PEAK PUTTERS

so I am contemplating switching to 6V house batteries. Anyone have any experience doing this? pro's and con's? How difficult is it?

Do it! Especially if you have room for them. Back with our previous class C, it only came with one 12v battery. Running the heater on a chilly night would eat all the juice just from the fan running off and on. Switched it out for two 6v and never had a problem again. Plus, the 6v re-charge much faster. Wrench re-built the battery tray for them to fit.
Our current class A came with two 6v in it. Not sure if it is factory, or if the previous owner put them in. But, we have never ran low on juice even when boondocking. Just a daily dose of generator making coffee in the morning, and maybe an hour after dinner.

I switched to good 6v in the camper. Not trojan good, but good. I'm happy with it.

I've honestly had good luck with regular old NAPA 12v deep cycle batteries over the years. We had our Coachman Class C for over 10 years and went through (3) pairs of 12v batteries during that time, with what I would consider average use for a family of four. Our new Jayco Class A also just has a pair of 12v deep cycles, and so far they have been doing everything we ask of them just fine. The newer coaches with LED interior lighting seem to really help on battery life, but anytime you end up using the inverter or tank heaters it'll zap things much quicker. My folks switched to 6v batteries in their 1998 Winnebago Class A several years back, but have since gone back to 12v once those went flat because they didn't realize any significant benefits to offset the higher battery cost.

Oh, and just to clarify, we dry camp 99.987% of the time, so it's not like we are just going from one plug to the next

Sold the trailer so I have to wonder... Is it still dry camping if the hotel doesn't have a wet bar?

Dryside wrote:Sold the trailer so I have to wonder... Is it still dry camping if the hotel doesn't have a wet bar?

No wet bar?! How barbaric...

Most RV's use Group 24 (size) batteries. The length and width of a Group 24 is the same as a 6-volt, but the 6-volt is taller by about an inch or so. A Group 27 battery is longer on the long side, but the same height as a Group 24. A pair 6-volts has almost identical total Amp Hour capacity as a pair of Group 27's.

Long story short: if you have a pair of Group 24's now, you can upgrade to Group 27's (if you have the room in length) or a pair of 6-volts (if you have the height) and either will gain you more capacity.

Some batteries are NOT the same as others. I have seen a set of "Group 24" sized batteries that were noticeably lighter than the ones I replaced them with. Your battery capacity is directly related to the lead content, and obviously some manufacturers are skimping.

Costco and Battery Systems seem to have the best prices/quality in the Tri Cities.

I can tell you from personal experience that (4) 6-volts, all LED lighting, and (2) large solar panels makes for a very nice dry-camping setup.

And by all means, be sure to use tools to tighten the battery terminals. I see a lot of batteries that live a very short life because the terminals were loose and the batteries were not charging well.

Thanks Paul

Best thing I’ve done on the toyhauler and I previously had 2 12volts.

Went to 4 6volts and it’s been night and day in terms of battery life. I’m running Napa 6V golf cart batteries going on 3 years now.