My battery discharges very fast, only takes 2 days and it's dead. I want to replace the battery but am not sure which is the best battery. Also, what is the best way to charge an RV battery. I have a 2011 Cougar 5th wheel.
I would take it to an auto parts store and have it load tested.
I don't think there are but 4-5 battery manufactures in the U.S. I usually try to get something that I can get warrantied if I'm on the road. That's usually WalMart.
Unless you go to a Optima or other high dollar battery.
Plug the trailer in to 120volts for 4-5 hours every 2-3 weeks to charge it.
My battery discharges very fast, only takes 2 days and it's dead. I want to replace the battery but am not sure which is the best battery. Also, what is the best way to charge an RV battery. I have a 2011 Cougar 5th wheel.
Are you saying that after 2 days of "dry camping" the battery is dead? or are you saying that after 2 days of "sitting in the yard unused" the battery is dead?
There's a significant difference. I don't know of any 12 volt deep cycle battery that will operate the slide/front landing gear during setup, run the refrigerator, lights, water pump and fans for a couple of days and not be dead (or very near it). So, depending on what you're asking, it may be "pretty much normal" or it could be, "go get your battery tested and be prepared to buy a new one."
It's so been said, but two 6volt batteries, will do you much better.
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2015 Four Winds Super C, Class C Motorhome
4 - 100w mono solar panels with MPPT40 to charge four 6v batteries with 440amp hours.
Progressive Industries HW50c surge protector
1800 / 3600 inverter with auto transfer switch,
The bosses: My wife and two Labradoddles 80 lbs each
At the very least, replace that Grp 24 size battery with a Grp 27 size. I got one from Costco 14 months ago and with LED lighting, was good for 3 days of dry camping and then bringing in slides and landing gear, etc.
I did just upgrade to dual 6v golf cart batteries though.
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2015 Ford F-350 XLT Ruby Red 6.7L Powerstroke, 4x4, Short Bed, Andersen Ultimate Hitch
Cougar High Country 299RKS, Mor/Ryde pin box, 200w solar
I found that the radio was a huge draw, do to the clock system it would continuously draw battery power, whether hooked up to shore power or not. So I put a toggle switch in the system that I can shut the power off to the unit and still be able to have the batteries hooked up.
Having said that it appears that my convertor is going batty as the two brand new batteries I put in a couple of months ago will only last maybe a night while camping, even when hooked up to shore power.......dealer said check the convertor, they said that there should be a fuse between the convertor and the batteries, however they have no idea where the convertor is! Me I believe it is behind the wall in the basement......have made an appt to have the system checked out, however in the meantime we are headed out for a weekend of dry camping in a few weeks, with the genny I might add.......
Well we went camping for what will most likely be our last trip this past weekend and the converter issue is getting stranger and stranger, I had a look for this fuse between the battery and the converter but to no avail I couldn't find the darn thing.
We had our genny with us, and while running the genny we tried to run the furnace, however the A/C and the furnace came on at the same time! Which is akin to peeing into the wind! Useless!
Also the fireplace would not run at 1500 w, there was heat from it but not a blast of heat!
Also the power was flickering on Sunday while running the genny.
It is due to go in next week. Hopefully it is just the converter that is screwed up?
If it is your converter, have it replaced with one of the good 4 stage ones like Progressive Dynamics or IOTA and not with another WFCO.
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2015 Ford F-350 XLT Ruby Red 6.7L Powerstroke, 4x4, Short Bed, Andersen Ultimate Hitch
Cougar High Country 299RKS, Mor/Ryde pin box, 200w solar
Well we went camping for what will most likely be our last trip this past weekend and the converter issue is getting stranger and stranger, I had a look for this fuse between the battery and the converter but to no avail I couldn't find the darn thing.
We had our genny with us, and while running the genny we tried to run the furnace, however the A/C and the furnace came on at the same time! Which is akin to peeing into the wind! Useless!
Also the fireplace would not run at 1500 w, there was heat from it but not a blast of heat!
Also the power was flickering on Sunday while running the genny.
It is due to go in next week. Hopefully it is just the converter that is screwed up?
