Posted 2009-02-09 7:11 PM (#99117) Subject: How long will trailer batteries last?
Veteran
Posts: 236 Location: Little town in Pa
We will be making our maiden voyage with our new LQ trailer in March to a place with no plug in shore power. We have 2 batteries on the trailer and I am trying to figure out how long they will last. I think with 63 gallons of water and two propane tanks we will be fine but the batteries concern me. I was trying to run a little test so I charged up the batteries by plugging the trailer in the the house for about 8 hours until the battery monitor read full. Then I unplugged the trailer from the house , ran the furnace and some lights and it did not seem like the batteries were lasting too long, they seemed to drop by 25% in just an hour or two. So I figure by the time we have the furnace running, some lights and the pump for some time, we might run out of DC power in the middle of the night. So just a ball park estimate, how long could a blower on a furnace and some lights run on 2 batteries?
Posted 2009-02-09 9:09 PM (#99121 - in reply to #99117) Subject: RE: How long will trailer batteries last?
Expert
Posts: 5870 Location: western PA
The furnace blower takes some juice, and if you run your pump and lighting a lot, it will also have an effect. Our LQ with two batteries typically lasts a weekend, with every thing going. Our smaller LQ has one battery and no furnace. Running the pump, fridge, water heater and lighting can kill the battery in a day and a half. The lighting and any electrical motors are a major draw. Once a gas appliance is ignited, it is almost self sustaining on propane.
How old the batteries are, and how well they have been maintained, will have a major impact on their performance. The batterys' ampere hour rating will determine their capacity. The higher the number, the larger the amount of storage capacity it will have, and the longer you can draw from it.
There are no hard rules about how long the batteries will last. It depends as much on your personal usage as it does the equipment.
Posted 2009-02-09 9:19 PM (#99122 - in reply to #99117) Subject: RE: How long will trailer batteries last?
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 383 Location: Texas
Even though the monitor said they were charged they may not be fully charged after 8 hours if they were somewhat discharged to begin with. That last little bit of charge can take a long time to top the batteries off, might leave it plugged in 24 hours before your trip to make sure they are topped off (also is going to depend on the converter/charger you have). As Gard said, the furnace blower pulls quite a bit of power, make sure your batteries are fairly well charged before a cold night. I know mine will start making all kinds of noise with low batteries (alarm on the gas detector and something else), not nice in the early morning.
Posted 2009-02-09 10:25 PM (#99129 - in reply to #99117) Subject: RE: How long will trailer batteries last?
Expert
Posts: 1351 Location: Decatur, Texas
Ours last a weekend using it lightly.
I added a extra power plug to the back of my truck just because the power jack draws a ton of power and the factory aux power wire in the trailer harness is thin. So I added a 4ga wire that runs from the battery to the rear of the truck and another that runs from the frame to the plug for a ground. The plug is the same type wreckers use for jumper cables and winches. The trailer side is the same way, 4ga to the batteries and the frame.
All of this said, if our batteries get low, I plug back into the truck and run it for a little while and back to full charge! Maybe a overkill, but never had a power problem. YET!
Posted 2009-02-09 11:18 PM (#99132 - in reply to #99117) Subject: RE: How long will trailer batteries last?
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 385 Location: washington
I have dual batteries and dual propane. When I go on a March weekend (it is cold here in March) I will go through my batteries before the weekend is up, mostly from the furnace coming on throughout the night. I bought a Honda generator to recharge the batteries during the day... and one thing I learned, the generator can recharge low batteries but can't recharge dead batteries. I had to put the dead batteries on a battery charger to breath life back into them.
Posted 2009-02-10 10:48 AM (#99160 - in reply to #99117) Subject: RE: How long will trailer batteries last?
Veteran
Posts: 236 Location: Little town in Pa
Thank you all. I will charge up the batteries again, this time for 24 hours and we have a little generator I think we will take with us to top off the batteries while we are camping so I'll make sure they don't run down in the middle of the night.
Posted 2009-02-10 11:00 AM (#99161 - in reply to #99160) Subject: RE: How long will trailer batteries last?
Expert
Posts: 3802 Location: Rocky Mount N.C.
Originally written by Ncatanz on 2009-02-10 11:48 AM
Thank you all. I will charge up the batteries again, this time for 24 hours and we have a little generator I think we will take with us to top off the batteries while we are camping so I'll make sure they don't run down in the middle of the night.
If you have "wet batteries", be sure to check the electrolite level, be sure they are full before you attempt to charge them. If you charge them alot, they'll use alot of water! Charging a partially dry battery is dangerous..... Don't need to be out camping, charging with the generator and have a hydrogen gas explosion!! What size are your batteries? How old are they (what's the in service/build date)? I know you said it was a new LQ, but does that mean the batteries are new??
We added a third battery (27 series) for the electric jack. And use two original (24 series) for the house. Our generator charges the two 24's just fine during morning coffee. With all the batteries attached to a multiple battery switch I can call for all three, the two or just the one.
The type of converter your LQ has plays a big part in battery maint. Most converters installed are limited in the charge circuit they provide. There are add on's that change this completely. Such as the charge wizard for the PD converters found in our trailer.
We have a 12v plug under the TV that this sits in so I can monitor the state of the bateries at a glance.
We also replaced the LQ mercury thermostat with a digital version from Walmart to achieve better and more accurate heating. If your trailer is off level the mercury version will either over run or under run.
How long will trailer batteries last?
