Did a search and thought I'd bring this back to the top.
I had to buy a new AGM battery for my boat this today. I went to the local Battery Warehouse. They've been pretty good to me over the years.
While there I did some homework on Camper batteries. They have always been pretty knowledgeable. Since I've ordered some solar stuff and I'm getting ready to set that up soon.
Just for convenience sake I figured I would try to work with the factory battery compartment in my Eagle shell. It has room for a couple of group 24 sized batteries if need be. Not sure I wanted that much weight in that location though. And I want to be able to place the charge controller and shunt and a switch in the same space.
The Trimetric can be place outside the cabinet just inside the camper door. I bought the surface mount style.
Originally there was just a single group 24 in here.
The pics shows 2 of my old Optima group 34 55 AH batteries hooked up.
An experiment I did recently showed that my fridge(TF51) will run fine for a typical hot weekend trip without charging on 100AH's.
So we discussed 2) 6volt in series, AGMs vs lead acid, 12 volt in parallel, different sizes, and charging, lack of venting in compartment, and my aversion to acid spills and adding water. After all the talk he suggested a 12 volt group 31 SEALED lead acid 111 AH battery. I didn't even realize they still made SLA batteries. I thought AGMs had replaced them.
Per the man at the shop he said these don't need venting or water like regular lead acid batteries. But unlike AGMs they are true deep cycles made for heavy cycling at low current draw. They also have the big plates like a conventional LA. He said this big battery might not have enough cold cranking amps to start the truck because it's a true deep cycle. But with the solar charger set up it should last a very long time.
I'm liking the idea. It seems like a nice compromise of size, weight, storage, price ( just over $200). Is anyone here using one of these at this time? What are you running off of it?
At this time I have the whole Bogart 2030 system coming with Trimetric and a 160 watt panel for the roof.
Normal usage will be running my compressor fridge, a few lights, and running the furnace from time to time in cold weather.
I'm open to input.