New Coach Battery Cables?

[whyverne14]

So now I need to run heavier wires from the new converter box to the coach battery. I was looking around, "Where do you buy this?" but now I'm thinking that I already have a set of 6 gauge copper jumper cables that I never use anymore since I bought the jumper pack. Why don't I just use that? I'm trying to learn to ask first.

Also, does anyone have any ingenious ways of securing the coach battery? It's in that plastic box on the side there. The last genius put a strap in with a couple screws and the strap just ripped out of course.

[Totem]

yep, jumper cables are nice. You can use welding cable also if really want large guage cable. welding crimp connectors on the ends too.

Golf Cart cables work nice.

Marine Starter cables.

All are nice.

[whyverne14]

Thank you.

[whyverne14]

Thanks. It doesn't seem like I want to mess with the bottom of the battery holding box cause that's right above the holding tank and hard to get to. It just seems weird cause I don't see any holes or fasteners at all in there except where the wires come in. What was original? I have to take that battery out a lot because I can't get a cord to the rig so I have to carry the battery across the street to top it off with my regular charger. Well I'll be running the heavier cables today and I'll give it some more thought. Thanks again.

[Derek up North]

I have to take that battery out a lot because I can't get a cord to the rig so I have to carry the battery across the street to top it off with my regular charger.

You sound like a perfect candidate for a solar battery maintainer. Unless you enjoy the exercise!

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-2W-Solar-Battery-Maintainer/15063010

[Derek up North]

Not a charger, a maintainer.

[zero]

2 watt panel

A 2 watt panel produces .13 amps per hour under optimal conditions. The dashboard of a Toyhome with an overcab sticking out over the windscreen does not qualify as an optimal condition. Subtract from that the situation of it being located behind a window instead of being placed in direct sunlight. Its not going to be a trickle charger, its a weeping charger

Even .13 of an amp is a bit optimistic for a 2 watt rated panel.. Solar panels rarely put out their rated wattage even in good conditions. A 15 watt panel is the usual minimum for battery maintenance and that is for a small single battery setup. Not a large RV battery. A 15 watt panel layed on the dashboard of an auto will produce 1/2 an amp @ 14 volts for a few hours a day and maybe near 1 amp for less then an hour in the brightest sun IF pointing straight at it. Nice thing about a 15 watt panel is there is no controller needed. It's too small to overcharge a battery.

[zero]

These fold-up suitcase solar panels rated for 13 watts work great for full-time battery maintenance when stuck on the dashboard. I bought several over 5 years ago for $39 each and they've worked great. Price has gone up a bit though. I've checked amp output and 1/2 amp is the highest reading I ever got. I'm in the northeast though. Some areas in the SW will do a little better.

[starbrightsteve]

While I do think its important that the battery not be allowed to slide around, I question that it is important tie it down. On my sunrader,the battery is located midpoint between the front and rear axles. Since I drive slowly and avoid motocross courses, it just does not jump up and down. My old battery tray and box were completely rusted out on the bottom. When I rebuilt the battery compartment I made no provision for a tie down although the battery can not slide front to back or side to side and there is a rubber cushion under the battery.

[whyverne14]

Yeah, I finally got it through my thick head that FLA batteries just don't want to take that last 15 to 20 percent of charge unless you hit them with 14+ volts for many hours. There ain't no way around it. Otherwise you have a constantly partially charged battery which is not good for battery life either in the long or short term. A lot of people don't do it that way and get by but if you want to do it right, you got to pump it up.

And I just cut some blue foam board to make a nice little bed for the battery so it can't slosh around in there. If it jumps up and down a bit, well that's the drivers fault. Slow down you jerk! Oh that's me.

[whyverne14]

While I do think its important that the battery not be allowed to slide around, I question that it is important tie it down. On my sunrader,the battery is located midpoint between the front and rear axles. Since I drive slowly and avoid motocross courses, it just does not jump up and down. My old battery tray and box were completely rusted out on the bottom. When I rebuilt the battery compartment I made no provision for a tie down although the battery can not slide front to back or side to side and there is a rubber cushion under the battery.

That's what I decided too.

