Batteries

[Aronious]

The vent hose from the cover off the one battery is tucked up to the side. I was going to build a vent cover for all four batteries but to date is still on the list to do. Our first 5er never had a cover on the battery and I don't recall any damage from it although the compartment was vented.

[Aronious]

Oh Ya! While I was in there I made up all new cables out of #4 Welder cables and threw away the alum ones that came with the trailer. According to the electrical tables on amperage I checked I might be a little light on the cables but every time I have checked them like after after running the jacks down they are always cool so good to go. I reused the ones on the genny. When I put the slideout tray in I had to shim it up to clear the access door lip. I trimmed a couple of 2X4 to width and thru bolted them with carriage bolts.

[kodiak 2013]

this is my AGM battery and new box I put in today oh I put in side ports for the cables so the don't go on top

[slb5146]

My Voltage came with 1 Exide 12 volt battery. It does not appear to be a Deep Cycle. It says "Dual Purpose".

Very quickly I discovered that was not enough battery for our use. I had to jump the generator one cold morning to get it started.

In a pinch I grabbed a 12 Deep Cycle battery from Wal-Mart to put it in parallel. That didn't work very well either.

I could never force my WFCO WF-9875 Converter into bulk charge mode(14.4 volts). I tried all the tricks I found on different forums.

I ended up buying a Progressive Dynamics PD-9180 Converter with remote charge wizard so I could see what mode the Converter was running and switch modes to Bulk/Boost charge mode(14.4 volts) if I needed to. When I am dry camping I want to run the generator for a short time each morning and I want to batteries to charge as quickly as possible.

I rewired the converters so the old WFCO converter charged ONLY the Exide battery and left it connected to the generator for a starting battery.

I added another identical Deep Cycle from Wal-Mart and connected them to the new PD-9180 and to serve as the house batteries. That way I did not have to buy an Isolater to separate the Generator starting battery from the House batteries.

Things went pretty well until Arlan posted about the fancy battery pitcher to make filling the batteries easier. I ordered one and a Pro Hydrometer.

The specific gravity for all the Wal-Mart battery cells shows an average of 1.200. Not a full charge. I have tried Bulk/Boost charge. I have switched back to the WFCO converter for the house batteries and after many days of trying; I can not get the specific gravity to show any where near a full charge.

The Exide battery shows about 1.275 average on all cells. Good Charge.

One of my Wal-Mart batteries was manufactured in November 2013 and one in February 2014. I feel like maybe they did not put the correct 35% Acid with 65% Distilled water into the battery when they manufactured it. It may be watered down. I don't know.

Your comments/suggestions please.

[sundancer 87]

The specific gravity reading is different than a normal starting battery because of the electrolyte used in deep cycles. The reading will always be low unless you buy a hydrometer made for deep cycle batteries.

Running the generator in the morning will only add a surface charge to the batteries. Doesn't really do much except waste gasoline and generator.

Exide batteries provided by the dealers aren't actual deep cycle batteries. Any battery that has a label the shows CCA or MCCA is not much more than a heavy duty starting battery. If you want real deep cycles go to a battery shop and get batteries rated in amp hours, not cold cranking amps. The more amp hours the longer the battery will maintain a good output voltage before it falls off. Of course this depends on the load on them.

A starting battery with CCAs will deliver its potential for a few seconds, those seconds designed to start the car. A deep cycle will deliver its potential over a period of time. I can't remember the standard used but it involves amps/hour. Both a given period and amount of amps.

[DesertRat]

A true group 27 deep cycle battery is rated at if I remember right 115Ah. That is it will run a draw of 1 amp for 115 hours. 1 6v golf cart battery is rated at 225Ah. Put 2 in series & get 450Ah.

[arlan in arizona]

Originally Posted by DesertRat

One 6v golf cart battery is rated at 225Ah. Put 2 in series & get 450Ah.

Or put four in series and make your trailer even heavier.






Sorry, I couldn't resist. All the stuff just keeps adding up.

[Wanderer]

Originally Posted by DesertRat

A true group 27 deep cycle battery is rated at if I remember right 115Ah. That is it will run a draw of 1 amp for 115 hours. 1 6v golf cart battery is rated at 225Ah. Put 2 in series & get 450Ah.

Putting two in parallel will give you 450Ah at 6 volts. By putting them in series you get your 12 volts but will still only have 225 Ah.

Arlan, yours are two groups of 6V in series connected in parallel. If you put 4- 6Volt batteries in series you get 24 volts.

[arlan in arizona]

Originally Posted by Wanderer

Putting two in parallel will give you 450Ah at 6 volts. By putting them in series you get your 12 volts but will still only have 225 Ah.

Arlan, yours are two groups of 6V in series connected in parallel. If you put 4- 6Volt batteries in series you get 24 volts.

You are correct on both points. I was typing with out thinking. I really need to proof read this stuff more.

[slb5146]

But what about the specific gravity? Does anybody check their specific gravity? What are your readings on a deep cycle battery that's fully charged?

My average cell reading is 1.200 on what should be a fully charged battery. From what I read it should be at least 1.265 for a fully charged battery. Trojan shows on their chart that it should be 1.277 for a fully charged deep cycle battery.

[arlan in arizona]

Originally Posted by slb5146

But what about the specific gravity? Does anybody check their specific gravity? What are your readings on a deep cycle battery that's fully charged?

My average cell reading is 1.200 on what should be a fully charged battery. From what I read it should be at least 1.265 for a fully charged battery.

Steve, I tried using a hydrometer sometime ago with my six volt batteries. I got confused as I was expecting to see number like 13.8 or something foolish like that. And I was seeing 6.xx. I now refer to my solar read out. I am usually up around the 13.8 volt mark when charging during the day. When the sun goes down I hit and hold pretty well at around 12.7 and drop to 12.5 maybe 12.3 before the turn the inverter off. If I sleep pass sunrise I am back to the low 13 volt area. The solar panels rock.

I think what you need to see with your specific gravity is all the cells being close to the same value.

What kind of digital read are you getting on your batteries. The hydrometer you have could be off.