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Old 09-27-2021, 11:28 AM   #1
Andy Smith
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Another battery question

Hi folks! I've got a few battery related questions. Recently the campground I'm at has had a few power outages, which always makes me check my systems. I was looking at the battery output on my inverter today while the power was out at it was reading 11.9v initially, now 12.5. The only thing on the inverter and drawing a load right now is the fridge. Power has been out for about an hour. We've got two group 24 AGM road hawk (Penn systems) batteries that came with the camper. We never boondock, so they only supply power during transport and outages. We've had a few outages in the life of the batteries, one of which I think totally drained them, which I know is bad news. I'm a little nervous about this and am wondering if I need to replace them, and what best practices would be (carry a spare or a pair, just find whatever is available locally). My biggest worry is getting stuck with them gradually dying and not being able to hitch or unhitch and needing to go run to a battery store, since I know the jacks and slides rely on the batteries for supplemental power to the jacks so it's not all pulling from the converter. Any thoughts are welcome!
 
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Old 09-27-2021, 12:02 PM   #2
jcurtis934
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Andy, how old are the present batteries? After four years, in my experience, they are on their way out. Group 24 batteries are probably only 65 amphrs, so by having two in parallel if they are each 12vdc...you only have 65 amphrs to use. If your fridge draws 3 amps of 120vdc, it is drawing 35 amps or more from the batteries. I run two group 31 agm batteries to get 105 amphrs of supply in case of power outage. Always replace in pairs, never just one as the weaker battery will pirate from the stronger one. Since you have drawn down below the 50% point, you have reduced their life time.
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Old 09-27-2021, 12:13 PM   #3
Andy Smith
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Hey jcurtis! Thanks for the response! They're probably about two years old (came with the RV from the dealership in early 2020). I'm thinking of upgrading to a higher group battery, and I know the one big outage we had last winter probably started their decline. I'll probably look at ordering some 27s or 31s in the next few months. After about an hour of no shore power the voltage jumped from 11.9 to 12.5, and now that power is back on the charger is charging them at 13.6, which is not the boost mode, meaning the charge wizard thing didn't detect enough depletion to go into boost mode
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Old 09-27-2021, 02:41 PM   #4
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I would opt for two 6 volt GC2 batteries and wire in series. More capacity and true deep cycle batteries. I've been running at least two for the past 25+ years of RVing. Have four of them currently in our rig.
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Old 09-28-2021, 05:38 AM   #5
RMcNeal
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Andy, check the size of your battery box. I found with our 2019 that only 2 group 27's would fit inside, just barely. If you go to a larger battery, you may need to replace the battery box too.
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Old 09-28-2021, 06:02 AM   #6
Andy Smith
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I will check, but can't hardly figure out how to get it open. It's jammed pretty tight under the hydraulic reservoir and don't want to risk damaging the reservoir with the terminals. Can you confirm the process for disconnecting would be turn the battery disconnect on, switch the inverter connection off, then disconnect hot then ground from the terminals? I've only looked under the lid as much as it would open without disconnecting anything to see what kind of batteries were in there. We'll not likely ever boondock with it, so the batteries just need to exist and hold enough charge for the items they're supplementing.
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Old 09-28-2021, 07:34 AM   #7
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Mine has a dozen screws around the lip. It is a tight fit. I always disconnect negative first but either should work.
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Old 09-28-2021, 06:34 PM   #8
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Have you thought about a 100 amp lithium battery? One battery would almost double your current capacity, maintain voltage until almost zero and last about ten years. Plus the weight savings, faster recharge time and space. No need to vent. We have lithiums for the first time and love them.
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Old 09-28-2021, 06:41 PM   #9
Andy Smith
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Will a lithium battery work with the pd converter/charger? How plug n play is it to swap them? I'm definitely open to the idea. I've been playing with the idea but haven't done much research.
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Old 09-28-2021, 06:59 PM   #10
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Andy, since it’s a 2020, you may be able to just change your charge profile to lithium. Not sure when they changed but the new ones are lithium capable. If you know your converter model, Battleborn or PD will walk you through what you need. Worth a phone call.
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Old 09-28-2021, 07:06 PM   #11
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I have a 2019 3130re. The converter is a Progressive Dynamics PD4575K18LS8.
The model # is on a white sticker inside the circuit breaker panel door.
I upgrade to lithium batteries over a year ago without changing the converter. My converter is not lithium ready so I get about 80% charge from it.
However it does have a charge wizzard mode button and I used to manually set it to boost mode for four hours then it automatically reverts back to normal mode. This raises it to almost 100%.
Later I added two 200W of solar panels and a Victron 100/30 MPPT Charge controller. This is set to lithium mode and tops them off now to 100%.

As for getting the battery out of the battery box I had to struggle to get it out. Once it was removed I found 4 screws going down through the bottom of the battery box that held it in place.
You may find the hydraulics are mounted to a board and the board mounted to the frame. It may be easier to remove the screws mounting the board to get enough room to remove the batteries.
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Old 09-29-2021, 06:44 AM   #12
Andy Smith
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Thanks for the feedback. That is the same converter I have. According to e-trailer, it is lithium compatible https://www.etrailer.com/RV-Converte...575K18LS8.html. It looks like there's a switch to change between LA and LI modes.
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Old 10-03-2021, 05:59 PM   #13
bcrvman
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy Smith View Post
Hi folks! I've got a few battery related questions. Recently the campground I'm at has had a few power outages, which always makes me check my systems. I was looking at the battery output on my inverter today while the power was out at it was reading 11.9v initially, now 12.5. The only thing on the inverter and drawing a load right now is the fridge. Power has been out for about an hour. We've got two group 24 AGM road hawk (Penn systems) batteries that came with the camper. We never boondock, so they only supply power during transport and outages. We've had a few outages in the life of the batteries, one of which I think totally drained them, which I know is bad news. I'm a little nervous about this and am wondering if I need to replace them, and what best practices would be (carry a spare or a pair, just find whatever is available locally). My biggest worry is getting stuck with them gradually dying and not being able to hitch or unhitch and needing to go run to a battery store, since I know the jacks and slides rely on the batteries for supplemental power to the jacks so it's not all pulling from the converter. Any thoughts are welcome!
For starters, get at least 2 6V Trojan T105's or better. Second set the inverter to shut off when the SOC gets down to 50% that will be your signal to fire up the generator. Or get a pair of Lithium for muuuuuch more power, almost 200AH vs the 100 or so the lead acid gives you. BTW, if the batteries you buy have the word crank or the initials CCA, MCA anywhefre on it then it is NOT a deep cycle battery and is not advised to use with an inverter. Attached are my Victron MP3000 inverter settings. I just now noticed I am not using SOC shutdown so I will have to investigate why I didn't enable that.
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