House Batteries

[jleamont]

Ok, after another post on slides and leveling I read my owners manual and spec sheet last night. Probably should have done that two years ago.....right?

Anyway, our coach came from the factory with the following battery configuration and I was wondering if I should switch it back to the way it came if I would have any benefit from it. As I am replacing my house and chassis batteries in the spring since the house batteries are dated 2009 and they are rough. keep in mind we do not boondock unless its for a night while in route somewhere and the generator is usually on for A/C as its always hot where we travel.

Factory set up;

4, 8D 6v house batteries and 1, 8D 12v chassis battery

Current set up;

4, 6v golf cart batteries and 2, 12v group 31 chassis batteries.

This is my the area where I do not have a lot of experience and could use some advice.

Thank you

[kaypsmith]

Joe, if I had my rathers, I would stay with your current setup except move to AGM's if at all possible. Happy new year, Kay.

[wolfe10]

52 minutes ago, jleamont said:

Factory set up;

4, 8D 6v house batteries and 1, 8D 12v chassis battery

 

Joe,

Check the factory set up again, as 8D's are 12 VDC, not 6 VDC.

And from the description of your needs, I agee your current setup is just fine.

[BillAdams]

8D batteries are also very large (the size of 2 standard batteries).  If you had 4 of those and now have 4 golf cart batteries you would have a lot of left over space.  Could you clarify?  I do have 4 - 8D batteries for my house system so that's not an impossible scenario.

[jleamont]

1 hour ago, wolfe10 said:

Joe,

Check the factory set up again, as 8D's are 12 VDC, not 6 VDC.

And from the description of your needs, I agee your current setup is just fine.

Brett, it must be a misprint. "Four 8D 6V deep cycle Coach Batteries" is exactly how its spelled out on the window sticker. Funny thing while my pull out trays are pretty large I don't believe they are big enough to house all of that along with the Chassis batteries which reside above the house batteries on a pull out. Perhaps two for the house, now that seems reasonable or 4 for the chassis and house combined would be possible (due to space) but not a total of 5.

Kay, that is the plan so far, unless someone has a better idea.

Bill, I believe there were 8D's originally based off of the battery hold down design, just not 4. No matter I position and sit the golf cart batteries the hold downs don't fit and they slide around, I cut wood and placed it between them so they stop moving and positioned the straps so they catch a little of each battery. My chassis batteries look lonely up on the top shelf, there is a significant amount of space around them, since there is only two the strap hold downs will catch both batteries.

When I change out the house batteries this spring I am going to redo the hold downs so they secure the batteries better, I was thinking of welding a ratchet strap hook on the back and welding an eyelet on the front to keep them in place. At the moment there are straps with plastic clips that hold them down and they are worn out, most of the clips have disintegrated and they don't land on the center of the golf cart battery, especially since two are sideways. 

No benefit to 2, 12v 8D's over 4, 6v golf cart batteries?

[wolfe10]

3 minutes ago, jleamont said:

No benefit to 2, 12v 8D's over 4, 6v golf cart batteries?

No, both are close to the same capacity.  But, harder to find 8D deep cycle batteries, as most are truck start batteries.

[jleamont]

58 minutes ago, wolfe10 said:

No, both are close to the same capacity.  But, harder to find 8D deep cycle batteries, as most are truck start batteries.

Ok, 4, 6 volt AGM's it is. I can't believe those house batteries are dated 2009 wow .

Thanks Brett!

[dickandlois]

Joe, In your post you mentioned doing some welding - regarding the hold down brackets.

The CAN logic circuits used for system Data do not like power spikes !!! So, make sure you isolate them. The best way would be to remove the battery trays from the coach to weld the clips. They used to mention removing the Data cables from the TCM and ECM when welding on the chassis. Considering the number of modules now used on the system it might be difficult to do that. A call to the chassis builder might be in order, to see if they have a set  protocol for using a welder.

Rich.

[jleamont]

Rich, I am going to remove them from the coach, clean, weld and paint them. They could use a little TLC .

Surprisingly my owners manual has a section on welding, what to unplug and where its located. That was impressive, wasn't expecting to see that.

[hermanmullins]

One thing to note when welding on your coach. always disconnect the Ground Cable from both sets of batteries. It wouldn't hurt to disconnect the Positive Cables also. Then place the Ground Clamp of your welder as close the the area being welded as possible. Do not put the Ground Clamp 10 feet away just because it is the easiest place to connect. 

Herman

[jleamont]

On ‎1‎/‎5‎/‎2017 at 5:17 AM, hermanmullins said:

 

Anyone familiar with this battery?

http://www.fullriverbattery.com/product/batteries/DC250-6

[wildebill308]

I don't have any experience but a quick search showed they were highly rated on one of the sailing/boating forums. 

Bill

[C-798165]

ok need to replace house batteries, 12v, 2 0f them....recommendations for our 2014, 37 ft Fleetwood Bounder?   had purchased a year old, batteries were dry, flooded them, worked for awhile, but dead now.

 

Toni

[BillAdams]

A good set of deep cycle AGM batteries.  You don't say the size but just get a matching size.  Lifeline are the best and most expensive but I have had great success with the Universal Battery brand (Chinese) for about 5 years now.  Check Sam's or Costco, they may have a brand there as well.

[desertdeals69]

On January 9, 2017 at 1:46 PM, jleamont said:

Anyone familiar with this battery?

http://www.fullriverbattery.com/product/batteries/DC250-6

I have been using Fullriver 6 volt AGM's for 2 years and they seem to work fine.  The one thing I notice is that the voltage is a little lower than my previous flooded batteries but the staying power is good.

[manholt]

I got 8 new 6V installed last September, they are NAPA and have no problems with them $289 each.  Also got 2 Interstate 12V for chassis in 2014, no problems...all my batteries are AGM's!

I used fullriver marine in a Blue Water race boat, 43 foot, running 2-1000 hp engines...to get from forward to reverse, you have to turn off engines, go to R and re start. Never had an issue!  They where not cheap, but did the job.

Carl

[wildebill308]

1 hour ago, Tarheel06 said:

ok need to replace house batteries, 12v, 2 0f them....recommendations for our 2014, 37 ft Fleetwood Bounder?   had purchased a year old, batteries were dry, flooded them, worked for awhile, but dead now.

 

Toni

Toni, Congratulations on your Bounder. Do you have enough space to go to 4- 6 volt batteries? I am not familiar with the space available but if there is room I would think about the 4 6 volts to give more capacity. 

Bill