Batterey Question

[Alex]

O.K. all you expert AS owners. I recently purchased a Deep Cycle 750 CCA batterey for my '72 AS. Since I am new to this journey, I would like to know how much juice can I get out of hte battery run my AS? In other words, am I limited to running lights, T.V., radio, oven, ect... only ?? I guess running my AC would definetly drain the battery? This only applys to dry camping, i.e. no hook ups.

Since there is no alternator, how does the battery stay charged when in use?? As I am towing the trailer does the battery get recharged from my tow vehicle?
When its parked at home should I plug it in to the house?

Thanks to all

[CO_Don]

You'll get a lot replys on this question. Bottom line: Your battery charges when you are towing and when you are plugged into 120v if the normal AS systems are functioning correctly. Air conditioning and microwave are 120v and will not work on the battery. Amount of units that you can operate on the battery will depend on the current draw of the appliance/light and the length of time you have it on. For the new operator, trying it in your driveway for a couple of days will answer most of your questions. Hope this helped.

[CO_Don]

Sorry, a couple of other comments after I read your question again. TV is 120v unless you have a 12v with plug. Additionally, some items in your AS will run all of the time depending on how the previous owner configured the unit. I have a display pannel in my '85 that needs to be turned off. And check to see if you have a battery off switch. Mine is located full forward behind the couch. This isolates the battery and you do not have to disconnect the batteries during extended storage. I always pull mine in the winter, because of freezing. Besides how can you weld your battery cables to the frame and opening without trying to disconnect them in the fall! Hope you have more clearance than I do. Out of comments, Don

[markdoane]

First, you need to think in terms of amp-hrs. If you purchased a battery with 750 CCA, you probably purchased a 'combination' deep cycle-cranking battery, because CCA rating is a pretty useless number for a deep cycle battery.
Next, you need to get a handle on how many amp-hours your various appliances (lights, TV, etc) use, and how long you plan to use them between charging cycles.
(No, you will never run your AC off batteries).
After you know how much amp-hours you plan to consume, you will need enough battery to provide at least twice that amount, because you will never want to discharge more than half of the available energy in the battery.
Lets say you have a 100 amp-hour battery. That means you can use 50 amp-hours of electricity before you need to recharge the battery. Thats roughly 10 hours of a 5 amp load, roughly 60 watt (5 amps ×12 volts = 60 watts) light bulb.

[Silvertwinkie]

Originally posted by markdoane
First, you need to think in terms of amp-hrs. If you purchased a battery with 750 CCA, you probably purchased a 'combination' deep cycle-cranking battery, because CCA rating is a pretty useless number for a deep cycle battery.
battery.

Not across the board. I use deep cycle in my boat and I do care about the MCA and/or CCA. In an RV I would agree it makes little difference.

Also the car alt will/should charge the coach battery when towing as should the univolt or other power conversion device you have while on "shore" power.

Eric

[CanoeStream]

I could reference all sorts of threads with more in-depth discussion by some of the very people above. Looking for one thread for you I realized many have pretty good information. Without suffering through TMI, you would go as far as you want to by using the Search function on the word battery.

[87MH]

Wazzat?

[CanoeStream]

TMI = Too Much Information

There's a great How-To book in here somewhere...

[markdoane]

Originally posted by Silvertwinkie

I use deep cycle in my boat and I do care about the MCA and/or CCA. In an RV I would agree it makes little difference.

Eric

Yeah, I guess that's right. If you have a trolling motor that needs lots of amps like a cranking battery.

[thenewkid64]

One of the factors that needs to be considered is how you plan on using the trailer.
If you are going to be boondocking then you will want a battery that can handle discharging over a long time, Like a deep cell. If you are just going from home to campground and traveling then a normal automotive battery will work fine.
Also consider the charger. The standard RV charger is designed to recharge more slowly than a car charger/alternator. This could lead to boiling off the water in your automotive style battery.

[kposey]

What is the reasoning behind disconnecting the battery during storage?

[thenewkid64]

Disconnecting the battery eliminates parasitic draws and also prevents you from having a dead battery because someone left a light on. On the newer trailers the LP detector is not able to be disconnected by the switch and the easiest way to disconnect it is by pulling the neg battery cables.