I have a 34' 5th wheel, bought new in 07, came with the Interstate battery SRM-24. It is one that you have to add water to. Well I guess I forgot and 2 cells were dry and now the battery is very weak and I need to replace it.

I want one that's "maintenance free", I don't want to have to remember to check it. Does anyone know of a brand that is RV/Marine that is like this?

I have thought about a regular auto/truck battery, I know it's not for deep cycling, but to be honest the only time my rig is running off the battery is when I'm towing. Now a days everywhere we go there are full hook-ups.

Any ideas or thought?

 

Any Group 24 battery should do it. Your 5'er uses only one on-board battery?

If you're not concerned with long-term dry-camping and you're only camping where full hook-ups are available, I suggest checking out the Interstate battery website to see what's available in a maintenance-free version. Sometimes it's just best to visit a trailer supercenter and talk face-to-face with someone. Have them provide you with options on the different styles that meet your needs.

I do a lot of dry-camping and am considering switching over to two 6-volt batteries, but it sounds like are camping needs are different.

BTW...welcome to site. You'll find lots of helpful, friendly people here.

 

Agree with IDMooseMan, but also remember, it comes down to your converter/charger. If you do not have a 3 stage converter/charger, it will still get your maintanance free battery hot and boil. After 15 years of Class A's and 5th wheels. I have not found any batteries that have yet to be 100% maintanance free. If you need longivity, use 2-6 volt Trojan batteries, such as golf cart batteries. I had the best result in my 98 Bounder V-10 using the Trojan T-105's which I had an inverter also in use. I have always done a lot of boondocking as we are NASCAR fans. I wish that there were "true" maintanance free batteries that could withstand the jarring and jolting of travel. But not that I have found...Hate to be negative, just my years of experience.

 

We have two Optima Blue tops in our trailer that I installed when the trailer was new in 3/03. We do a reasonable amount of dry camping and months on end with hookups because we spend on average10 months of the year in the trailer. We are using the stock converter that puts out 13.6 volts when the batteries are fully charged. In 7 years I have never had to even clean a cable and being gel cells no water to add or any gassing when charging.

Denny

 

Yup, Optima Blues are the way to go. I have one on my car hauler to run the winch and emergency brakes, it works great. I actually forgot to recharge it for a few months after nearly draining it, put it on the charger for a few hours, and it was fine for several months until I needed it again.

 

The closest thing you can get to maintenance free are absorbed glass mats like Life Line. Expensive, but no gassing, can mount em on their sides, and run down to about dead empty and they will recharge.

Standard automobile batteries normally do not last more than 12 months in typical RV applications. Thin plates just don't stand up to severe discharge and recharge cycles. Of course, if all you are doing is going campground to campground with hook-ups, the only real need you have for a battery is the break-away switch in an emergency. If the camper is set up for prolonged periods of time, you do not even need a battery in the loop.

Steve

 

If you are running down the road you also need your batteries to run the refrigerator control circuit and if you are sitting with hookups yes you can run without a battery but the voltage will fluctuate because the battery acts as a regulator to compensate for varying loads. Yes the AGM battery's like the Optima and Lifeline are expensive but they will also last 4 times longer than a standard deep cycle battery.

Denny

 

Hi Denny,

This is not correct. Modern converters come packaged with instructions clearly stating a battery is not necessary and that has been the case ever since switch mode converters were introduced. It used to be true with linear converters which provided largely unfiltered variable voltage output, but you have to running something mighty old to have one of those. Even many technicians are not aware of this.

In the event you overdraw the 55 amp output of the standard converter, which is unlikely, a battery might be necessary. The converters really will put out their ratings and usually a bit more when tested at the battery and the voltage is rock solid with no
AC ripple. Those are the advantages of modern switch mode converters.

Your charge lead to the camper supplies more than enough voltage to run the refrigerator board, while traveling.

As an aside, however, some of the heavy slide motors really draw amps and I often have to replace slide switches and the mounting sockets in campers where batteries are routinely allowed to run flat, thus the note on many campers to have fully charged batteries to operate the slides.

The switches and sockets are usually melted together and I have to cut them out and wire in a new one in. Even on some small campers, Wildcats for example, the motor amp draw on start up is about 80 amps and the old Travel Supremes had a monster amp draw from their slide motors. Folks who have the one touch slide buttons usually will not see am amp draw much above 20, even on start up.

