You are very welcome. Happy to help. Thanks for watching and happy camping. Jim

I'm glad you found my new channel too. Thanks for watching and happy camping. Jim

Awesome video thanks it helped me a lot..

I appreciate that! Thanks for subscribing. Take care and happy camping.

6 volts do hold up better with deep discharges due to their larger plates. I have seen this in testing as well. However, most of my research recommends keeping them above 50% unless otherwise indicated by the manufacturer. You might be able to get away with 80% discharge for a long time but at the end of the day batteries that were kept above 50% will out perform those batteries that were taken down to 80 for a longer amount of time.

Ever been to a golf course? Dead carts and carts limping back take a charge and go again the next day. The propaganda spewed by Battleborn on KZfaq is pervasive.

mutant! ;)

I would recommend a victron battery monitor with Bluetooth. That is what I have and I like it very much. I believe mine is a smart 712.

If I used incandescent bulbs it was because I was trying to increase the power draw for some wacky power consumption experiment. Every bulb I own is pretty much LED. The power savings is incredible. My entire house and RV or pretty much LED lights. I like where you're coming from. Thanks for the comment and happy camping.

Robert, what voltage is 50%? Thank you, I know, this was years ago.

I'm not sure how you would charge directly from the generator. I would definitely go with the converter boxe as it has a three-stage charger in most cases which is much better for the longevity of the batteries. Jim

guy at an RV service department said for deeply discharged batteries to go directly from a high amp charger, (or your generator i guess) not through the RV converter, which has an amperage limit and thus will take longer. also he said it will do a better job of charging the batteries. the lead plates in 6v are much thicker and need higher amperage going into them. this came up as we were talking about using solar power to charge them - not likely enough amperage, but would work for a 'surface' charge if you have enough time and sunlight.

Power density beats heavy old lead any day of the week. Once you upgrade to lithium, you'll never look back. Buy once, Cry once.

@@Skuttle87 I have a Frankensteined Minn Kota battery box that has a 200 amp hour lithium battery inside with room to spare. It weighs 43 pounds. There's an on board 300 watt PSW inverter, 3 USB and a 12 volt outlet, trouble LED light, volt meter, Bluetooth battery meter. I also bring along a 1200 watt inverter to attach to the wingnut terminals. It can easily cook a stew in my 700 watt Instapot pressure cooker without popping the 60 amp breaker. Sometimes it runs a dorm size refrigerator with it for 5 days when we visit a rustic cabin. We bring 3 and 6 watt LED bulbs for lighting. I love lithium batteries!

Just when it is cycled on. It is not constant.

It's possible it could work and it would charge all batteries. However, you're probably going to shorten the lifespan of one or all of the batteries. The max charging voltage is going to differ between the AGMs and the lead acid batteries in most cases and that means they're all going to battle for voltage Equalization. I personally would not recommend it. Jim

Awesome. Couldn't find that answer anywhere. Thanks!

My test was real time use. My furnace was cycling.

@@fullmoonadventureclub Thank you for that Real world test.

Yes. That is correct.

@@fullmoonadventureclub man, that was a rookie question. I appreciate the video and your confirmation. New subscriber.

Happy to help. I need to do another video on parallel and series battery configurations. Thanks for the question and happy camping.

I mainly have experience with Xantrex. They are fantastic inverter Chargers.

6 V batteries need more amps when being charged. what amperage is your solar arrangement pumping out? compare that to your 1.6 amp charger. it must be much higher and thus charging better from solar....

It's a little late at night for me to be trusting my math, but in my experience there's always some stuff that you're going to miss such as the water pump etc. In my experience I would count on those batteries lasting you two nights if you don't plan on recharging them in any way during the day. If you are strict and accurate with your numbers then yes in theory they would last you four days but I wouldn't count on it personally. A 100 watt solar panel goes quite a long way in my experience. Especially if you don't have a generator or plan to use it. I could be wrong as it's one-thirty in the morning and I was just getting a drink of water but that's my two cents. It's definitely always worth doing a test run before you get out to the middle of nowhere. Good luck and happy camping.

