Camper batteries

[Victor8908]

I'm in the market for a new battery on my camper. I'm on the fence. Thinking about an AGM or two half cart batteries. The half cart batteries are 6 volt. You have to hook them up in series for 12 volt. About 240.00 for both. The AGM battery is about 180.00. We only camp state parks with no power. I do have a 3500 watt generator but I want to get good lasting batteries. Any feed back on this would be helpfully. Thanks

[MacGyver]

Re: Camper batteries

I'm big on carrying batteries out to keep all my gadgets running. I do like the idea of the massive reserve you can get from the 6 volt cart batteries but have always stayed away from them in favor of the leak proof AGMs/SLAs. To me, there's just too much maintenance involved with wet cell batteries. I run several sizes of Powersonic SLAs from their PDC series because their plates are designed (somehow) differently so that they last longer than even maintenance free deep cycles like Eveready, Diehard and Interstate. That's been my experience with them, anyway. They seem to be more forgiving if I forget to charge them every month. I have some PDCs that are almost 10 years old and they still put out the juice I need. Having said all that, I see Powersonic also has a PHR series that I might have a go with, just to see how they stack up to the PDCs.
https://www.power-sonic.com/batteries/sealed-lead-acid/

[toedtoes]

Re: Camper batteries

I have an Optima blue top group 31 battery in my clipper. I love it. No maintenance; lots of power; and no maintenance.

I run my water pump the entire time I'm out camping, use an occasional led or flourescent light (maybe 1-2 hours per day) and charge my cell and fire daily. After 10 days I still have plenty of electrical.

I considered golf cart batteries, but I'd lose outside storage to add the second battery. I figured if I need more power, I'd get two AGM and run them in parallel.

[Happy Joe]

Re: Camper batteries

I let my electrical load determine my battery size...
The 6 volt golf cart batteries will work for very large loads, as well as for smaller loads; transporting and connecting them might be a bit to much hassle. I have no fear of adding distilled water to batteries (grew up servicing cars/doing this well before service free batteries)...
The AGM batteries can sometimes be somewhat sensitive to charge rate and can be damaged by excessive rates,

If you can live with an approximately 100amp hour sized battery the sealed lead acid AGM batteries can work very well.
I use a small 35 amp hour sealed AGM batter and a very small (~80 watt) inverter; works well for tent lighting and a few tunes. It is too small to run a 12 volt refrigerator much more than overnight.
Bought a very small and quiet propane genny to handle potential recharging duties... haven't needed/used it camping yet.

Got away from fluorescent lighting and went to the same 110 volt LED soft white Edison based (screw in)bulbs that I use at home years (maybe a decade/+ ago) I would not really consider switching back (LED lighting is that much better, IMO).

Enjoy!