Installing 2nd Battery - Fiberglass RV
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Old 11-23-2020, 11:47 PM   #1
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Installing 2nd Battery

Has anyone installed a 2nd battery on a 17' Casita, Spirit Dlx? Thinking about installing it under the bed using an AGM battery. Pros/Cons
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Old 11-24-2020, 06:30 AM   #2
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Has anyone installed a 2nd battery on a 17' Casita, Spirit Dlx? Thinking about installing it under the bed using an AGM battery. Pros/Cons
i have 2 6v agm golf cart batteries in my 16' casita. they live under the bed because there's no way those monsters would fit in the original battery box. i think some attention needs to be paid to making the batteries "compatible" (same age, same power rating, etc). there a lots of folks on here that have way more knowledge than i about battery pairing and they will hopefully chime in.

p@
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Old 11-24-2020, 10:41 AM   #3
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One (minor) con is there will be twice the number of battery posts to keep clean. Edit: as noted below, this is not a concern with AGM.
(Can't be sure from the photo but this sure looks like some serious corrosion on the left side bat positive post).

By the way, do the wires that go behind the batteries on the right side of the photo go to power the trailer? If so, how far away is the main fuse? And short between those wires before they are fused would be bad.
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Old 11-24-2020, 11:27 AM   #4
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Originally Posted by patrick crawford View Post
i have 2 6v agm golf cart batteries in my 16' casita. they live under the bed because there's no way those monsters would fit in the original battery box.
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Originally Posted by gordon2 View Post
One (minor) con is there will be twice the number of battery posts to keep clean.
(Can't be sure from the photo but this sure looks like some serious corrosion on the left side bat positive post).
patrick crawford states he has AGM batteries. AGM's do not off-gas, unless there is a problem, so no corrosion. I've yet to have any appreciable corrosion on any AGM I've owned. One of the advantages of AGM. Another advantage is they can be laid on their sides, something you can't do with standard flooded.

Enjoy,

Perry
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Old 11-24-2020, 12:22 PM   #5
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patrick crawford states he has AGM batteries. AGM's do not off-gas, unless there is a problem, so no corrosion. ..
And in fact that is one of the main reasons I switched to AGM for both my camper AND tow vehicle... the maintenance was getting to be a pain. There should not be any detectable or problematic off-gassing except under very heavy (over) charging (they do still have vents).

But if not corrosion then what is it is the photo? Sure looks like corrosion and it could be caused by other things also. If that is corrosion, then note that seeing something like that with AGM batteries is pretty darn uncommon.
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Old 11-25-2020, 06:15 AM   #6
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Originally Posted by gordon2 View Post
One (minor) con is there will be twice the number of battery posts to keep clean. Edit: as noted below, this is not a concern with AGM.
(Can't be sure from the photo but this sure looks like some serious corrosion on the left side bat positive post).

By the way, do the wires that go behind the batteries on the right side of the photo go to power the trailer? If so, how far away is the main fuse? And short between those wires before they are fused would be bad.
i'm not really sure what was going on with that corrosion on the post. i did put a fair amount of dielectric (sp?) grease on the posts when i first hooked them up. that one post became discolored and i cleaned it off. it's not returned since.

the batterie wires turn right thru that grommet barely visible on the right side (they were not connected for this photo). the shunt is mounted just the other side of that fiberglass and allows the victron battery management device to provide info about the batteries. it's fused just the other side of the fiberglass. there's another fuse (red box on right) going to the inverter (yellow box).

p@
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Old 11-25-2020, 07:13 AM   #7
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..
the batterie wires turn right thru that grommet barely visible on the right side (they were not connected for this photo). the shunt is mounted just the other side of that fiberglass ... it's fused just the other side of the fiberglass. ...
On a 1-100 scale of safety I would score that arrangement a 92. Using the grommet and securing the wires is good. But you still have unfused wire going a little ways, and more importantly, through a hole. If the gourmet gets old and crumbles, the wires might scrape against the raw fiberglass and wear off the insulation. So, while its a good install, it could be a little better.. I like using the Blue Seas post fuses (esp with AGM where they stay pretty clean).. with the fuse right on the battery post its the safest way to do it.

BTW, I assume the shunt is on the negative side and the fuse on the positive.

BTW #2, so it looks like the inverter is not in series with the shunt, but instead is wired in parallel with it, therefore any use of the inverter will not pass current through the shunt and therefore the battery monitor will not have that data. In order for the monitor to be accurate the shunt needs to be the first and only thing coming from the battery neg post. Then I would (and do) use a common ground (negative) buss bar connected to the other side of the shunt. Trailer, inverter, converter, etc all have common neg (ground) connections on the buss bar. None of that might matter to you nor does it make it any more or less safe. But if I were using the inverter I would like to track that discharge.
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Old 11-26-2020, 12:54 PM   #8
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Placement second battery

Has anyone installed a 2nd battery on a 17' Casita, Spirit Dlx? Thinking about installing it under the bed using an AGM battery. Pros/Cons

I have a Independence, and install the 2 battery right behind the fuse box controller. Just make sure you are using the right gauge wire to bridge the 2 battery’s together.
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Old 11-29-2020, 02:52 AM   #9
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Two batteries mounted on tongue

I added a second battery to our ‘93 Spirit model by moving them both to the tongue. The older models did not have an exterior access and I did not enjoy the process of dismantling the bed to get to battery. Even then there was not enough room to remove the battery. I stayed with flooded batteries and used a cargo rack on the front. The rack held two storage boxes with the batteries in one and tools in the other. I deleted one LP tank to make it work. The set up work well but I wasn’t satisfied with the appearance so I am now in the process of installing an aluminum tongue box and moving the components.
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