The lithium battery would provide about as much power as the two 6 volt batteries. However, the lithium battery should last you more than 2,000 or 3,000 Cycles . Which is like 8 years While still retaining 80% of their capacity . So in my opinion lithium is definitely the way to go .

@@fullmoonadventureclub That's great to know, thanks! Because my thought is that if I can purchase a single 12v lithium battery and essentially replace my two 6V's with it, that saves me a ton of weight on my trailer and then I'm also not dealing with lead acid technology. And they'll last far far longer. Do you have specific 12v lithium brands that you recommend? I live in Canada and I've seen everything from 12v lithium batteries (100ah) on Amazon for $650-700 Canadian all the way up to $1300 Canadian for a single 12v lithium at the local Interstate store.

@@justindyck9705 I like my lion energy batteries. They have a power meter built right onto the battery and they also have a reset for if you drain them completely and the battery shuts itself off you just hold the button and it comes back on which is very handy. Here's a link that will save you 15% Off anything you by there. It saves you over $150. I hope that helps. lionenergy.com/discount/adventure?redirect=%2Fcollections%2Fbatteries%2Fproducts%2Flion-safari-ut-1300%3Fafmc%3D37

That’s awesome, thank you!

Sounds like your batteries are shot

With that setup I think you would be fine with Trojan T105 batteries or AGM batteries. I always recommend lithium batteries if possible but they are very expensive and cannot be charged below freezing. If you can store your battery inside the house then you would have no issues and they last about 10 years. But with the power that you're drawing I think you'll be just fine with some Trojan Batteries and I hear very good things about them. Just make sure you have double the capacity that you need with lead acid batteries because you can only discharged them to 50% before they should be recharged.

my advice is to start using punctuation lol

4 lithium batteries would blow the doors off four 6 volt. Plus lithium is lighter and can be discharged to zero. The price is the only reason everyone doesn’t run lithium.

@@lancealot3867 and cold weather charging. A huge issue where I live.

sell your kidney!

Just remember 12 hours to 50%. That's when you want to recharge the batteries. Jim

Can deep cycle batteries go lower than 50 % without damage ?

You are correct. Two six volt batteries with 230ah stays the same because you doubled the voltage from six to twelve volts. You should only drain to 50% capacity to avoid damage so 115ah is spot on.

I love doing battery tests and I would love to test that experiment. However, I don't have four 6 volt batteries. I appreciate the thought and to be honest maybe I should reach out to Trojan and try and get four 6 volt batteries so I can run some comparison testing. I'll see what I can do. Thanks for the suggestion happy camping. :-)

Technically there shouldn't be much of a difference between the 50 usable amp hours using one battery or two. However, I've noticed that two batteries load share and support each other a little bit better and tend to perform slightly more efficiently. At least that's my opinion.

In my opinion 6 volt batteries tend to take more of a beating at deeper discharges. Unless of course you can afford lithium batteries.

Thanks!

Hi Dennis. 6 volt batteries are great and can be charged using an inverter generator. However, you'll have to run the generator for a long time to get your batteries back up to full charge as they require a bulk absorption and Float charge over about six hours or more to become 100% charged. I realize they're way more expensive but lithium batteries can be charged in an hour or two and lasts a lot longer with a lot less weight and provide more power in the long run. If that's an option I would seriously consider looking into lithium batteries. Also you can consider solar panels that would charge the batteries during the day without the need for a generator but again it all comes down to cost.

@@fullmoonadventureclub WOW! that was quick! We though about a solar panel but thought a generator would give us instant full power over solar. I looked at the lithium batteries and they where over $250 each. Yikes!! I found a 6 volt Interstate deep cell for $98 at Costco's. We don't plan on being in the camper during the day as we will be out hiking, kayaking, etc. but when we are we thought we'd run the generator during the day when we are there and at night switch to the batteries. I assume if the generator is running and the only power on is the TV, the batteries will still be charging? Thanks again. Dennis

@@fullmoonadventureclub I forgot to mention that the camper is equipped for a portable solar where we can just plug it in. Would solar be a better way than a generator and if so what type of solar would you recommend? I'm re-thinking that it might be better if we did purchase lithium batteries. What one would you recommend. Thanks.

