Deep Cycle or Starting Batt

[6speed]

To make a long story short, probably going to have to replace the battery in my RV. 46ft Contetental Cargo race car trailer. Its a single 12 volt that is always on shore power, on the truck system or with the generator running. So its always being charged. I have a 10K Onan 3 Cyl Diesel. Not sure which battery to get. I don't rely on it other than to start the generator. It has 2500lb electric winch for the rear door, and the other normal 12 volt lights, fan for the heater, radio's. Not sure what else to tell. The battery (Interstate Deep Cycle). now is about 3-4 years old and it got run down to about 1 volt recently but did recharge and hold it. What ya think?

 

[SnoKing]

When the generator is running, how does it change this battery? Running the battery dead will do damage to it for sure, but will not kill it completely the first couple times. The best would be to have a battery that starts the gen set and one for the lights and wrench, however this may complicate the changing setup. SNOKING

 

[NIsaacs]

My dump trailer had a deep cycle Interstate battery rated 550cca, at 3 years it died. I replaced it with a 850cca regular battery and it works better than it ever did. The hydraulic pump takes a lot of power.

Nick

 

[BigPapa]

If the battery will be continually discharged and recharged you will need a deep cycle battery. If it will RARELY get discharged and is continually being charged, a standard starter battery will be fine.

 

[Bob4x4]

With a cheap old school convertor any battery will have a much shorter life

 

[6speed]

Well the battery is always being charged thru the convertor if its on shore power or the generator, and from the truck if connected there. I don't rely on it for anything but starting. There might those rare instances that it may sit for several hours with nothing on like when I'm in area with no power and running the generator didn't benefit other than to keep the battery up, but with nothing on the battery should not be in question as long as the battery is/was up to standard. I only had to run an external charger when the convertor went south on me while on a trip.

 

[BigPapa]

So, basically it's being charged more than the batteries in your truck. A starter battery will be fine. No deep cycle needed.

 

[6speed]

Well its being charged by the truck alt obviously. Saturday when I was messing around with it, it was seeing about 12.8-13.0 volts where the truck was seeing 14.5-6 when it was running. I have not had the battery tested yet, but I will do that tomorrow. Hopefully the alt/battery place can do it without trailer.

 

[Road Dog]

Your truck alternator won't fully charge your trailer battery because there's a voltage drop through the connectors and long wire run.

Deep cycle batteries are usually serviceable -- you can check and fill the water in each cell. It depends on the charger in the trailer. If it's an old school constant voltage charger then it may overcharge and slowly boil off the water. If it's a modern "smart" charger then it'll measure the current (charge rate) and adjust the voltage accordingly.

To test the battery you need a load tester which measures the voltage under a load of 50 or 100 amps.

 

[6speed]

An update to my issue. Had the battery checked. Checked good. Changed out the terminals with some "MIL SPEC" ends that clamp and on the opposite end has a 3/8th bolt for attached the cables. Used star washers to help in the connections. Noticed right away that things were working better and charging both from the truck and on shore power. Evidently the terminals I was using were in sad shape and I didn't see it. I am very annul about clean and tight battery connection. Had small fire one time in another vehicle, I had to scramble to find a wrench to get the cable off so I could put the fire out. Along with some convertor issues, hopefully all is well now. Now to fix the wheel bearings that went out about month ago.

 

[Loren]

6speed,

I don't want to change the subject of this thread but I see that you intend to change wheel bearings.

I haven't had good luck with the replacement bearings I've bought from trailer outfits. I encourage you to take your bearings to a bearing shop (so they can match them) and buy high quality bearings. You'll be safer and have fewer problems. I switch mine to Timken whenever I need to replace a bearing.

Good luck,
-- Loren

 

[6speed]

Loren I always use Timken bearings. I have oil bath drums that I always check before any trip. Got lazy and hadn't been checking. Think a seal gave up and that was what caused the bearing to fail. I am in the process of checking all brakes and bearings as I do this annually anyway. I did find a leaking seal, one assembly that was not working, and then a set of shoes that had just got into the drum. It was saved, but no next time. I am installing the self adjusting units, and I have heard nothing but praise about them. I also keep a complete bearing/hub set for the emergencies. But I want to have the correct tools to repair it on the road. I have air, so I will have cutoff wheels, chisels, seals, bearings, repair parts for the brake assemblies, which are the used parts from the I salvage from this repair.