Need Battery Help

Webad · 01-21-2022, 03:06 PM

We have a 2019 View whose house batteries are not holding a charge. We bought it used 6 months ago from a dealer who took it in on a trade from the original owner. Being new to RV ownership I have no clue how to replace them. The number on the top is NAPA 24DCM My husband is not the handiest of guys so I need some advice/direction on what to buy to replace them and how/where I would get them installed. Thanks!

DavidM · 01-21-2022, 03:48 PM

Thos NAPA batteries are sealed, lead acid Group 24 dual purpose batteries with an amp hour capacity of about 75 amp hours. You can go to your local NAPA auto parts store and buy them.

Take a picture of the cable connections before you remove them and replace the existing with the new and connect the cables per your picture. Couldn't be simpler.

David

Morich · 01-21-2022, 04:42 PM

Being new to something is not a bad thing as we were all there at one point but it also may mean we need a bit more training to avoid any big mistakes!

So before changing out batteries which are not terribly old, so you have some ideas of why they may have gone bad earlier than necessary? One of the first big things to know about Rv is that the batteries tend to perform lots different than in our cars and that makes them prone to being ruined if we don't keep those differences in mind.
In other words, we can put new batteries in today and find them bad again in6months or less if we don't treat them diffferent than our cars!

I hate to see newish folks start out and find that out down the road, so I like to throw in some things to avoid as it can save some of those dollars!

One of the big things that quickly ruin batteries is letting them run down too far and stay down for too long. Different type batteries act different on those points but you have lead/acid batteries, so lets do a quick study on saving them?

In the Rv coach batteries we use them as we camp but then they have several ways we may get them recharged and that is critical for them lasting better.
When the RV is plugged in, there is a "converter" which uses the AC power to make DC for the batteries.
Both the coach batteries and the start battery will have small things which drain them --even when we turn the battery disconnect off!! There are things like theradio presets and ignition on the start and safety equipment like steps, CO and propane alarms on the coach. When we store the Rv, we need to be aware that these drains WILL run both sets of batteries down and if we don't do something and they stay down too long they will be damaged or ruined! I'm guessing more than half the Rv coming off dealer lots have damaged battteries as nobody keeps them charged until they sell them! They put a quick charge on them and it lasts long enough for us to get off the lot!
Sound familiar?

Before buying new batteries, do some study on how to keep both sets of batteries from running way down as you don't want to do the battery thing every year!
But that is a full time deep subject and not for this question. Just be aware?

For shopping, I might tend to drive the RV to an auto parts, Wal-mart, etc. and ask about them doing the change! No need to do the heavy lifting if they do it free!
But that gets into how handy to do it and lots of personal choice.

Best of luck to you and enjoy the trip/trek?

TravatoJohn · 01-21-2022, 07:09 PM

If it were me I would stay away from Napa Batteries. There are plenty of better ones on the market and with additional power. Creative has good points to follow. Your charging system and habits are very important. Good luck, Travato John

Webad · 01-21-2022, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidM

Thos NAPA batteries are sealed, lead acid Group 24 dual purpose batteries with an amp hour capacity of about 75 amp hours. You can go to your local NAPA auto parts store and buy them.

Take a picture of the cable connections before you remove them and replace the existing with the new and connect the cables per your picture. Couldn't be simpler.

David

Thanks so much for the response. We want to do more boondocking. Will this type of battery work for us?

Marine359 · 01-22-2022, 06:35 AM

That depends on what you mean by boondocking.
Does boondocking to you mean how many days you can dry camp without running the generator? Or does it mean occasional use of the generator? Maybe every other day? A WBGO View has smallish grey water tank, so, in a way, the number of consecutive days you can boondock will be limited. By how fast you fill up your gray tank.

Once you figure that out, you should figure out how many amp hours of power you normally consume in one day of boondocking. A big factor in this is what kind of refrigerator you have. Absorption or compressor. Then it becomes a matter of matching your battery, and it’s chemistry type to your daily power needs.