I personally like these Lion Energy batteries. This affiliate code will save you around a hundred dollars off but lithium batteries are expensive. lionenergy.com/discount/adven...​ A generator is a inexpensive and dependable power source and would work fine to charge your batteries while you watch TV even if you are parked in the shade. Solar is great but takes some research and installation costs. How much solar do I need is a question I get a lot and it is a complicated question.

@@fullmoonadventureclub thanks Jim. You've been a great help. Now we're off to purchase what we need to make our camping experience enjoyable.

I have two 6v 215Ah batteries and I get like 26 hours before it drops to 50% on a ~5A load

24 hours? :)

Impressive! Thanks for sharing. JIm

12 volt batteries are cheaper and they can buy bulk because they can sell one or two batteries.

@@fullmoonadventureclub I know but when even smaller travel trailers are over 20K I would think them spending an extra $100 is a drop in the bucket. I recently bought one that came with 1 battery and payed $150 extra for 2 but was never offered to upgrade to 2-6 volt batteries. I probably would have given them another $50-$100 for the 6 volt option.

@@Glock2201 at the dealership I worked out they did offer both.

In my opinion 6 volt batteries tend to last a little bit longer and handle deep discharges better. Jim

@@fullmoonadventureclub Thats great jim you finally tested both 12's and 6's. Now the debate that no one tells us, and has not been demonstrated is inverter load for us campers maybe you can test this in a quick video. The scenario is that we like to glamp camp. so we run our 900 watt coffee maker off 1100 watt inverter. I am able to do this on my two 12 volt batts. and run the 1000 watt micro if I wanted. Also the toaster oven for the kids frozen pizza is a god send. Now the thing is , is the voltage drop. My 12's will not kick off the inverter at low voltage. which is 10.5 volts. There is less resistance in the 12's. Say I have 12.5 volts. the batts under load may drop to 11.5 or so when drawing a 1000 watt load, @ 83 amp draw Now what I hear is the 6's when trying to run high inverter load the voltage drop is more dramatic and people need to either start generator, or run high draws off 6's only when they are running high loads. because the inverter kicks off. Im not sure if that is real as the 6's guys dont talk about it. Plus I can charge my 12's to 90% probably in a little over two hours vs longer time with the high resistance 6's Just something to consider. And consideration that most RV's can usually only fit 2 group 24's or two 6's. Im due for batterys as my 12's of 6 years finally lost a cell. I believe I will stay 12's although I have the boxes to go 6's. But I have my onboard 1100 watt inverter and I am a little leary as I like my coffee from coffee maker in am, and use toaster oven often. I also have 560 watt solar and 40 amp mppt solar charger. I also have a 2400 watt inverter generator, and a progressive converter charger that boosts voltage to 14.4 @ about 40-50 amps what should I do????? Ahhhhhhhhh

@@mikelawton1092 if I can manage to get sets of multiple battery types again I'll do that test for you. But right now I have to work with what I have. The majority a feedback I get for large 6 volt battery Banks is usually very positive. I've heard rumors on the forums about voltage drop in inverters but if never heard an RVer complain of it specifically. Have you considered lithium? They're still expensive but the prices are dropping.:-)

Your reply is "hidden". So, I will reply here ... No, you cannot use the "75 AMP Rating" to determine how long the battery will last "at a 5 Amp draw". According to East Penn the Deka Pro Master GC15 ( 75 amps @ 120 min ) is a 230 Amp-Hour battery. Therefore, *46* *Hours* = 230 Amp-Horus / 5 Amps. Your numbers are significantly different than East Penn.

