Ok, Let's Talk Battery Replacement Again...

[parsfam1]

I have a 2014 3950 Voltage and it has been hooked up to 50amp and all going well till today and the battery is dead. Had the battery tested and it is still good. I have been smelling what smelled like hot electrical in the under storage compartment but thought it might be the blown tire in there i was smelling. I have no DC power until I charged the battery some. Any suggestions? ?

[arlan in arizona]

Originally Posted by parsfam1

have been smelling what smelled like hot electrical in the under storage compartment Any suggestions? ?

I had the same thing on my trailer when it was only a few weeks old. It was a bad transfer switch.

[parsfam1]

Well I did some testing and the stupid converter is bad. It has AC voltage to it but isn't producing any DC voltage and the lights are all off on the front of it. Dang thing couldn't last for more than 2 years.

[ewacowboy]

Time to install an inverter with a 3 stage smart charger!

[parsfam1]

It's got the WFCO 68100 in it now which is supposed to be a good one I think

[heybuddy690]

Question
People are saying not to worry about CCA. If you have a generator don't you need a starting battery?

[ewacowboy]

Your coach battery will start the generator just fine. It doesn't take much power to start it compared to your automobile.

[Thom]

Originally Posted by heybuddy690

Question
People are saying not to worry about CCA. If you have a generator don't you need a starting battery?

Ran into that problem when staying in my freinds driveway last time out. Ran house battery dead and couldnt raise my leveling system to hookup to leave. Took 45 minutes to an hour for my truck to charge it back up through the 7 pin plug. Started gen, and all was well.

[DesertRat]

Originally Posted by parsfam1

It's got the WFCO 68100 in it now which is supposed to be a good one I think

Those are 3-stage chargers so should be a good one.

[paulw]

Originally Posted by Pirate

Well, before I took delivery of my 2014 Voltage Epic 3800 I had the dealer replace the single battery with four 6 Volt batteries. Two sets of two in series and the two pairs in parallel.

I seem to recall I got the tip to do that on this forum.

Both pairs in one large black plastic box. They were discharged this Spring and I found the water low, so topped off, plugged into shore power and all is good.

The batteries are Interstate, all copper cables, and I've been asked, but don't have a clue who makes the black plastic box.

Plenty of power for the slides and awnings and everything 12V works great.

Just thoughts,

Pirate

Pirate, can you please share a pic of your 4 6-volt set up? I'm taking delivery of a 2014 V3990 next week and looking for ideas on how to "shoehorn" my series/parallel setup from my old trailer into the tight space of this new one. Thx

[Pirate]

Paul,


I will try to get a pic posted tomorrow.


As a note, got our Voltage at Windish, and they provided the battery box, the four batteries and cabling.


So you have a source close by.


Pirate

[hopkins44]

my first RV was a 5th wheel toy hauler from heartland... I went overboard on the battery setup. I used an interstate deep cycle intended for a D6 bulldozer ! easy 100 lbs ! only lived one year. I even bought a cummins gen controller intended for emergency service. this is really neat ! but was very expensive. you can start/stop the gen on voltage drop, or heat or A/C....example: it can be set to automatically start the gen if the DC volts drop to 10.2v and stop itself when the DC volts reach 13.4
there were two problems .
1: heartland used a cheap inverter, witch NEVER stopped charging. just a constant trickle. this overcharged the batt over time, and boiled the acid out...

2: when i did need to start the gen to charge... it took 6 + hours!

also don't have your batt tested if it is dead, has to be "some" charge for a load test. I was also told not to add water, and instead add acid. water will only dilute the acid and shorten the life of the batt.

[paulw]

Thanks Pirate. I have done business with Windish for several years. However, I found Hensley Battery in Denver is an excellent place for inexpensive custom battery cables. Ryan was very helpful. I'm experienced with multiple golf cart battery installation and will attach pic of my last one. But my Heartland Bighorn had a lot more space. Just looking for ideas. Note in my pic that the tub is readily available from Home Depot, Costco, etc. and made in USA. Happy to answer any questions about it.

[MartyG]

Paul, that is indeed the correct wiring for four 6V batteries in series/parallel to make 12Volts. But I have to admit that I had to enlarge the picture, copy the wiring and sketch it out to make sense to me! What a layout!

[paulw]

Yup, I know it's right because no sparks and melting wire! Seriously, not my first rodeo and I've had this working on the old rig just fine. Hope the attached pix are a little better.

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by paulw

Yup, I know it's right because no sparks and melting wire! Seriously, not my first rodeo and I've had this working on the old rig just fine. Hope the attached pix are a little better.

That is ALWAYS good thing when working with electricity! I have to pay attention around here. I have both a 36 volt and 48 volt golf cart. I only run a single 12 volt battery on my camper at the moment. Trying to keep the tongue weight down to a reasonable level. May have to come up with a different system in the future. Single Group 24 barely gets me through the night if I am running a furnace.

Aaron

[Firstime RVer]

Originally Posted by MartyG

Paul, that is indeed the correct wiring for four 6V batteries in series/parallel to make 12Volts. But I have to admit that I had to enlarge the picture, copy the wiring and sketch it out to make sense to me! What a layout!

I'm considering the same set up and had to take a minute to study it as well
Being a newbie, This is really helpful information.
Any chance you can post the dimensions of the battery setup shown??
Thanks for posting.

[paulw]

Dimensions of my 4 -6v GC2 batteries as pictured: 20-1/2"W x 14"D x 11"H. They fit in the tub with 3" to spare to the left out of the picture frame, so I threw scrap 2x8" PT in and it fit perfectly, plus they provide extra cribbing if I ever need it.

Second pic is of the empty tub showing the scrap. OSB on the bottom provides an even surface for batteries, rather than the irregular bottom of the tub. Again, it was scrap so I used it.

As posted before, the tub is at Home Depot, Costco, etc. 27 gallon, roughly measures 28"W x 19"D x 15"H measured at the top. The bottom footprint is slightly smaller as it tapers outward from base to top.

Cut holes in tub to accept the electrical jumper terminals (aka "lugs", or "remote jumper terminals"), and a hole for the vent, in which I inserted a PVC coupler easily found at hardware stores, the existing vent tube fit right over it and I re-attached it with the existing set screws. Tub is attached to floor with 4 sheetmetal screws and flat washers so it won't move in normal transportation, just like stock battery box.

Pictured installation was in a Heartland Bighorn. Hope this helps,

[Firstime RVer]

Hey Thanks, My TT has the batteries on the front of the tow frame between the LP tanks and the trailer front wall. I should be able to weld a couple of pieces of angle iron to the frame to fit the 4 batteries side by side, for a 28" across by 10 1/4. Still need to figure out how to cover them..
Wish I could use the box you used.. Now that I think about it, I have to go out and measure the space again. It might be possible.. But it will be tight.
thanks again.

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by Firstime RVer

Hey Thanks, My TT has the batteries on the front of the tow frame between the LP tanks and the trailer front wall. I should be able to weld a couple of pieces of angle iron to the frame to fit the 4 batteries side by side, for a 28" across by 10 1/4. Still need to figure out how to cover them..
Wish I could use the box you used.. Now that I think about it, I have to go out and measure the space again. It might be possible.. But it will be tight.
thanks again.

They make different sizes of boxes. I have found some really, really nice secure boxes that will help keep the batteries from being stolen, and if you spring for the nicer boxes they have a small solar panel to keep the batteries topped up. They are made by Torklift and are called Power Armor. Torklift is a good company and great to deal with.

Aaron