One way for you to get more daily amp hours without changing your battery mounting or charging system probably would be purchasing two group 24 100amp hour AGM (absorptive glass mat) batteries. They are maintenance free and Can be had for about $200 each. A more expensive route would be to go with two 100 amphr group 24 LiFePo4 batteries. They can be had for as little as $400 each, but you may have to spend more money to upgrade your charging system. LiFePo4 chemistry will deliver the full amphr rating of the battery before recharging. When it’s charge reaches zero the internal battery management system simply shuts the battery down. With AGM, you have to be concerned with how deeply you discharge them. Fully discharging any lead acid battery will shorten the battery life. For longest lead acid battery life, you should try to avoid discharging them below 50%, although you can safely discharge to 20%. Therefore, the usable amphrs of a lead acid battery will be less than a LiFePo4 battery of the same rated amperage.

DavidM · 01-22-2022, 07:10 AM

The OP should first analyze his type and duration of camping before attempting to upgrade his batteries.

If he mostly camps in full hookup RV parks, then he doesn't need much battery capacity. The shore power will take care of it. Even if he dry camps in state, USFS, NP, etc campgrounds for only two days at a time, he probably doesn't need to upgrade. My average daily consumption (with an absorption fridge) is less than 30 amp hours. I could easily get by for two days with two 75 amp hour G24 batteries.

But if he has a compressor fridge, then he probably needs more batteries. I suspect two 75 amp hour batteries will only last for one night with the extra load of a compressor fridge. In that case and again if dry camping for 2+ nights at a time, then he needs to consider more batteries or solar if he doesn't want to run the generator every day.

David

tderonne · 01-22-2022, 07:18 AM

Looks like your View has the batteries under the step. (Not all of them have them there over the years.) Looking at the wiring diagrams, looks like there isn't too much room around them. Which is to say, doesn't matter what you have now, consider going as big as you can in the space you have.

Winnebago put an example of bigger batteries in a 2016 View at their website: Upgrading RV Battery Capacity

Morich · 01-22-2022, 07:56 AM

To keep from getting too deep for the human mind, maybe some basics?
The 24 battery is the physical size, so that any 24 group battery is likely to fit, but if you are wanting to stretch the battery supply as far as possible, there "may" be a bit of space around the current batteries and you "might" find some a touch larger and that slightly larger amount of lead and acid may give slightly more amp hours of use.

Amp hours is the important rating when looking for the longest runtime as it is how many amps that battery is rated to put out for what amount of time. Maybe compared to gallons of water? Using 30 amps a day and two 60 amp batteries says you can go 4 days but that runs them totally flat and they die early. So really at that rate, they should only go 1/2 that to avoid damage, so the rating is a way to compare one battery against another but not much help to really figure what will last how long as that varies each time we go out. Small points like cold batteries don't last as long as warm change the numbers, so I've never worked the figures too hard on RV. But the main idea is that more amp hours rated will last longer before reaching their recommended low points. We buy our batteries at Wal-Mart for best combo of price and amp hours. There are tons of brands but very few actual battery factories so many are the same with different labels!

But the choice of different type batteries gets into lots of chemistry and things we are hard pressed to figure, even when we have been RV'ing forever! Our RV trips vary too much to say what we use on any given trip as the weather is a big factor as well as where and when we go.

But the amount of time spent checking and watching the batteries makes the absorbed glass mat battery worth a bit more for us. Nice not to have the worry of watching the water all the time!

I do not advise changing to any of the newer, much more expensive batteries unitil you know for sure you want to go that way and for many reasons. One is it is a very deep subject and it often requires a really complex, difficult number of changes to be made to the RV. Almost a total rewire in some cases. Like buying an Rv but more difficult decsions if that tells you anything? Not as overall expensive but lots of big money decsions! We put that off until we see a real driving need and we never reached that point.

SeeTheUSA · 01-22-2022, 07:56 AM

After some research and planning, I was able to modify the battery box on our 2018 View to accept two Trojan T1275 deep cycle golf cart batteries. They are physically a bit larger than a Group 31 battery, but have great capacity … 150 amp hours each. A typical Group 31 deep cycle battery has 105 amp hours.