I believe there are two graphics in the video of a Deka battery and one of them may have been a stock photo and one was of the battery used in the actual testing video taken with my phone. I believe it stated 23 amp ave. for 150 min. I did this test almost 5 years ago and cannot remember the formula I used or which photo is for the test at the moment. It is difficult because even with the amp hours determined if you lower the amp draw on the battery it completely changes the curve for capacity. Slower discharge means greatly extended capacity vs heavy loads. Luckily I just did the real world test so even if I were to miscalculate the math we can see the experiment first hand. I will always prefer real world testing to the claims of the manufacturer. If you would like to do the math and compare it to the test run times please share the formula you used to get close to the actual run time at 5 amps. It is a confusing topic for a lot of people and I think everyone would benefit from seeing some different techniques for sizing a batteries capacity to amp hours. I am not sure why my reply is hidden as it no longer shows up on my end either. I despise KZfaq's comment system. I get a very small fraction of comments that I actually receive in my notifications. Thank you for you comment and happy camping. JIm

Yes but they are 10 times the price or more. two 6volts in series to make a 12 volt is 215 amp hour. $180 bucks plus tax at Sams Club my last bank lasted 8 years and were still going. Go price out a 200 amp hour lithium battery. RElion 200 Amp hour battery is $2500.00 bucks.

@@brandonlerman1540 If you actually pulled 215 AMP-HOURS, every Fri + Sat + Sun for just the 13 summer weekends, your Lead Acid Batteries will *NOT* last 3 years. Clearly, you do not really use your batteries very much, so that is the reason why you've had them for 8 years

There is a Black or a Grey case Cg2. The black is $89.88 plus tax each rated @215 if you dont have an old battery to bring them core charge is $18 bucks or so each. I am sure lithium is better but golf carts still make sense price wise for many people. I just got my Sams club membership free with coupon . Cost me $194.00 bucks a set for mine few months ago out the door. I got 3 sets 6 of them on my sailboat house bank its used alot but also has three 125 watt solar panels. Not buying into the lifetime warranty with lithium yet because they have not been out long enough most are probably built in China as well. Time will tell if companies back the warranty. There are still many Pros and Cons still for Lithium vs Golfcarts. Hey they can drive two heavy set guys with clubs 36 holes before being recharged for the night. Golf Courses will probably switch over sooner or later to lithium then the price will probably make lithium worth it but price wise its not there yet for average Joe in my opinion.

@@brandonlerman1540 You bought less battery and you got less battery at Sams Club ... so what? Actually, Lithium has been available for more than 12 YEARS. There already EV auto's with Lithium batteries banks than are 10 years and still running. The first Tesla EV was manufactured in 2008 = 12 YEARS, ago! Many Golf Courses have already switched over to Lithium GC2 batteries. Ford is even using 12v Li-Ion for some of there Engine Starting batteries. Over a 10+ year period, there are no "PRO's" for a lead-acid batteries. Where have you been for the past 12 YEARS? Your lack of knowledge, does not prove anything ...

Cost is a "Pro" average people cant afford a Tesla or Lithium. IF lithium is the only way to go why do 96% or more of cars around the World still not using them? When lithium comes down in price like flat screen TVs sure will be great. We are not there yet for 96% of the population around the World.

Your reply appears to be "hidden". So, I will post my reply to you, here ... No, "3 Plates" is *NOT* the same thing as "3 Cells". Each CELL has many sets of (+) and ( - ) PLATES. Yes, "using the proper vernacular" is important ...

You are correct. On video it is not uncommon to mean one thing and say another and miss it in editing. A six-volt battery has three single cells, each cell is capable of storing 2.1 volts which when fully charged produce an output voltage of 6.3 volts. A twelve-volt battery has six single cells in series producing a fully charged output voltage of 12.6 volts. A battery cell consists of two lead plates a positive plate covered with a paste of lead dioxide and a negative made of sponge lead, with an insulating material (separator) in between. The plates are enclosed in a plastic battery case and then submersed in an electrolyte consisting of water and sulfuric acid. Thanks for clearing that up for everyone. Vernacular is indeed important. Take care and happy camping. Jim