteries. No issues in the super cold or super hot.


Here is the batteries I have ( I think they are the same as stock...although i know they were replaced just before i picked up the coach)



--John

[FOURWHL]

Originally Posted by johndjmix

I dont understand why everyone has these issues with the batteries in the DX3. I can run my coach boondocking for over a day with no need for generator. Maybe i got lucky in the battery lottery?


No lithium, no extra batteries. No issues in the super cold or super hot.


Here is the batteries I have ( I think they are the same as stock...although i know they were replaced just before i picked up the coach)



--John

Residential fridge?

[johndjmix]

Originally Posted by FOURWHL

Residential fridge?

Yep.

—john

[FOURWHL]

Id agree 24 hours is about right. In my experience once you get behind it takes a lot of gen time to get caught back up. Also depends how deep your willing to discharge them