Alphadog · 01-22-2022, 10:00 AM

Is there any warranty left on those batteries? Maybe take them out and get a deep charge on them. If that fails just buy two new ones. Seems a bit premature for 2 year old batteries.

Morich · 01-22-2022, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alphadog

Is there any warranty left on those batteries? Maybe take them out and get a deep charge on them. If that fails just buy two new ones. Seems a bit premature for 2 year old batteries.

Yes, this is a definite early failure but thinking of what we are told, if the first owner was not too aware and trading it because the batteries would not hold a good charge very well, then it set on a dealers lots for even a month and fully run the batteries down to stay for a few weeks, early failure is often what we get!
Have you other folks had the experience where the dealer wants to know when you are coming to pick the Rv up? Part of that is they want to jump start the thing, so you don't find the batteries are bad!

lenore · 01-23-2022, 07:40 AM

Highly recommend AGM batterie, one of the neglected things is checking water on the batteries. Our rig (VITA) had group 31 batteries under the steps. Most folks thought they were maintenance free because Napa put a solid label over the top of the cells. With solar and normal use these batteries definetly used water. By the Way saw a test of Batteries and the Napa were not great. Believe it or not the Walmart brand performed quite well. I would only replace with AGM. They are maintenance free.

unclescratch · 01-23-2022, 09:19 AM

I also modified (cutting and welding) a battery box in an older 5th wheel to accommodate two 6-volt golf car batteries. IMHO a good way to go ! Otherwise, AGM for sure.

BobC · 01-23-2022, 10:32 AM

Whatever you buy, especially if you plan on camping often without shore power, make sure they're true deep cycle batteries and not dual purpose "deep cycle/starting" batteries, aka RV/Marine batteries. Not all AGM batteries are true deep cycle. The giveaway is if CCA or "Cold Starting Amps" is in the specs. For example, this Sam's Club battery is a dual purpose AGM, not a deep cycle AGM. Despite its name, it shows 800 CCA in its specs:

https://www.samsclub.com/p/duracell-...=plp_product_6

On the other hand, this Renogy AGM is a true deep cycle battery (no CCA in its specs):

https://www.renogy.com/deep-cycle-ag...12-volt-100ah/

I realize these batteries aren't group 24, I've just posted them as examples. There are many RV owners who are happy with the dual purpose batteries and the AGM versions are preferable to both the conventional flooded lead acid or sealed "maintenance free" lead acid versions.

I purchased these deep cycle AGMs for my van:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They're available in different sizes. Here's a 75Ah version:

https://smile.amazon.com/Mighty-Max-...s%2C127&sr=1-3

Webad · 01-24-2022, 10:51 AM

Thanks to everyone for your input. You’ve given me a lot to consider. Now I just need to gather the courage to change them out myself��

BobC · 01-24-2022, 11:36 AM

I don't know if it's been mentioned but take a lot of before photos and label all cables and wires as to where they go.

coachmanjay · 01-26-2022, 04:23 PM

If you are planning on dry camping, I would stay away from 6 volt batteries unless you have room for 4. They operate in pairs and if one goes down you have no power

Gadams910 · 01-26-2022, 05:26 PM

We have 2019 Winnebago Outlook brand new after 6 months with dealer. NAPA batteries dead and battery box rusted. We bought new AGM Interstate batteries at Costco and fit perfectly. Husband treated battery box with solvent to remove box and painted battery box. Box is under steps and has a vent hole, so being underside and close to road and weather we did not want it to rust through. The NAPA batteries were corroded and were NOT maintenance free as they did require water.

BobC · 01-26-2022, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coachmanjay

If you are planning on dry camping, I would stay away from 6 volt batteries unless you have room for 4. They operate in pairs and if one goes down you have no power

This isn't a big risk in my opinion. I've had 6v batteries for more than twenty years, first in boats, then two TTs and now a MH. I've never had one (or both) fail. I've replaced pairs due to age and decreasing function but never a failure.