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ColoradoPK View Drop Down
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Joined: 04 Dec 2018
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Posts: 21 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Battery Advice
    Posted: 08 Jan 2019 at 8:06pm
Just pulled my battery out for storage.  Was looking for advice on trickle charger and it looks like my battery might be a car battery?  Is that possible, and if so, is that bad for my Rpod 179?  


In case images don't work, brand is Mainstream from Competitive Edge in Cleburne, TX.  Info on top says 24DP-5, 500 CCA, RV/Marine battery.

Thanks for any advice!
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GlueGuy View Drop Down
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Posts: 2627 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Jan 2019 at 8:19pm
Nothing wrong with that battery. Looks like it's a deep cycle wet cell since it states "RV/Marine" right on the battery. You may not get the deep discharge you might otherwise expect, but it will work fine for a while. We have two batteries on ours, and that gives us just enough run time.
bp
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ColoradoPK View Drop Down
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Posts: 21 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Jan 2019 at 8:54pm
Thanks. Was just confused that it had info on cold cranking amps instead of the other info I’ve seen. Will just get a decent trickle charger to help when RV is in storage for a few months.
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Posts: 6128 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jan 2019 at 8:03am
It's known as a "hybrid" battery. Most RV's have them. The 1% of owners who actually NEED a lot of off grid 12v, switch to a deep cycle solution. Most, likely somewhere near 98% (IME) of RV owners need the 12v battery ONLY to fire the brakes in case of a breakaway. They never camp without hookups, or for longer then the standard battery will allow them to be without charging.
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offgrid View Drop Down
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jan 2019 at 8:17am
Seriously!? Only 2% ever camp off-grid? I challenge that estimate.Sounds like a poll is in order 😁...
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lostagain View Drop Down
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Posts: 2586 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jan 2019 at 8:28am
IMO, the more public land and camp grounds are available, the more people go off-grid to camp.  We are blessed in the west with huge tracts of public lands which are open to everyone and it's easy to not only camp in camp grounds, but to do "disbursed" camping in the middle of nowhere.  On the other hand, there are people who use their RV's like a moving hotel where the destination is not the place you camp.  In that case, RV parks are their preference.
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Happy Tripping View Drop Down
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Posts: 473 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jan 2019 at 9:43am
2% is probably pretty close out east. East of the Big Muddy (I fear don't know how to spell 'Mississippi' correctly) opportunities for hook ups are everywhere and the opportunity for utility-less camping, while still there, is much less - mostly private lands, national forests and places like some state forests or wildlife management areas. Too many trees to just plunk down anywhere in a national forest and similar undeveloped areas out here. Generally too many trees/clouds to count on solar. Except in winter, with care I can get 3-4 days even with our group 24 battery and then its time to move to another campground anyway, one with electricity. 
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jan 2019 at 10:15am
I live in NC and generally camp in NC, VA, and WV. Few of the places I camp have power. In the National parks and national forests it’s rare, including very popular places like Senandoah and Hatteras seashore. Even in State parks it’s probably 50/50. Such services are available in private campgrounds but I don’t camp in those, they generally tend to be both cramped and expensive. I could certainly be wrong but I think a poll would show a far higher number of users of this forum sometimes camp without power than 2%, even in the east.
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furpod View Drop Down
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Posts: 6128 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jan 2019 at 11:19am
Originally posted by offgrid

Seriously!? Only 2% ever camp off-grid? I challenge that estimate.Sounds like a poll is in order 😁...


This is correct. It may seem skewed to you/us, but like many things, it's a matter of who we hang with and what we do. Remember R-Pods in particular, and small campers in general, are a very small market segment. And very few owners over 20 feet are taking them off grid, just a fact of logistics mostly. Even among small camper owners in general, and podders in particular, your poll will still show a very large percentage never camp off grid, in fact, almost 10 years of experience with podders all over the country tells me that about 60% won't camp without FHU's. Period.

But, many people who camp off grid, don't stay out to the point (either time or weather based) that any extra measures need to be taken above what the Pod came with. We did 3 day stays, in good weather, on the stock Group 27, 5 days on a pair of them, and almost 2 weeks when we had dual T105's.. But very very few RV owners will ever do 14 days off grid. We have to remember there are over 8 MILLION RV's registered and being used.. If every single Pod ever built was used totally off grid at least once this year, it would still be less then .06% of the total trips camped.. (assuming at least 3 trips per year per registered rig.)

About 20,000 pods have been built so far. Of the 8,000,000 RVs registered, if all of them where still intact and on the road, (and we know they aren't) that's only .25%, or 1 in every 400 RV's.. And R-Pods ARE the market and segment leader under 20 feet.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jan 2019 at 11:33am


As usual, I agree with furpod ( on the first and second post).

If you want a poll - start one. It is not much different that opening a new topic.

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