finding the best battery setup

JACK33 · 04-01-2006, 02:04 PM

Anyone out there have any suggestions on the best replacement setup for new batterys.I have an 03 33-v adventurer I have herd that 6 volt golfcart batterys have the most storage but how many are needed 2or4? there is only room for three.Also I just saw a red top optima battery at sears with 900 cold cranking amps. The info said it was a combo rv and starting battery. I think three of those will fit in my compartment.I am planning a cross country trip soon and I may be dry camping some on the way and I just want to make sure I have enough juice for overnite stops without hookups or solar thanks for any advice Jack. ps. is thier any difference in how the golf cart batterys are hooked up.

JACK33 · 04-01-2006, 02:04 PM

Anyone out there have any suggestions on the best replacement setup for new batterys.I have an 03 33-v adventurer I have herd that 6 volt golfcart batterys have the most storage but how many are needed 2or4? there is only room for three.Also I just saw a red top optima battery at sears with 900 cold cranking amps. The info said it was a combo rv and starting battery. I think three of those will fit in my compartment.I am planning a cross country trip soon and I may be dry camping some on the way and I just want to make sure I have enough juice for overnite stops without hookups or solar thanks for any advice Jack. ps. is thier any difference in how the golf cart batterys are hooked up.

rebelsbeach · 04-01-2006, 02:14 PM

Welcome to the forum Jack!!

Someone will be along that is familiar with your rig with an answer....

Thanks for stopping by!!

Ed Gardiser · 04-01-2006, 02:41 PM

Jack33
If you go to the Winnebago Yahoo groups (if your not already a member you will need to join.After that go to pictures and you will find where a owner of a Journey replaced the 3- 12volt with 4 -6volt batteries which have more capacity.
Ed Gardiser
Escondido,Ca.
04 Vectra
87 Nissan PickUp
FMCA

W8RLM · 04-01-2006, 03:28 PM

Jack33,

I have an 03 Brave with the original batteries in it. First, since there is only room for 3 batteries in the coach, you could put 2-6 volt batteries in series for the coach, but you will need to leave the 12 volt chassis battery for the engine.

If you go with the 2-6 volt batteries, you need to check the amp-hour rating of the two batteries and see if they equal or exceed the combined ratings of the two existing 12 volt batteries. If they are near or equal to the existing batteries, I don't think that you will gain much of anything. The other issue is that the 2-6 volt batteries may be significantly larger than the existing 12 volt batteries and may not fit or may be too heavy for the battery shelf without reinforcing.

We took our coach to Alaska last year and had to dry camp overnight at some of the campgrounds. We didn't have any trouble with the two batteries that were in the coach. We also take our coach to an afternoon and evening dry camping where we run the TV most of the time. Again, there wasn't any problems. I admit that we did not have to run the furnace, so we didn't have that drain on the batteries.

I'd make sure that you get new batteries that haven't been in storage for a long time. Once installed, make sure that you keep the terminals clean and that the water is filled in both batteries. If you store the motorhome n the winter without a trickle charger, disconnect the batteries. There are parasitic loads on the batteries like the CO detector that could eventually drain them. There is enough advice on this forum to help you with that issue.

Hope this helps.

Welcome to the forum.

W8RLM - Bob

JACK33 · 04-01-2006, 04:40 PM

Thanks for the tip bob I think I might go with three new optima batteries dry cell all three 900 cranking amp that should be plenty thanks again Jack

ppeter313 · 04-02-2006, 04:23 AM

Unless the battery compartment dimensions were changed between 02 and 03, 4 six volt batteries and the engine battery will fit in that tray. There was a very good thread a few years ago showing how to arrange the batteries and cables.

Paul

JRP · 04-02-2006, 07:03 AM

Jack,

your comment about 900 CCA is great for a starting battery, but means nothing for your house batteries. For the house batteries youre more concerned with amp-hours and deep cycling abilities. the needs of starting vs deep cycle batteries are completely different, one is for a short burst of energy, the other is for long sustained energy and ability to discharge and recharge repeatedly. they require different battery manufacturing properties as well.
as for Optima, their red top is primarily a starting type bat; they do make a blue & yellow top which are more dual purpose, see their information at Optima
as to your hooking up question, if you use 6 volt deep cycle, each pair get hooked up in "series" (+ to -; - to +) in order to give you the 12 vdc needed. whereas 12 v bats gets hooked up in parrallel (+ to +; - to -) which increases the capacity.
hope that helps

Jim

journeylad · 04-02-2006, 08:08 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Ed Gardiser:
Jack33
If you go to the Winnebago Yahoo groups (if your not already a member you will need to join.After that go to pictures and you will find where a owner of a Journey replaced the 3- 12volt with 4 -6volt batteries which have more capacity.
Ed Gardiser
Escondido,Ca.
04 Vectra
87 Nissan PickUp
FMCA

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It looked like a good idea to join this group, so I tried. But for some reason, my computer won't display the garbled word properly at the bottom, so I can't get past that. I know this isn't the right forum for this, but does anybody have any ideas of what's wrong? Do I need something else to be able to display this?

Ed Gardiser · 04-02-2006, 10:54 AM

Jack33
I have now uploaded the battery pictures to the IRV2 Photo section.
Ed Gardiser
Escondido,Ca.
04 Vectra
87 Nissan PickUp
FMCA

rebelsbeach · 04-02-2006, 10:56 AM

HERE ARE ED'S PICTURES

dawg · 04-02-2006, 11:59 AM

Jack33
I just added a photo of 4 T105 batteries plus the engine starting battery. I saved this photo for this website some time ago. I believe it is from Cruzer's Adventurer. The photo is in the upgrade section with a keyword of dawg. Hope this helps.

kenbt · 04-03-2006, 07:39 AM

I have a 2005 Vectra that I exhanged the 3 Interstate batteries with 4 T105 Trojan golf cart batteries. They fit on the tray end to end and the cables from the three batteries worked in hooking up the 4 without needing anything extra except a newly made hold down strap for the batteries. I posted pictures earlier on the site and they should be under kenbt pictures

scubadilo · 04-03-2006, 08:32 AM

Jack,

Welcome to the site. There is a lot of good information to be gained from the people that come here.
I have a 2004 Brave which should have the same basic battery configuration as your Adventurer. I made a frame and moved the engine battery under the coach and mounted it to the inside of the frame rail and resting on the bar that makes up the driveshaft safety bar. I was then able to get four 6 volt batteries in the box under the steps. It is a tight fit and I had to make some minor changes to be able to add bolts to hold the batteries down. Since I added the four 6 volt batteries I can run all day with basic 12v stuff and watch tv for several hrs at night and still make it throught the night running the heater without having to start the generator for a recharge.

JACK33 · 04-05-2006, 04:53 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by rebelsbeach:
HERE ARE ED'S PICTURES

</div></BLOCKQUOTE>