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I'm currently dry camping on the west coast of Mexico. I don't have solar but have been using a generator for a couple hours daily to charge up the single deep cycle house battery. This worked fine for many months, here and elsewhere, combined with a few hours of charging off the alternator while driving once a week or so. Now, however, it seems the battery charging aspect of the power converter, an old B-W 6325, has ceased working. This appears to be the case because while the generator is running, the power to the 12v circuits in the coach is at around 13.2v but the power at the lug connected to the house battery remains at whatever voltage to battery was at before firing up the generator. Correct me if I am misdiagnosing this or testing incorrectly. I'll install a replacement converter when we get back up north, but in the meantime I'm nowhere near anywhere for another month or two. My question for someone who knows more in this area than me: since the converter is putting out 13.2v to the house circuits, for lights, pump, etc, would it be possible to put a jump wire in from one of these house circuits on the DC fuse board to the house battery lug? I could easily disconnect the lead that is going to this lug from the converter, just to prevent any weird loops or feedback, but is there some other aspect of the power to the house circuits which might damage the house battery? Perhaps too much amperage? (I don't have an amp meter with me so no way to test what that is.) The only other solution I can think of is running the engine, which works fine to charge to house battery but burns a lot of fuel. Thanks in advance for any assistance or suggestions.

A decade ago (?) I replaced my coach battery in my 91 Odyssey with AutoZone's DuraLast 24MS-DL. I added a solar panel somewhere around the same time, and never thought about the battery again. The last time I dry-camped - a year ago - I experienced a 1 or 2-minute power outage each time the water-pump was powering the shower while a light or two was on. I forgot about it until this week. That's because I'm headed off for that same 6-day desert camping trip in a few weeks. I've assumed that it's probably an old battery issue, and that I may as well replace the coach battery. I contacted AutoZone, and learned that the 24MS-DL is no longer made, but they sell something called the 24MS-DL, which is a bit longer. Then I started reading-up on batteries, and learning that a duel-purpose battery is silly, and a battery that brags about its cranking amps is silly, and that a 27 is better than a 24, etc etc. Now all this is irrelevant. That's because, an hour ago I removed the battery from the exterior-hatched compartment, and measured the chamber. It's 7 1/4' wide, 10 3/4" high, and 10 5/8" deep. Houston, We've got a problem! The new DuraLast is 11" long, and a quick google shows that the Walmart EverStart is also 11" long. They will not fit! Anyone have any ideas for an appropriate deep-cycle battery that will fit in a battery compartment that's only 10 5/8" deep? Thanks! Bill in SF