It sounds like you're facing multiple electrical problems. First of all, the battery/converter are a 12 VDC issue. There probably isn't a "fuse" between the two, but rather one or two 12 volt circuit breakers. They look like the one pictured here and usually have a red plastic cover over the two terminals. Usually they are mounted on the bulkhead right behind the battery box. Follow the positive battery lead (black) from the battery. It should go directly to these circuit breakers.
The A/C and furnace are both controlled by the wall thermostat. The thermostat must be set to AUTO for the furnace to operate independently. If the thermostat fan switch is set to LOW or HIGH, both the A/C and the furnace will operate when the thermostat calls for furnace function.
What causes you to think the fireplace "would not run at 1500 watts" ? If it runs at all, it should run through the entire heat range. If it opens a circuit breaker, you're pulling too much amperage (possibly from another appliance on the same circuit). If it just doesn't seem to put out "a blast of hot air" realize that it's really nothing more than a "moving picture" of a fire and a portable electric heater mounted in the same box. It won't put out more than about 4500 btu's of heat. That's not really "a blast of hot air" but rather a "stream of warm air".
If, when you say, "the power was flickering when running the generator" and you mean "ALL" the power in the RV, it's either a generator problem or an input shore power problem. If, however, you mean the "12 volt" system was "flickering" it's possibly a loose connection on the power input to the converter. It is possible that the converter is bad, but don't make that determination unless you've thoroughly checked it out.
I wouldn't change the converter (assuming it's bad) until it has been properly evaluated. WFCO does have a "reputation" of failures, but they have a 2 year warranty and a large percentage of WFCO products have been trouble-free for a number of years past that 2 year mark.
It would be nice if battery sellers all used the same basic lingo in describing their batteries. Most commercial deep cycle batteries specify the battery capacity in amp-hours i.e. how many amps will the battery deliver for how long. Typical car battery seems to be 50+ amp hours, marine deep cycle group 27 may be 100 amp hours. 6v golf cart batteries typically 200 amp hours. If you are running a 100 watt light bulb on a 110 volt system you are drawing about .9amps. Run that same 100watt load via a 12v-110 volt inverter and you are still drawing .9amps on the 110 volt side but you are drawing closer to 10 amps on the 12v side. that will completely flatten a deep cycle marine battery in 10 hours. Since you never want to completely discharge the battery cos it shortens battery life you only want to go down to 50% discharge ( average life span 2-3000 cycles at this discharge level depending on specific battery) That means you 100amp hour battery only gives you 50 amp hours effectively - 100 watt light bulb for 5 hours. You need to check what kind of use your trailer is making of the battery power. Good multimeter will usually allow you to measure 10 amp load tops but for measuring "resting" power use that should be enough. See how many amps you are drawing and then work out how long that is going to take to drop the battery by 50%.
I plan on boondocking a lot in the next few years so I got 2 550amp hour Surrette-rolls 6v batteries so I can survive a week without needing to recharge.
John I haven't built that quiet box yet! But I did price the foam sheathing. About $10. I need to get on that project.
5th is still held hostage in the shop for the Dometic fridge.
So do they give you any idea when it will be finished? By this time with my Springdale's reefer problems, CW contacted Dometic and told them they needed to overnight a replacement cooling unit. I was up and running in 72 hours. If they can't fix it and the dealership can't fix it either, I'd push for a "get me a new one" No need to be out of commission for weeks for something they need to replace if they can't repair.... Is it time to push the issue ???
Long story short: it went back to the selling dealer twice. Still throwing E3 code and shutting down. Decided to try a small family owned RV repair shop that I used 30 years ago. They thought they had it fixed last week. Then it died again. They have talked to Dometic and the first thing they said: "is it in a Keystone Montana"? Dometic thinks the refrigerant chemicals may be crystallized.? Last I heard Friday was they may have to replace the refrigeration unit. I tried to back off a bit, I lost my temper with them last week.
It's been quite the experience! The mega dealership that doesn't know "who's on first" or the small shop where everyone is kin and obviously bulletproof!
Yeah we cancelled the trip to upper Midwest.
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Battery problems
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