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06-13-2022, 10:41 PM
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#1
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Senior Member
Name: Willy
Trailer: Bigfoot
Alberta
Posts: 141
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RV Battery Question
Hey all. So I am brand new to RV's. I recently purchased a 1979 Bigfoot. There were no batteries connected when I bought it but it came with a few inside disconnected.
My question(s) are:
1.) Do I just connect a 12v car battery to the terminals (they're there by the propane tanks) and it should theoretically power the lights etc inside and charge off my truck? As well how do I check the 12v from my 7 pin from my truck is charging on the trailer side? (Tested truck side already and it seems to be working)
2.) My purchase came with a Gel Battery and a regular battery, can I wire them parallel on the unit? I also got some solar panels and charger so I'm wondering if the gel was just for that, or will it work for both?
Thanks in advance any insight is appreciated!
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06-13-2022, 10:54 PM
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#2
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Member
Name: Mike
Trailer: In the Market
Alaska
Posts: 77
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You test it with a no contact voltage/current meter to see how many amps of charge it is getting or not. Yes you can wire them in parallel but charge them separately first to make sure they charge to the same voltage (capacity). Otherwise one might be more worn than the other and will damage the good battery.
I'd suggest a walmart marine battery if you need to replace one for cheap. They are just as good as an agm battery. Otherwise cheapest option for lots of battery storage is a pair of golf cart batteries. See if there is a place called Batteries Plus near you. They sell Duracell 6v golf cart batteries for a good price. Standard is Trojan T105 batteries. You need 2 or 4 because they are 6v. It will give you a lot of power. Get a mppt charge controller and solar. I suggest victron w/ bluetooth.
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06-14-2022, 12:26 PM
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#3
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Senior Member
Name: Willy
Trailer: Bigfoot
Alberta
Posts: 141
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RollinMike
You test it with a no contact voltage/current meter to see how many amps of charge it is getting or not. Yes you can wire them in parallel but charge them separately first to make sure they charge to the same voltage (capacity). Otherwise one might be more worn than the other and will damage the good battery.
I'd suggest a walmart marine battery if you need to replace one for cheap. They are just as good as an agm battery. Otherwise cheapest option for lots of battery storage is a pair of golf cart batteries. See if there is a place called Batteries Plus near you. They sell Duracell 6v golf cart batteries for a good price. Standard is Trojan T105 batteries. You need 2 or 4 because they are 6v. It will give you a lot of power. Get a mppt charge controller and solar. I suggest victron w/ bluetooth.
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Awesome Mike thanks again !! Are the 6v wired in series ? As well can they be used with the solar ?
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06-14-2022, 12:31 PM
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#4
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Member
Name: Mike
Trailer: In the Market
Alaska
Posts: 77
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They are great for solar. People use them on sailboats that cross oceans, rvs, etc. 200w solar will get you started. They sell battery boxes that fit them perfectly. The duracell and trojan batteries are exactly the same size.
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06-14-2022, 01:16 PM
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#5
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Senior Member
Name: Willy
Trailer: Bigfoot
Alberta
Posts: 141
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RollinMike
They are great for solar. People use them on sailboats that cross oceans, rvs, etc. 200w solar will get you started. They sell battery boxes that fit them perfectly. The duracell and trojan batteries are exactly the same size.
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Awesome thanks !!! And they would charge off the truck as well? I’ll have to check how many watts my solar is and post back
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06-14-2022, 01:33 PM
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#6
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Senior Member
Name: John
Trailer: Escape 21, behind an '02 F250 7.3 diesel tug
Mid Left Coast
Posts: 2,941
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Costco has cheap GC2 golf cart batts, which are a budget version of Interstate ... they aren't as long life or quite as high capacity as the Trojans, but they are a fraction of the price. I had a pair of the Costco GC2 for about 4-5 years, and they were still working fine until I did my Lithium upgrade.
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06-14-2022, 02:13 PM
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#7
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Senior Member
Trailer: Escape 17 ft
Posts: 8,317
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Speaking of lithium, don't go cheap. According to authorities, there have been seven fire deaths in metro Vancouver so far this year. Five of those were caused by cheap batteries and chargers.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...isks-1.6487603
__________________
What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?
- Bertolt Brecht
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06-14-2022, 02:49 PM
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#8
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Senior Member
Name: John
Trailer: Escape 21, behind an '02 F250 7.3 diesel tug
Mid Left Coast
Posts: 2,941
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo
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Those are Lithium ION batteries, which yes, are quite dangerous if overcharged. RVs are far more likely to use Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries which are nearly impossible to blow up. LFP batts are larger and heavier than Lithium-Ion, but half the weight and twice the capacity of old Lead Acid (which also can blow up from hydrogen explosions, splattering sulphuric acid on everrything around them).
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06-14-2022, 10:22 PM
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#9
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Senior Member
Name: Willy
Trailer: Bigfoot
Alberta
Posts: 141
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RollinMike
They are great for solar. People use them on sailboats that cross oceans, rvs, etc. 200w solar will get you started. They sell battery boxes that fit them perfectly. The duracell and trojan batteries are exactly the same size.
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So on a side note I'll definitely look into the golf cart batteries. Upon looking the battery that is a Gel battery I was provided is a MK Model 8G24 Battery, it seems like its a good battery looking it up but we'll see if it's in good condition. I think I'll charge this up and connect just the one battery for now to get it going. Can I use my trickle charger to charge this initially?? Looks like the output of my trickle charger is 12v, 1Amp...
