Possible weak battery, what to buy, 12 volt?

[Spade_Cooley]

I have a post regarding problems with my refrigerator and suspect I might have a power problem instead. This is my second post. I have a Sunset Trail 27 RB with one 12 volt battery. I see no specs in my owners manual. Should I get a marine battery or a deep cycle? The trailer is 9 years old and this could be its third battery.

I have a local Walmart. Don't we all?

[BFL13]

pianotuna wrote:
BFL13,

Converters are a subset of inverter. In RVland where we dwell the meanings are specialized and generally inverter means 12 v dc to 120 v ac.

You have to figure out what the poster knows about stuff before you can figure out what he is talking about. Which is OK.

Seems in RVland you hear "inverter" and it turns out to be his generator. Or maybe his converter. Or maybe his inverter/charger.

[philh]

get a quality convertor charger.

[pianotuna]

BFL13,

Converters are a subset of inverter. In RVland where we dwell the meanings are specialized and generally inverter means 12 v dc to 120 v ac.

[midnightsadie]

p.s. keep your wallet full. theres another problem brewing ,but its all normal for rver,s always something needs done. have fun.

[BFL13]

No such thing as a 60 amp inverter. Must be a converter. That would have been the problem with no 12v even on shore power. Battery would have died from lack of charging from the duff converter you had.

Good news that it is all fixed. 🙂

[Spade_Cooley]

I hired a rv repairman that knew what he was doing. The problem was an inverter that was failing, fan not cooling. I replaced that cheap original with a 60 amp unit and put in a new battery. Everything works and my wallet is considerably lighter. But I'm happy I hired him because my problems are solved. Everything is working great.

[ksg5000]

Have your battery checked (any auto parts/tire dealer) it's free. Been RVing for decades and never had a fridge issue associated with low battery - usually other things like steps etc act up b4 the fridge.

[wa8yxm]

Spade Cooley wrote:
I have a post regarding problems with my refrigerator and suspect I might have a power problem instead. This is my second post. I have a Sunset Trail 27 RB with one 12 volt battery. I see no specs in my owners manual. Should I get a marine battery or a deep cycle? The trailer is 9 years old and this could be its third battery.

I have a local Walmart. Don't we all?

Ok There are basically 3 or 4 types of batteries.
Regular Starting batteries have both Cranking amps and COLD cranking amps. What's the difference? 32 degrees Craning is 32 (and above) and CCA is at Zero (F) in both cases.

If it's not rated for COLD (Zero F) then it is a MARINE battery (Water freezes don't you know)

The above batteries should be kept 80-85 percent full MINIMUM and recharged quickly.

MARINE/deep cycle (note the case as I typed it) is really a MARINE but with lip service to deep cycle.. Change the Minimum SOC to say 75.

DEEP CYCLE (Golf Car batteries are DEEP CYCLE) can go down to 50% SOC and may well recover from an "OH ****! (Black out by poster) level discharge. Now the problem.. GC batteries come in basically 2 flavors GC-2 and GC-12 the 12 is a 12 volt but may not fit on your battery tray / box The GC-2's (takes 2 of 'em in series to make `12 volts) likewise may be a fit issue.

But if you can fit either of those (2 GC-2 or one GC-12) My recommendation is GO FOR IT.

But before you do that.. Get a good digital voltmeter and see how much voltage you got. Even 15 bucks at horrible (er, Harbor) Freight is a decent meter usually Most of them I've had calibrated well .

[Lwiddis]

x2 on twodownzero's comment. How do you recharge?

[time2roll]

Spade Cooley wrote:
I don't run a generator or boondock so the Marine battery should be sufficient.

Yes, I agree. WM or Costco is fine.

Do check your converter is putting about 13.6 volts on the existing battery before you kill the new battery with a charging issue.

[MDKMDK]

Not all batteries have removable cell caps for the hydrometer.
Agree with pianotuna, go with the largest capacity AGM you can fit into your battery tray, and research adding something to help top it up when you're not using it. If that means a new charger, or solar, or both, it might be worth it if you plan on keeping the trailer for a while longer. A portable 60W-100W solar panel and simple charge controller combo might help.

[BFL13]

If you had an hydrometer you would know if the battery is weak or not. No "possibly". Next is what to do about it if it is weak. Does that mean it is shot and cannot be recharged, or is it just down in state of charge? Need a good charger to find that out. Check all that so the next battery has a better chance.

This is for Trojans, but applies to all:

https://www.trojanbattery.com/pdf/TrojanBattery_UsersGuide.pdf

[pianotuna]

Spade Cooley,

I'd suggest using a modest solar charging system between and during trips. Since you don't boondock any 12 volt battery may meet your needs. In your shoes I'd go to AGM chemistry as then you eliminate almost all maintenance tasks.

[Spade_Cooley]

I don't run a generator or boondock so the Marine battery should be sufficient.