[whyverne14]

I'd like to apologize, I don't think I made it clear that we dry camp almost exclusively. So since I can't plug in at home and don't plug in at camp, I find it necessary to remove the coach battery and charge it in the house. Maintainers aren't going to charge up a depleted battery. I might run my cheap generator for a few hours a day in camp just to keep us going.

Being a newbie, I was confused for most of the summer myself. I have this battery monitor and I'd drive for a couple hours and it would say 100%. Then a few hours later it would be at 60%. I found out those readings don't really count. You got to let the battery sit for about a day to get a true reading. And the only way I can get a true 100% is to charge it in the house. At least until I can afford a fancy solar boondocking system.

[WME]

A 100w solar "kit" can be had for less than $175.00. Save you a whole lot of work by getting one asap.

A 50w system is around $110, it would do while your at home, but wouldn't add that much energy while dry camped.

[zero]

I'd like to apologize, I don't think I made it clear that we dry camp almost exclusively. So since I can't plug in at home and don't plug in at camp, I find it necessary to remove the coach battery and charge it in the house. Maintainers aren't going to charge up a depleted battery. I might run my cheap generator for a few hours a day in camp just to keep us going.

#1 why not wire your truck so the engine's alternator can charge your "house" battery properly whenever you start the engine? The OEM system is usually inadequate, but it's fairly easy to wire in some #2 cable from the front isolator, to the back "house" battery and allow full charge current to get back there. If you have a rectifier-set for an isolator, it probably cannot handle the higher charge rate. A $25 continuous-duty 100-150 amp relay will though.

#2 in regard to solar - nice to have but it would take a LOT to maintain a camper unless you use near nothing in electric. A solar panel only makes good power for 1/4 of a day, at best. So a "100 watt" panel is more-or-less a 25 watt panel when rated for a full day. Much depends on what sort of electric demands you have. A 100 watt panel can give you 1 to 1 1/2 amps @ 14 volts per hour, on average, per day WHEN the sun shines. That is barely enough to run a high-efficiency refrigerator if you have one. Or maybe a TV and lights? A 19" LCD AC powered TV will draw around 4 amps @ 12 volts when run with a DC to AC inverter. A single 100 watt solar panel could power it for 5-6 hours and still keep the battery charged.

For reference, we had a "dry camp" with four 120 watt solar panels. With that we ran a 5 cubic foot DC refrigerator, lights, and watched a 32" LCD TV hooked to a DVD player every night for 2-3 hours. Also used a microwave oven now and then and an electric coffee-maker in the morning. Low sun area in the northeast and it always kept the batteries fully charged. I later added four more 120 watt panels so I could run power tools and an air-compressor for a nail gun. I was building a house with all tools run off solar. Worked fine.

[Totem]

I agree with JDE, my alternator always puts out more than 14v and just idling will put a good charge on her for a while... driving a 6 hour trip will charge well, and by the end of a road trip the battery is topped off usually. I prefer solid state isolator to the solenoid type that other in here advocate.

I agree also with him on solar comment, but personally I found when i dry camped for deer hunting that the harbor freight 45 watt kit charged enough to replace what the furnace did the night before for 5 days. The battery wasn't 100% but would be 85 - 90 and I would idle for 30 minutes to top her off when we came in after prime time.

Of course thats ALL i used battery for was furnace, no inverter or anything and all LED lights.

[zero]

I can see where a 45 panel could keep up with an RV furnace- especially if there was snow on the ground. Solar panels can sometimes exceed their ratings in cold weather with snow-cover (don't know if you had snow or not). Regardless - if a furnace runs 15 minutes per hour, and a "night" is 10 hours long, that comes to 2 1/2 hours of a 6 amp draw. I.e. 15 amp-hours. With a 45 watt panel, a 5 hour winter day might produce 3 amps per hour for 5 hours (15 amp-hours) - so it can be a close match. Also, I'm understating the solar potential a little. A solar panel makes most of it's power in the 5 brightest hours, but still puts out something in other hours of light when the sun it at a more severe angle.

[whyverne14]

Wow, how complicated are electricity and batteries? Very. Well my budget is blown for this year anyway. I'm actually quite happy that I found out, since I never plug in; that I can get a nice full charge by charging the battery in the house. I've had the new converter for three weeks now and haven't yet had the opportunity to see what happens when it's plugged in!

