Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks: Battery question

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Battery question

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Forum Name: Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks
Forum Discription: Ask maintenance questions, share your podmods (modifications) and helpful tips
URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=10129
Printed Date: 29 Jun 2025 at 9:01pm
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Topic: Battery question

Posted By: Bhfromme
Subject: Battery question
Date Posted: 08 Jun 2017 at 7:29pm

Newbie here. Went camping on the battery. Three nights and we stayed above 75% (three out of four lights). Now the pod has been sitting for two weeks and the battery is dead? Is that normal or is there a short somewhere?

Replies:

Posted By: Tars Tarkas
Date Posted: 08 Jun 2017 at 7:34pm

Normal. You have to recharge the battery, maybe continuously when at home by keeping the pod plugged into shore power. Or disconnect the battery. There are at least a couple of continuous draws on the battery; the propane detector and the "brains" of the refrigerator. They'll pull the battery down in 2 or three weeks.

If you can keep the Pod plugged in the onboard charger will keep the battery topped off and ready to go.

TT

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2010 176
FJ Cruiser

Posted By: Bhfromme
Date Posted: 08 Jun 2017 at 9:43pm

Okay then of course that begs two more questions. 1) Is that hurting the battery (allowing it to go dead like that) and 2) will a 2 hour drive to a campground fully recharge it?

And thanks TT.

Posted By: Tars Tarkas
Date Posted: 08 Jun 2017 at 10:06pm

There are people here more qualified to answer both questions, but from what I understand, it may depend on what shape your battery was in, but I think it does hurt it, but probably not fatally, maybe not even seriously. And whether the battery will be recharged by your TV in a couple of hours, I doubt it will from being fully discharge. A lot depends on your alternator and the size of the charging wire. It's much better to keep the battery topped off.

If you store your Pod somewhere where you can't keep it plugged in, it would be a good idea to have a battery cut-off switch, or, depending on how long you go between trips, pull the battery out and put it on a charger about once a month at home. Keep the cells topped off with distilled water too.

TT

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2010 176
FJ Cruiser

Posted By: ToolmanJohn
Date Posted: 09 Jun 2017 at 5:02am

My Pod had 2 12V marine batteries in parallel. They were almost 5 years old, and still were nearly 96% of rated capacity. This is because of how I kept them in good condition.

Get a battery disconnect switch.

Charge the battery at home through the shore power cord. Check the water levels (if wet cell) every couple months if you are charging frequently from a deep discharge state. The water can evaporate, Also check during the Summer frequently enough to get a good idea how long it takes before you need to add water.

Charge the battery every coupe months when not in use, or before any trip for a day or two before hand.

A couple of hours driving will not charge a battery fully if it is depleted. Don't count on the vehicle being a great battery charger.

Dropping a marine/starting "deep" cycle battery below 80% state of charge is never a good thing to do, and only a true deep cycle battery can withstand that repeatedly at 50% (golf cart batteries).

Repeated deep discharging will permanently hurt the cells. Try to not go below a typical 80% of discharge. This will be where it last longest and have the most recharge cycles.

Think about getting a solar panel to keep the battery continuously topped off between uses.

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2017 ATC 7X20 Custom Toy Hauler
2013 R-Pod 177 (SOLD)
2013 VW Touareg TDI

Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 09 Jun 2017 at 6:46am

Originally posted by Bhfromme

Okay then of course that begs two more questions. 1) Is that hurting the battery (allowing it to go dead like that) YES and 2) will a 2 hour drive to a campground fully recharge it?NO

And thanks TT.

You need to plug in the Pod if possible, or pull the battery and get it on a real charger, not a trickle charger. You can, if at home, plug it in with a adapter to a regular outlet, but will be limited in what you can run, but it WILL recharge and maintain your battery fine.

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Posted By: GlueGuy
Date Posted: 09 Jun 2017 at 9:08am

The batteries will self-discharge without being connected to anything. It's a fact of life. The discharge will be faster if there are even small loads.

The amount of discharge that a battery can sustain varies. Wet cell batteries can tolerate somewhere between 30 and 40 percent discharge (60-70 % of full charge). AGM batteries can generally tolerate up to 50% discharge. There are some premium AGM batteries that can be discharged down to 40% of full capacity.

So you need to know what kind of battery you have, and what depth of discharge it will tolerate. Generally speaking, going below whatever threshold your battery is designed for will cause "some" damage. Taking a battery to zero will cause serious damage.

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bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River
2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost

Posted By: bevie
Date Posted: 10 Jun 2017 at 3:12pm

Can you just disconnect the positive on the battery to prevent discharge over a week of storage without rv being plugged in?

Or do we need to remove the battery completely, bring it home and charge it over a one week period?

Posted By: GlueGuy
Date Posted: 10 Jun 2017 at 3:24pm

Originally posted by bevie

Can you just disconnect the positive on the battery to prevent discharge over a week of storage without rv being plugged in?

Or do we need to remove the battery completely, bring it home and charge it over a one week period?

Sure. A week with no load is generally no problem. Sort of like your car; park it for a week, and you would expect it to be OK. Park it for a month, and you might notice a slow start or something. Park it for 2 months, and neglect really starts to show.

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bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River
2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost

Posted By: bevie
Date Posted: 10 Jun 2017 at 3:54pm

Thank you GlueGuy!