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06-14-2022, 10:25 PM
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#10
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Senior Member
Name: John
Trailer: Escape 21, behind an '02 F250 7.3 diesel tug
Mid Left Coast
Posts: 2,941
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a 1 amp trickle charger will take many days to charge a group 24 sized battery which is probably around 80 amp*hours. said trickle charger is fine for maintaining it once its already charged, and in long term storage
ideally you'd want at least an 8 amp charger to be able to charge it overnight. and ideally that charger has a 'gel' setting because gel batteries like a higher charge voltage during the 'absorption' phase which accounts for the last 20% of the total charge.
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06-14-2022, 10:25 PM
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#11
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Senior Member
Name: John
Trailer: Escape 21, behind an '02 F250 7.3 diesel tug
Mid Left Coast
Posts: 2,941
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oh, and do NOT parallel different lead acid batteries, the stronger one will discharge itself into the weaker one.
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06-14-2022, 10:27 PM
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#12
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Senior Member
Name: Willy
Trailer: Bigfoot
Alberta
Posts: 141
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RollinMike
They are great for solar. People use them on sailboats that cross oceans, rvs, etc. 200w solar will get you started. They sell battery boxes that fit them perfectly. The duracell and trojan batteries are exactly the same size.
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Oh and it looks for now as if my solar panels are 55W with a 7Amp charge controller.......
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06-14-2022, 10:30 PM
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#13
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Senior Member
Name: Willy
Trailer: Bigfoot
Alberta
Posts: 141
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz
a 1 amp trickle charger will take many days to charge a group 24 sized battery which is probably around 80 amp*hours. said trickle charger is fine for maintaining it once its already charged, and in long term storage
ideally you'd want at least an 8 amp charger to be able to charge it overnight. and ideally that charger has a 'gel' setting because gel batteries like a higher charge voltage during the 'absorption' phase which accounts for the last 20% of the total charge.
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Thanks John. Would the trickle charger still be OK to charge and leave it for days?? Or can you recommend me a "Gel" charger??
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06-14-2022, 10:31 PM
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#14
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Senior Member
Name: Willy
Trailer: Bigfoot
Alberta
Posts: 141
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz
oh, and do NOT parallel different lead acid batteries, the stronger one will discharge itself into the weaker one.
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Ok thanks ! this is what I've kind of been reading thanks for the info. This is also why I'm gonna try one deep cycle battery to start and go from there...
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06-14-2022, 10:33 PM
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#15
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Senior Member
Name: John
Trailer: Escape 21, behind an '02 F250 7.3 diesel tug
Mid Left Coast
Posts: 2,941
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WillyBigfoot
Thanks John. Would the trickle charger still be OK to charge and leave it for days?? Or can you recommend me a "Gel" charger??
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I use a NOCO Genius 10 to charge pretty much everything other than the big lithiums in my RV, that gets charged by a 360W solar panel, and/or the 55A PD4655LI power converter.
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06-14-2022, 10:43 PM
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#16
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Senior Member
Name: Willy
Trailer: Bigfoot
Alberta
Posts: 141
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz
I use a NOCO Genius 10 to charge pretty much everything other than the big lithiums in my RV, that gets charged by a 360W solar panel, and/or the 55A PD4655LI power converter.
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Excellent thanks! So would it do harm to put my trickle charger on until I get a different one like you recommended?
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06-14-2022, 10:51 PM
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#17
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Senior Member
Name: John
Trailer: Escape 21, behind an '02 F250 7.3 diesel tug
Mid Left Coast
Posts: 2,941
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the 1 amp charger won't harm anything it just will take a really really long time and probably never fully charge a gel cell, maybe only about 80%, depending on its actual voltage output. Note a '12V' lead acid battery needs at least 13.6V to charge
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06-14-2022, 10:54 PM
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#18
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Senior Member
Name: Willy
Trailer: Bigfoot
Alberta
Posts: 141
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz
the 1 amp charger won't harm anything it just will take a really really long time and probably never fully charge a gel cell, maybe only about 80%, depending on its actual voltage output. Note a '12V' lead acid battery needs at least 13.6V to charge
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Ok thanks John!
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06-18-2022, 10:26 AM
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#19
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Senior Member
Name: Charlie
Trailer: '83 Burro
Virginia
Posts: 405
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Camping with my '83 Burro pretty much off grid from 3-5 days at the time. Considering a Group 27 Deep Cycle battery to run it, covering recharge of iPad and iPhone as well as lighting (LED) for the trailer. Maybe a fan (12V) as well. The plan now is to take battery home in TV and recharge, placing it back on parked camper with a full charge and keeping it topped up with a solar panel of suitable capacity. Does this sound OK? Is it overkill?
Future planning includes possibility of an electric pump to run the 1 faucet in the sink, but that shouldn't add too heavy a load. There is a possibility of adding a small tractor trailer style 12 volt fridge/cooler. How heavy a load does this place on the system and as described above, would I still have enough capacity?
Froggie
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06-18-2022, 11:22 AM
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#20
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Senior Member
Name: John
Trailer: Escape 21, behind an '02 F250 7.3 diesel tug
Mid Left Coast
Posts: 2,941
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i was able to keep a decent charge on the 27M on my Casita with a 100W solar 'suitcase', with the battery running the water pump, LED lighting, and a fantastic fan. and the furnace fan on cold nights. USB charging is a not even a blip. If I left the panel aimed where the mid morning sun would be, it was often fully charged by noon.
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