Single battery won't last a day

**hutchman123** · 07-11-2021, 08:53 PM

Thank you again for all the helpful insight.

**FT4NOW** · 07-11-2021, 09:13 PM

Besides all the great advice given, if you find yourself dry camping a lot, no matter what type of battery you end up with, get a good quality battery monitor. I'm a big fan of the Victron BMV-712, but there are other options if you want something less costly.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

**huntindog** · 07-12-2021, 02:40 AM

Originally Posted by PappaJohn

Just for the heck of it, I measured the current draw from the battery with shore power disconnected and only the 18cu frig turned on and it was 3.5A. Turned a bunch of light on and it was 12.5A.

Was the fridge on elec. or propane?

**hutchman123** · 07-12-2021, 07:11 AM

Good tip.
Thank you.

**hutchman123** · 07-12-2021, 07:14 AM

Good tip.
Thank you

**tim-o-w4yn** · 07-17-2021, 04:38 PM

Do you have one of those 12V 120V Refrigerators that don't use propane? If so you need a lot more battery capacity.
Tim 19 2670MKII

**fez111** · 07-18-2021, 10:59 AM

There must be something wrong, but I think you already know that. We bought our "new to us" 2016 Solitude in early 2017. That summer we went to our favorite Michigan State Park for vacation. We had the original single battery. Two days before we were supposed to leave there was a horrendous thunderstorm that knocked the power out. We immediately switched both the fridge and the hot water to propane. We ran only enough 12 volt lights to play cards or read. The roof vents were open but off. Here's the strange part. Our refrigerator didn't start beeping for 36 hours, at which time I connected to the vehicle to charge somewhat. 12 hours after that I had to connect to the truck to be able to run the hydraulics to hook up and close the main slides.

There must be additional loads on your battery, or a problem with you inverter not charging to full capacity. Just remember that the battery kill switch does not kill everything!

**M&Lcamping** · 07-24-2021, 11:46 AM

Originally Posted by Redapple63

That battery is maybe 80 amp hours which means you have like 40 amp hours usable totally makes sense how quickly it dies.

I suggest at least 2 gc2 batteries for low cost entry to get you through the season. I would look into agm or Lifepo4 for long term.

Also double check the converter or generator is actually charging your battery. 12.3 represents about a 62% state of charge.

Agree @Redapple63 --- My finding is that this battery is a 90amp hr batt. If say the refer is rated at 500watts running on 12v that alone is 41.7amp hours a day so there inlays an issue. We have 2 golf cart batts (6v ea.) and rated 225amp hours per battery. We either fire up the generator as needed or let the solar with inverter take care of our needs.

**jkwilson** · 07-24-2021, 12:46 PM

Originally Posted by M&Lcamping

Agree @Redapple63 --- My finding is that this battery is a 90amp hr batt. If say the refer is rated at 500watts running on 12v that alone is 41.7amp hours a day so there inlays an issue. We have 2 golf cart batts (6v ea.) and rated 225amp hours per battery. We either fire up the generator as needed or let the solar with inverter take care of our needs.

Your math is wrong, but you stumbled into being close to a reasonable answer. Your refrigerator probably draws about 2A when running on propane, which is a little less than 30W. That translates to 48AH daily.

You also want to be aware that with batteries in series, the AH available from the pair is the rating of an individual battery, so you have 225AH total.