Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I want to mount a 12 volt battery under my tear for lights and fan. On my trip, I used an Xpower, which worked great, but had to be charged every two days and if I used the fan, every day.

I want to go to a bigger battery, but I will be putting it in a newly created, vented, battery box mounted below the floor. I went to walmart and hefted a car battery and am now in traction..... wow.....

So, I'm thinking the smallest deep discharge battery I can find (sealed would be much better), which is probably still a killer, weight wise..... or, a large riding tractor or motorcycle battery.

I'd like some comments about what experiences people have had. Building a battery box to carry a 40-50 pound battery will take some doing. I don't want to drop the battery on the road going 65 mph.....

So, I'd like something smaller, but not if if it won't last for 3 or 4 days with a couple of lights and a fan now and then......

I don't want it in the tear because I don't want to lose the space. I want it out of the way, in the back, next to the underslung spare..... also, to help offset the additional tongue weight of the front mounted a/c unit....

Thank you for any input...

arnereil

Try this for ideas, they come highly recommended.

http://www.1st-optima-batteries.com/

Arne,

Because of your desire to mount the battery(s) under the floor which would bring up my concern of road clearance and working under there with a heavy battery lieing on your back, why not consider multiple smaller batteries in parrallel? They would be lighter individually and therefore easier to handle under the teardrop, and smaller in height giving more ground clearance. I think about four of the garden tractor type batteries would probably equal a car battery in capacity. You could also consider the gelcel batteries which are sealed, used as backup batterys for alarm systems, and could be mounted in any position.

For strength, I will probably permanently mount the box, and access it through a hatch in the floor...... I looked at the optima batteries and they look good, but are expensive.... the idea of several small bats in parallel is one I had not thought of and will price out some....

If the price comes close to the optima, I may spend the extra for a better design.....

Very good ideas.... thank you.

...Arne, small lawn tractor batteries run about $25 a pop...four of them will set you back about $100 pus your wire hookups and anything over a year(in my experience) of use will be a bounus. An Optima, should give you way more than double the life span and cost about $140 ( http://www.1st-optima-batteries.com/ )
madjack

It seems Optimas are recommended over any other brand. Even though they cost twice as much and have 1/3 less amp hours than my first choice, I'll probably bite the bullet and go with an Optima soley on the recommendations of this forum.

I've got a log cabin in northern Michigan in an area that doesn't have electricity. I wired it for DC and use a deep cycle battery. There are 5 fluorescent light fixtures in different rooms, I run a 12V water faucet on the sink, and there's a recepticle that I plug different 12V things into when I need to. I bought an Exide Stowaway 105 Ah battery at Sam's club for around $45. They work ok in my boat with an electric trolling motor and I couldn't afford anything better at the time. I'm a little conservative with the useage but I bring it home to charge after 3 weekends. I've never run it dead so maybe it would last longer, I don't know. I just got it last summer so the jury is out on how long it will last, but it's got a 2 year replacement warranty.

As far as weight goes, I think all deep cycle batteries are heavy....real heavy. I think a solar panel is in order instead of carrying the battery back and forth.

Optima batteries are excellent. I've got them in some of my vehicles. I just couldn't afford another one.

Check your local Costco for Optima batteries...Mine's got 'em.

fornesto wrote:Check your local Costco for Optima batteries...Mine's got 'em.

I've seen them at Sam's Club and Sears too.

Bite the bullet and go with the Optima.

It only needs a small rubber hose to vent if you desire. I would use the hose if the battery is in the cabin, if not forget the tube.

kai

I have a couple of lights and a vent fan I run once in a while. I found an optima d51, 26 pounds, 41 amp hours..... going up a size, the weight goes up to 37 pounds for a 16% increase in power.....

So, based upon limited use, am wondering if I can get away with a 42 a/hour battery for about 3-4 days of ocassional use. The price is good at just over $100 at www. remybattery.com..... prices range from there to $169... ain't the internet great?

Anyway, does it seem the bat would do the job?

http://www.remybattery.com/350/shopdisp ... +Batteries

Did some checking at Sam's. They do not have Optima, but do have Exide Stowaway XLT which seem similar in construction (extreme cycling, vitreous separators), a bit cheaper, and won't have to be shipped (shipping on batteries is $$).....

So, will be picking up one in week or so (after it stops snowing).....

Arne, I did a little searching and see that the XLT is sold exclusively by Sam's Club but it's supposed to be the same as "Exide Orbital Deep Cycle" battery. Out of curiosity, how much is Sam's selling them for?

good is $100, better is $125..... I think 'better' is 800/1,000 if I remember correctly,, or close,,, good, is a bit less.... and I can not remember the numbers on it....

I grabbed a folder but no amp information on it, basically a sales thing like we dont care.....

The optima is 143 plus shipping (i'm assuming).... at Sam's I do have 6% tax....

I know more about batteries than when I was at Sam's, so will decide when I get there which one to buy... I suspect either would do the job, but 'better' would give a few more hours of light...

It's tough to get a handle on these, as Exide does not have exact matches on their site, as you mentioned, made for Sam's.

arnereil wrote:I have a couple of lights and a vent fan I run once in a while. I found an optima d51, 26 pounds, 41 amp hours..... going up a size, the weight goes up to 37 pounds for a 16% increase in power.....

So, based upon limited use, am wondering if I can get away with a 42 a/hour battery for about 3-4 days of ocassional use. The price is good at just over $100 at www. remybattery.com..... prices range from there to $169... ain't the internet great?

Anyway, does it seem the bat would do the job?

http://www.remybattery.com/350/shopdisp ... +Batteries

Arne we have a 54A hour deep cycle that works find on 4 and 5 day trips. I think my Coleman Xmas lights are my biggest 12V hogs... oh and maybe my stereo when I'm blaring rap music throughout the campground (kidding). Any ways if you have 41AH you should be fine for 3-4 days.

Hey this reminds me... are people topping up the charge on their battery throughout the winter? I hook up mine every month or so overnight.