I encourage folks to keep a battery in their system for that reason, but I still have to order slide switches a dozen at a time.

Steve

 

I'm not sure what you call a modern converter mine is only 7 years old and by looking at it's a basic bridge rectifier with some filtering but for true regulation and filtering it will need a battery in the circuit. It's a Parrallax Power Component model number 950. I know that the newer ones do a better job filtering and regulating but not everyone have new units and I get very upset when someone makes a blanket statement like you did that you don't need a battery and in many cases it has to be in the circuit. Also if you are traveling and relying on the truck for 12 volts most new trucks turn the 12 volts off to the plug when the truck is not running and if you a setting hooked up and relying on shore power for 12 volt power and shore power goes down guess what no 12 volts no refrigerator or anything else. So if you are gone all day and the power goes down your beer well be warm when you get home and that's not a good thing.

Denny

 

Everyone I know who has the Optima batteries love them, I'm waiting for mine to puke so I can upgrade to the Optimas.

 

Hi Denny,

I appreciate your comments. The simplest way to measure filtering is simple to measure the DC voltage and then switch your meter to AC and see how much ripple you have. I will be surprised if you see more than the 7 VAC control boards should be able to tolerate.

The issues you address are valid, but I work on campers all day much older than yours that do not have batteries. I am not arguing against batteries. I think it is a good idea, but in an area where hundreds of campers are set up permanently on lakes, I would be surprised if more than 10% have batteries.

Yes, you will get stuck with warm beer and if you turn off your truck, you will lose your 12volt power. The point I was trying to make was from a function standpoint, in most current RVs, you do not need a battery for your equipment to operate correctly.

Parallax does recommend a battery in the circuit for your 950.

Your other points are all valid and hopefully my statement regarding operating slide-out without batteries caught the attention of some folks. We are not really as strongly opposed on this issue as you might think.

Good RVing,

Steve

 

I had a hard time putting out the cash for ours 7 years ago but we are glad we did. When we dry camp I can't tell any difference between now and 7 years ago.

Denny

 

Premium batteries make an incredible difference. I have seen some that have lasted 10 years!! If you dry camp, solar is also worth considering, although very pricey and I doubt it is worth the outlay, unless you dry camp. Finally, if you are a serious dry camper and can spare the bucks, a high-end inverter with a monster smart charger puts the amps back in so fast it is amazing.

We try to stay away during the tourist season and have been the only ones in the park in the winter. We have had the ranger lock us in at night and give us their cell phone number in case there is a problem.

Steve

 

Awesome feedback / information. What has been the going price for the Optima? I live in the NW Burbs of Atlanta, and actually have 3 camper dealers within 10 miles of my house, one of them a Camping World (Oakwood GA). Oh yeah, I forgot about Bass Pro Shops about 15 miles away.

I have a Wildcat, by Forest River, that's 34' (actually measures 36') and has about a 14' slideout that goes about 40". It along with the landing gear are electric over hydraulic. When I disconnected the camper battery, the truck battery seemed to run a bit slower which I guess is okay, but I wouldn't want to run it that way all the time. I know the truck system is good, just put on new alt a few monthes back, and I run the biggest Interstate battery I can fit under the hood.

I do pull off in rest areas for lunch, or go in for lunch, and will leave the truck off for an hour so I do want an on-board battery. I often will get hooked up and then wind up saying good-bye for a couple hours (ha ha).

I am curious about the converter comments though. I believe mine has a model of Parallex too, but don't know a thing about the stage 3 version. Wondering if I should change it out to keep it from failing again. Warranty replaced the first one after about 10 months, now it's making a medium-size noise when charging (not the fan). I will often find that the breaker is tripped too. Now all of this may have been from a failing battery I suppose, so I'll have to watch it now.

I always try to unplug the camper when it is parked, then plug it back in a few days before we plan a trip. I do this because someone told me to never leave it plugged in unused. I got a battery tender and plan on using it from now on when it's parked in the shed.

 

Oh yeah, I do NASCAR and ATV trips without hookups, but I'm spoiled so I bring the generator.

Give me a shout if you're coming to the ATL night race in the fall.