Number of batteries

[DECelt]

My past experience with Hydraulic levelers and slideouts has been that the system really needs two batteries. My 2021 Solitude only came with one battery.

Is this normal?

 

[el Rojo]

Yes. The dealers are responsible for batteries and unless you specified the number or type of batteries during your purchase negotiations 1 is all you typically get. I think most dealers use Interstate group 24.

Red

 

[triplethreat]

My past experience with Hydraulic levelers and slideouts has been that the system really needs two batteries. My 2021 Solitude only came with one battery.

Is this normal?

It's totally up to the dealer that you bought it from. The trailers leave the factory with no battery installed in them. When the dealers receive the unit and do their prep work to get it ready for sale, they are the ones that put in a battery or....if you request it during the negotiations process, two, four, whatever. They also are the ones that fill the propane tanks when the trailer arrives. Hope this helps.

 

[huntr70]

Solitude and Momentum call out for Group 27 batteries, if you read the owner's manual.

We put 27's in Reflections also.

 

[AZMike]

Mine came with a 27.

 

[DECelt]

On the same battery topic....does anyone know the approximate drain on the battery from running slides in and out. I got 3 or 4 slide run in/outs on my battery before it was done (both hydraulic and the Schwintek). I'm trying to figure out of I have a bad battery.

FWIW, the trailer had only been plugged in for two days before this. I have to assume it was fully charged, but I'm not sure.

Thanks!

Celt

 

[MooManChu]

On the same battery topic....does anyone know the approximate drain on the battery from running slides in and out. I got 3 or 4 slide run in/outs on my battery before it was done (both hydraulic and the Schwintek). I'm trying to figure out of I have a bad battery.

FWIW, the trailer had only been plugged in for two days before this. I have to assume it was fully charged, but I'm not sure.

Thanks!

Celt

Your question is simple enough but the motors are not the only consistent draw. I don't have specifics since those motors are specific to the slides you have, however I recently was running the numbers when upgrading to a new battery configuration and I found rough numbers from a couple forums like this one ->https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/25877898/print/true.cfm


So, if the motors are around ~13amps, and you run them for lets say 60-90 seconds, you can calculate amp hours roughly.


That stated, I've had bad/abused batteries not holding a charge and they still were able to power my slides when I boondocked, so yes I think you either have a battery with bad cells or your converter isnt working. I will tell you that the traditional lead acid flooded marine batteries do not fair well when drained past 50% capacity and won't recharge to their stated amp hour capacity. Not to go on a rant about lousy service departments, but the last three services I had at the dealer, they left the battery connected and a light on because I've had a completely dead battery when I picked it up. From the research I did, you significantly reduce the capacity of a battery just running it down once. If you want specifics on the degradation rates, there are tons of sites/forums out there that talk about the specifics. I was really shocked to find out how much damage running a battery down just one time causes. That's why it makes sense when I read about upgrading to AGM and Lithium batteries that are 2x-5x more expensive, it is those types of batteries ability to retaining charging capacity when drained.

FWIW, I dumped the battery that came in my trailer for a set of 6v golf cart flooded batteries.

 

[AZMike]

FWIW, I dumped the battery that came in my trailer for a set of 6v golf cart flooded batteries.

How much better do you find the golf batteries to be? What kind of battery did you replace?

 

[MooManChu]

How much better do you find the golf batteries to be? What kind of battery did you replace?

Only had one trip out overnight but so far so good. I had a Deka 27M from the dealer. The upgrade tripled my Ah.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[orbiker]

My past experience with Hydraulic levelers and slideouts has been that the system really needs two batteries. My 2021 Solitude only came with one battery.

Is this normal?

Read about the different types of batteries.
Think about where you will / want to camp. Power post or maybe no power post.
Do you have the residential frig? You will need a bigger battery bank.

