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Joined: 12 Dec 2020
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Posts: 12 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: New Owner - Used 176
    Posted: 15 Dec 2020 at 9:11pm
Hi Stephen,

Thanks again.

1. Batteries - as a quick initial test to see if they would hold any charge, after topping up with distilled water, I charged one and then the other to full charge as indicated on the battery charger. I picked up a multimeter (as I of course couldn't find the cables for my old one) and tested the battery just off charge, which showed ~12.79v. 

The other one, which had been off charge for a couple of hours in 15F temps showed ~12.60v, so I put it back on charge to see what it actually would be when fully charged and to see if it drops much with no load on it. I'll look at both in the morning to see how they fare overnight. I'm curious to see how much overnight exposure in cool temps affects them.
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Posts: 12 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Dec 2020 at 9:15pm
Hi Offgrid,

Thanks for the comments and the link to the furnace manual. 

As mentioned in the above post, I'm still trying to see if the old ones have any life left in them and if not, then will read up on the golf cart battery solution you suggest. Mot sure I would invest in a lithium solution just yet until I do enough trips to better estimate winter and summer usage patterns.
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Posts: 12 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Dec 2020 at 9:23pm
Hi Jato,

Thanks for the feedback and the description of single battery usage. I think I'll go that direction initially, I'm fine to switch leads since it's easy and quick.

I have a spare smoke and CO detector for my house that I just recently bought at Costco so I'm fine to have that additional CO detector function in the trailer. Is it suitable though? For some reason my initial reaction would be that the detectors (propane/CO and smoke detector) both run off 12v power?
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StephenH View Drop Down
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Posts: 6330 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Dec 2020 at 11:09pm
Battery testing just off a charger is not the most accurate. That is surface charge. The one where it sat for an hour or two before you tested is the more accurate test. https://www.autozone.com/diy/battery/how-to-test-a-car-battery-with-a-multimeter

The 12.6V reading indicates a good battery. However, it still would not hurt to take it to an auto place and have them put a load tester on it. That will be much more accurate than just a multimeter.
StephenH
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JR View Drop Down
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Posts: 366 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Dec 2020 at 8:12am
In my 2019 179 the smoke detector is battery operated and the CO detector is hard wired to the 12 v system.  If this helps
Jay

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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Dec 2020 at 8:55am
Originally posted by StephenH

Battery testing just off a charger is not the most accurate. That is surface charge. The one where it sat for an hour or two before you tested is the more accurate test. https://www.autozone.com/diy/battery/how-to-test-a-car-battery-with-a-multimeter
The 12.6V reading indicates a good battery. However, it still would not hurt to take it to an auto place and have them put a load tester on it. That will be much more accurate than just a multimeter.


+1 on allowing the battery to rest at open circuit (no charging or discharging) for awhile before measuring the voltage. Also, don’t worry about voltage differences of 0.1 or 0.2V, those are within normal battery variations. The test in the link is good for an auto starting battery which isn’t expected to deep cycle, but for a deep cycle battery like you would use in an Rpod you should pull some charge out of it and then check it. The easiest way is to first get the battery fully charged for a day or two with no load. Then let it rest for a half hour or more and measure the voltage. Then turn on the fridge on 12V for a known period of time. The fridge uses about 11-12 amps so if you run it for 4 hours that’s 44-48 amp hours, so about 45% state of charge on a typical 100 amp hour rated battery.

Turn off all loads and let the battery rest of another half hour to and hour. Measure the voltage again, it should be at or a bit over 12V. If not it’s probably getting to the point you want to replace it if you plan on boon docking much. Be sure to recharge the battery again right away, don’t leave it discharged for any length of time.
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Posts: 12 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Dec 2020 at 9:00am
Good to know to wait for a bit to determine actual charge. 

Overnight with cool temps some slight reduction in both (12.56 and 12.65) but will take them in for proper testing. 
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Posts: 12 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Dec 2020 at 9:02am
Hi JR,

Thanks, that helps clarify. I was assuming that both were on the 12v system, but good to know at least on your model only the propane/CO detector is. I'll check mine but assume the same.
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Posts: 12 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Dec 2020 at 9:04am
Great suggestions for practical testing, will do, thanks.
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Posts: 3258 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Dec 2020 at 3:19pm
Agree, the smoke detector runs off a 9v battery whereas the CO detector is hardwired to the 12v as JR stated above.

Just checked my two 12v batteries that are currently sitting on the concrete floor in an unheated garage where it is currently -8 C.  They have sat in that location for 6 weeks since getting their last 2 amp trickle charge on October 30 and November 1.  Readings are 12.59v and 12.71v.  The 12.59v battery has a purchase date of December 2010 and the 12.71v battery was purchased March 2011 so it looks pretty good so far for a couple of 'seasoned' batteries.
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