Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks: Adding a 2nd battery

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Adding a 2nd battery

Printed From: R-pod Owners Forum
Category: R-pod Discussion Forums
Forum Name: Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks
Forum Discription: Ask maintenance questions, share your podmods (modifications) and helpful tips
URL: https://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=16408
Printed Date: 04 Oct 2026 at 2:15am
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Topic: Adding a 2nd battery

Posted By: MnMRhoades
Subject: Adding a 2nd battery
Date Posted: 29 Mar 2026 at 11:06pm

If you need more battery when boondocking, it is relatively cheap and easy to add a 2nd battery to your R-Pod.

The wife and I just bought a new RP-185. It is equipped with a 220W solar panel. It is also equipped with a 12V only refrigerator but only has a single 12V battery. We decided that because of the 12V only fridge, we needed an additional battery a larger dual battery box. Adding the second battery and two battery box was extremely easy. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Mike

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M Rhoades

Replies:

Posted By: gpokluda
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2026 at 7:07am

We added a second battery shortly after we bought ours back in 2015 and you right, it's easy and makes a difference. Is your refrigerator a compressor or absorption type?

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Gpokluda
2017 Rpod 179(sold 2023)
2022 Escape 5.0TA
2022 Ford F150 4X4 3.5EB
Honda SCL500

Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2026 at 9:23am

Good decision. We usually boondock and one of the first mods we did to our 177 was to add a 2nd battery, that was over 15 years ago. Even now we can go 6 days off-grid with our pair of 12v lead acid batteries when night temps are in the 40's, and that is without the use of solar panels or a generator. Batteries: 15 year old Interstate deep cycle and 5.5 year old Trojan T-1275.

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God's pod
'11 model 177
'17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost
Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake
"...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free."

Posted By: gpokluda
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2026 at 10:10am

Originally posted by jato

Batteries: 15 year old Interstate deep cycle

That battery should be ready for its own drivers license and high school graduation.

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Gpokluda
2017 Rpod 179(sold 2023)
2022 Escape 5.0TA
2022 Ford F150 4X4 3.5EB
Honda SCL500

Posted By: GlueGuy
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2026 at 11:43am

These days LFP batteries are amp-hour to amp-hour price competitive with SLA batteries, and have roughly twice the watt-hour capacity. So swapping a 100AH LFP battery for a 100AH SLA battery pretty much doubles your watt-hour capacity. Also, a LFP battery should last many times longer than a SLA battery.

Food for thought.

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

Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2026 at 6:12pm

That battery should be ready for its own drivers license and high school graduation.

[/QUOTE]

It has been a 'model student' over the years! Wish I kept track of how many times it has been charged. Maintenance is key to everything. I wonder how much longer the batteries in both my 2017 vehicles will last, they are both original, but by comparison are young compared to the Interstate.

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God's pod
'11 model 177
'17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost
Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake
"...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free."

Posted By: gpokluda
Date Posted: 01 Apr 2026 at 7:12am

Originally posted by GlueGuy

These days LFP batteries are amp-hour to amp-hour price competitive with SLA batteries, and have roughly twice the watt-hour capacity. So swapping a 100AH LFP battery for a 100AH SLA battery pretty much doubles your watt-hour capacity. Also, a LFP battery should last many times longer than a SLA battery.

Food for thought.

Couldn't agree more. Even in just the last 3 years, LiFePO4 batteries have become more affordable and have the ability to almost quadruple the amp hours in the same footprint of AGM or Flooded Lead Acid.

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Gpokluda
2017 Rpod 179(sold 2023)
2022 Escape 5.0TA
2022 Ford F150 4X4 3.5EB
Honda SCL500

Posted By: poston
Date Posted: 01 Apr 2026 at 3:15pm

I just bought a 153 at Xtreme RV in Twin Falls. I asked how much they'd charge to put on (2) LFP batteries. I just wanted to get a price, I figured I would buy & install them later. They quoted $600 for Renogy's, installed, for the pair. I was surprised. I didn't think they had dropped that much.

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--
Jim
Virginia City, Nevada
~~2016 R-pod 180~~
2023 R-pod 153 BEAST MODE!
2015 Nissan Xterra

Posted By: MnMRhoades
Date Posted: 03 Apr 2026 at 11:29pm

I believe the newer 12V only are compressor type of refridgerators.

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M Rhoades

Posted By: MnMRhoades
Date Posted: 03 Apr 2026 at 11:30pm

I believe the newer 12v only fridges use a compressor since it does not use gas.

Mike

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M Rhoades

Posted By: gpokluda
Date Posted: 04 Apr 2026 at 7:02am

Originally posted by MnMRhoades

I believe the newer 12V only are compressor tpye of refridgerators.

True. Absorption fridges are getting harder and harder to find. I have mixed emotions about it. I like the idea of having a propane fridge for boondocking, however if you have a decent battery bank and good solar capture, the new compressor fridges are pretty good too.

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Gpokluda
2017 Rpod 179(sold 2023)
2022 Escape 5.0TA
2022 Ford F150 4X4 3.5EB
Honda SCL500

Posted By: poohbill
Date Posted: 05 Apr 2026 at 2:52pm

We like our old three-way fridge for the ability to cool with fire. Propane is available everywhere in our area and more reliable than sun back in the woods. Regardless, it is time to swap out our two 12v flooded. The last time, when I replaced the once Camping World installed at the sale, the salesman tried to upgrade us to 6v, only to find the their additional height was too much for where the tray was mounted back under the front curve and would leave them tipped. We still have the space constraint and none of the AIs will answer my question “Will it fit?”

Thoughts?

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2016 179 Gastropod
2017 Ridgeline

Posted By: Rpod-Couple
Date Posted: 05 Apr 2026 at 8:20pm

The 100 amp-hour lithium (LiFePO4) fit in the same space as a 100 amp-hour 12V AGM lead-acid battery and are now about equal in cost. The lithium batteries are about 1/2 the weight and have a greater number of discharge cycles. Down sides are: (1) The 100 amp-hour nominal 12V lithium batteries fit but you have to pay attention to temperature - particularly use/charging at 0F and below. (2) You may need to upgrade your converter to get them charged above 80% or use a cheap 12V Lithium charger to get them top charged.

If you are primarily Boon-docking, plan to use solar panels, and not cold weather camping, lithium are the way to go. You can mount lithium inside the camper to keep them warm, but this will be more work.

Quite a few articles out there on switching to Lithium batteries.

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Steve & Elaine
2021 R-pod
2023 VW Atlas Cross Sport

Posted By: gpokluda
Date Posted: 06 Apr 2026 at 7:16am

If I were spending money on batteries, I would look at every possible option to go with LiFePO4. As Rpod-Couple says, FLA and lithium batteries are so close in price now it doesn't make sense to put up with the limitations and weight of a lead acid battery. The easiest solution is to pop a LiFePO4 battery in the battery box and get a nice, portable solar panel with a built in controller and alligator clip it to the battery when camping. These batteries do get a bit finicky in the cold, but some come with internal heaters to keep the battery warm and they are so light, they are easy to remove during storage.

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Gpokluda
2017 Rpod 179(sold 2023)
2022 Escape 5.0TA
2022 Ford F150 4X4 3.5EB
Honda SCL500