I purchased 2 group 31 AGM batteries and 6 months later decided to go with 4 100AH lithium batteries / plus a small solar array. Don't do it twice like I did. KEN

 

[MooManChu]

Yes,
Like I stated in a previous post, calculate need. It is not difficult to estimate, however there are multiple factors that affect battery performance (temperature, age, cycles between charges) that I am not that vested into and "getting close" was my goal.. Figure what you are going to run when off the grid. Check all appliances, fans, etc. amps, calculate how often it will run during the time your are camping to compute amp hours (Ah), add it up. That is your need. I add in 1-2% for vampire draw (power drawn when appliances/devices are off). If you can't get the info off the actual device amps, check RV blogs, lots of research out there. Than find a battery setup to match it up. My biggest challenge was batteries are listed in RC or Ah. Reserve Capacity (RC) is the number of minutes a fully charged battery at 80°F will discharge 25 amps until the battery drops below 10.5 volts. An amp hour (AH) is a rating usually found on deep cycle batteries. The standard rating is an amp rating taken for 20 hours. Than figure the depth of discharge, that is how far you drain the battery based on type. The rough numbers I found are 50% for traditional flooded lead acid, 80% for sealed AGM and, well around 100% for Lithium Ion. That was the biggest surprise for me was having to cut my capacity in half with a flooded lead acid battery. Guess that is why everyone is willing to shell out $900 for a Lithium Ion battery. We dry camp only 1-2 nights, run onboard gen during the day or drive 6-7 hours and I added to extra Ah assuming I wont fully charge during driving. One could figure that out, but again, I'm just trying to get close. Anyways, my number figured in a cold fall night so run furnace 15-20 min all night and my number is 220 Ah. I bought two 235Ah 6v golf cart batteries. that is 235Ah at 12 v.

 

[JMCFAN]

My Solitude came with 2 Group 27 Interstates..... I did not request....... I dont see how a Solitude with Residential fridge can survive on one...??

 

[powerscol]

Remember with a flooded battery you can only use 50% of the AH rating before you can do battery damage. Usually the voltage drops below (11.5V) that needed too operate your slides (usually 12.5V or better). That being said in my new install I am using 4 Crown 6V CR260 flooded battery (260AH each) in a series /parallel set up that gives me a 520AH battery bank - 260 usable.

They should last 8 to 10 years if I do the needed maintenance. Mad the approach cheaper the Lithium. An Interstate group 27 (SRM27) has a whopping 88 amp hours - 44 usable. so not much there. I had two installed per my sales contract. Unfortunately I learned the hard way and damaged them when they died in storage due to the parasitic draws (disconnect off). I did not know they were really bad as the solar kept them charged, but when I took them out they were half dead all the time.

So in a nut shell 1 - group 27 is good for a day or two camping with no hook up and thats it.

 

[SolarPoweredRV]

Yes,
Like I stated in a previous post, calculate need. It is not difficult to estimate, however there are multiple factors that affect battery performance (temperature, age, cycles between charges) that I am not that vested into and "getting close" was my goal.. Figure what you are going to run when off the grid. Check all appliances, fans, etc. amps, calculate how often it will run during the time your are camping to compute amp hours (Ah), add it up. That is your need. I add in 1-2% for vampire draw (power drawn when appliances/devices are off). If you can't get the info off the actual device amps, check RV blogs, lots of research out there. Than find a battery setup to match it up. My biggest challenge was batteries are listed in RC or Ah. Reserve Capacity (RC) is the number of minutes a fully charged battery at 80°F will discharge 25 amps until the battery drops below 10.5 volts. An amp hour (AH) is a rating usually found on deep cycle batteries. The standard rating is an amp rating taken for 20 hours. Than figure the depth of discharge, that is how far you drain the battery based on type. The rough numbers I found are 50% for traditional flooded lead acid, 80% for sealed AGM and, well around 100% for Lithium Ion. That was the biggest surprise for me was having to cut my capacity in half with a flooded lead acid battery. Guess that is why everyone is willing to shell out $900 for a Lithium Ion battery. We dry camp only 1-2 nights, run onboard gen during the day or drive 6-7 hours and I added to extra Ah assuming I wont fully charge during driving. One could figure that out, but again, I'm just trying to get close. Anyways, my number figured in a cold fall night so run furnace 15-20 min all night and my number is 220 Ah. I bought two 235Ah 6v golf cart batteries. that is 235Ah at 12 v.