I slept in it for the last three days cause I'm doing some experiments with bed comfort. And I used some lights and some water. The battery was reading 12.6 this morning. That makes me happy, I hadn't seen a number consistently that high all summer. I'm getting there. Any more electric mods will have to wait. I've got to replace both roof vents. The cab AC needs fixed. I need to winterize yet, change the engine antifreeze. Always something.

[5Toyota]

I boon dock for 4 to five days. I make it a point to only turn on one light at a time and I also use a large square battery led lantern. in nite temps of 35 to 40 no problem. I also set my heat at 50 to 55. I use a 6 and half pound sleeping bag. sometimes I use my china two bit generator to charge . I also carry a 4 amp battery charger.

[whyverne14]

I boon dock for 4 to five days. I make it a point to only turn on one light at a time and I also use a large square battery led lantern. in nite temps of 35 to 40 no problem. I also set my heat at 50 to 55. I use a 6 and half pound sleeping bag. sometimes I use my china two bit generator to charge . I also carry a 4 amp battery charger.

Yeah, you sound like us. I thought camping was to get away from the lights. Don't usually turn the furnace on until morning to take the chill off. Two sets of pajamas, light and heavy. We find that our android tablets are plenty enough entertainment.

[canman47]

I'm a little late jumping in here but I had to get new cables made for my class A motor home and had some excellent cables made at custombatterycables.com. He has all the tools to do it right including an industrial crimper. You just can't do that right yourself. I was told never to use welding wire on a motor vehicle. It makes good jumper cables but apparently the insulation is not resistant to automotive oils and greases. Also isn't 6 gauge a little light? I used 2 gauge.

[Vanman]

After buying a crimp tool I was at Western Marine getting more lugs, killed too many in practice. Finding out the lugs are same price as I paid on-line, they have the great heavyduty heat shrink with heat activated adhesive inside, AND a great crimping tool that they will let you use.

I had already ran the wires and zip tied 'em down but if I ever have to do any more I will do the runs at home and take them to the store for crimping.

vanman

[whyverne14]

I'm a little late jumping in here but I had to get new cables made for my class A motor home and had some excellent cables made at custombatterycables.com. He has all the tools to do it right including an industrial crimper. You just can't do that right yourself. I was told never to use welding wire on a motor vehicle. It makes good jumper cables but apparently the insulation is not resistant to automotive oils and greases. Also isn't 6 gauge a little light? I used 2 gauge.

Actually the more I look at it, the more I'm thinking that it would be a better job for the pros. Might be better to save my money and have it done right. The converter box instructions says 8 gauge but 6 is better.

[zero]

I'm a little late jumping in here but I had to get new cables made for my class A motor home and had some excellent cables made at custombatterycables.com. He has all the tools to do it right including an industrial crimper. You just can't do that right yourself. I was told never to use welding wire on a motor vehicle. It makes good jumper cables but apparently the insulation is not resistant to automotive oils and greases. Also isn't 6 gauge a little light? I used 2 gauge.

Some types of welding cable have insulation that's fine for automotive use. The big difference is that welding cable has extremely fine strands of wire and is much more flexible then standard battery cable and does not hold a crimped-on terminal as well.

An "industrial" crimper is not necessary to make proper cables with crimp (or hydraulic powered) crimper back at the shop. Hammer-crimpers do the job just as well and are cheap. And for those who don't want to spend $17 for professional crimps - you can always solder on the ends. I suggest getting some glue-sealed, color-coded heat-shrink tubing to insulate the ends when done.

In regard to any cable being "small" . . it's all about how many amps need to be carried, how far, and how much voltage loss can be tolerated. 3% loss is usually the limit for a 12 volt systems, whereas AC power in houses often allows up to a 5% loss.. My Toyota has an 18 foot long #2 copper cable run from the front to the back to carry up to 60 amps of current. That results in a 3% voltage drop or "loss" if running a full 60 amps through it. At 40 amps there is a 2% loss, and at 30 amps a 1 1/2 % loss.

[zero]

Battery cable by industrial suppliers is sold with standard or HD insulation, and as "flexilble" or "ultra-flexible." The "ultra-flexible" cable is also sold as "welding cable."