Golf Cart batteries

[Indyradar]

Hi folks.

Have a Journey 39F with 2 12V house batteries. EVERYONE is saying to replace them with golf cart batteries for longer dry camping. I found a great site that tells me how to do this http://www.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volt.htm

My problem is (and I may be an Idiot) do I replace the 2 12V batteries with 2 6V golf cart batteries, or 4? If its 2, how dose that work? If 4 how do I fit them. Whats a part number and a place to order? Thanks.

 

[Loren-WO]

Your two 12 volt batteries are hooked up in parallel. Replace with two six volt 'golf cart' batteries hooked up in series. Nemeth's web site you quoted will explain this quite well.
We only have the two six volt batteries and do quite a bit of boondocking, but we do not use a lot of power at night, don't watch TV, have changed most of the lights to LED's and flourescents, and have solar panels to recharge in daylight. If you use a lot more 12 volt power than that you MAY want to add another 2 batteries for a total of four.
Loren

 

[Indyradar]

OK, thanks. I know this is a loaded question but how long SHOULD the house batteries last. If we watch TV we only get around 30 mins out of them. We dont do alot of boondocking but I would like to run a vaccuum at home and not have to start the Jenny.

 

[Loren-WO]

I would expect to get at least two hours of TV out of our 10 year old [2x6 volt] batteries. Running a vacuum cleaner will need a fairly large inverter, depending on the size of the vacuum, and that will eat up your batteries pretty fast. We just run the generator if we need to vacuum.
Loren

 

[lthrnk]

Are you sure about the battery count? Our last coach was a Meridian, same basic coach as the Journey and we had 3 12 volt house and 2 12 volt chassis batteries. At one point I was going to take out the 3 house 12 volt and replace with 4 Trojan T-105 6 volt golf cart batteries. Just seems strange to only have 2 house batteries on that coach.

 

[Robert Rice]

It does seem strange, but I did it on my 02 Journey and it is better than the three 12v batteries, plus it has the added advantage of being discharged further without ruining the batteries. I bought 2 6v batteries from Sams for around $80. each

 

[hamguy]

Hi folks.

Have a Journey 39F with 2 12V house batteries. EVERYONE is saying to replace them with golf cart batteries for longer dry camping. I found a great site that tells me how to do this http://www.ccis.com/home/mnemeth/12volt/12volt.htm

My problem is (and I may be an Idiot) do I replace the 2 12V batteries with 2 6V golf cart batteries, or 4? If its 2, how dose that work? If 4 how do I fit them. Whats a part number and a place to order? Thanks.

Re-read the Nemeth website. He explains in great detail the technical aspects of 2-6V vs 2-12V hookups, both physical and electrical characteristics.

 

[John-D]

There are two basic advantages to the Golf Car type batteries

1: Due to the sheer quanity of them made every year they are less expensive than other types This is because they re-tool less often, when you start a run of 6v Deep cycle golf car batteries it may well run all year. Other types they may run a week and then re-tool for a different battery.

2: The Six Volt golf car battery is a DEEP CYCLE battery, Thus it can take a bit more electrical abuse, the service it is designed for is very much like RV service. Other types of batteries (Marine/Deep Cycle and Starting) are not nearly as forgiving if you don't re-charge them in time.

This means you get the most bang for your buck with this type of battery.

However:

On some coaches monitoring the fluid level in the batteries and adding distilled water is a real pain in the ... body parts (Assorted body parts) as they make it as hard to do as possible (There is a song called, as I recall: The Designer, that tells of this,, "Success at last, I've designed a part that can't even be cast" The author of the song is a genuine rocket scientist, the kind that design space ships, yes he is a designer)

Well, IN that case a maintenance free type of battery may do you more good. and for that Lifeline AGM is the best, with M K or Deka coming in 2nd.

Avoid optima, 75% battery 150% price