If your calculations came out to a 220 Ah requirement and you are using Lead Acid batteries, a pair of 6v 235 Ah batteries is not enough. You need another pair of 6v batteries to prevent you from using more than 50% of your batteries. Even 6v batteries are harmed by discharging them below 50% State of Charge (SOC).

 

[MooManChu]

If your calculations came out to a 220 Ah requirement and you are using Lead Acid batteries, a pair of 6v 235 Ah batteries is not enough. You need another pair of 6v batteries to prevent you from using more than 50% of your batteries. Even 6v batteries are harmed by discharging them below 50% State of Charge (SOC).

Sorry, I wasn't clear when I said my number is 220. My spreadsheet formula multiplies/divides by type of battery to compute the need. The sum of the couple things that run at night is 110. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[zinman]

How much better do you find the golf batteries to be? What kind of battery did you replace?

"AZMike" I had two Trojan 104 6 volt batteries in my Alpenlite Voyager 34RL for 10 years before they failed. Had the RV plugged full time so the Progressive Dynamics controller could maintain charge. Checking fluid ever 3-4 months helped assure their longevity. Our current unit came with one, when it begins to fail I will definately be going back to my 6 volt system.

 

[huntr70]

My Solitude came with 2 Group 27 Interstates..... I did not request....... I dont see how a Solitude with Residential fridge can survive on one...??

Yep, Solitude's with residential fridges come with 2 battery boxes from the factory....

 

[MooManChu]

"AZMike" I had two Trojan 104 6 volt batteries in my Alpenlite Voyager 34RL for 10 years before they failed. Had the RV plugged full time so the Progressive Dynamics controller could maintain charge. Checking fluid ever 3-4 months helped assure their longevity. Our current unit came with one, when it begins to fail I will definately be going back to my 6 volt system.

Sounds like a strong correlation between longevity and abuse, being you maintained them appropriately and 10 years later, you were going strong.

 

[AZMike]

"AZMike" I had two Trojan 104 6 volt batteries in my Alpenlite Voyager 34RL for 10 years before they failed. Had the RV plugged full time so the Progressive Dynamics controller could maintain charge. Checking fluid ever 3-4 months helped assure their longevity. Our current unit came with one, when it begins to fail I will definately be going back to my 6 volt system.

I would love to go with two of those but my problem is that I have to remove the battery every time I bring it back to the storage facility for fear of theft. The 27F is heavy enough. If I go with the two Trojans, I will have two batteries to muscle around, not to mention that each of those weighs more than my 27F. Oh well, I guess I'll have to weigh the pros and cons. I also don't boondock too much, and I do have a briefcase solar panel that I carry with me. As I get out more I'll decide if that will keep the battery sufficiently charged.

 

[MooManChu]

I would love to go with two of those but my problem is that I have to remove the battery every time I bring it back to the storage facility for fear of theft. The 27F is heavy enough. If I go with the two Trojans, I will have two batteries to muscle around, not to mention that each of those weighs more than my 27F. Oh well, I guess I'll have to weigh the pros and cons. I also don't boondock too much, and I do have a briefcase solar panel that I carry with me. As I get out more I'll decide if that will keep the battery sufficiently charged.

single Li-Ion would fit the bill. Light and transportable. I think a 27F weighs about 50 lbs, last i checked the Li-ion were just a bit over half that. Look at it this way, these batteries vary in price based on the features and capabilities, however big picture, if you plunge into a Li-Ion it will outlive any flooded cell or AGM significantly (from what I read, not actual experience) and you may come close to breaking even over time. I'd love to go Li-Ion, but can't justify the cost based on the use case here. Just need enough juice at night to run gas fridge, furnace and couple cpap machines. Once sun comes up, fire up the onboard gen. Guess the first night we run out of power my opinion will change .