Two 6 Volts vs two 12 Volt batteries?

[Blanco1]

I've always been lead to believe that going dual 6 Volts is a much better option?

[SoundGuy]

bpounds wrote:
I might be wrong. When I looked at 12v televisions a decade ago or so, all that were available were small "trucker sleeper" style, and the costs were unreasonable. Maybe something is available these days. My guess is you have wired up a custom connection for yours. Not really what the OP and his dealer were discussing though.

Here's mine (above the stereo), stock flat screen LCD television, no different than those supplied with many trailers these days ...



12 vdc power is supplied from the Winegard wall plate that feeds the television itself.

[bpounds]

SoundGuy wrote:

Blanco1 wrote:
This also reminds me about one RV dealer was telling us about 12 TV's vs 110?

bpounds wrote:
You won't want 12V television.

Why would you say that? :h My Coachmen's stock television is 12 vdc and although it was supplied with a 120 ac > 12 vdc power supply I never use it and instead power it directly with 12 vdc ... no reason not to. Simpler. 🙂

I might be wrong. When I looked at 12v televisions a decade ago or so, all that were available were small "trucker sleeper" style, and the costs were unreasonable. Maybe something is available these days. My guess is you have wired up a custom connection for yours. Not really what the OP and his dealer were discussing though.

On edit: Amazon offers a 24" LED. I don't see anything larger than that. Not a terrible price, but still pretty high for only 24".

[SoundGuy]

Blanco1 wrote:
This also reminds me about one RV dealer was telling us about 12 TV's vs 110?

bpounds wrote:
You won't want 12V television.

Why would you say that? :h My Coachmen's stock television is 12 vdc and although it was supplied with a 120 ac > 12 vdc power supply I never use it and instead power it directly with 12 vdc ... no reason not to. Simpler. 🙂

[bpounds]

Blanco1 wrote:
But since I'll be buying a new trailer that the dealer may or may not give me the option of 6 vs 12 volt?
I might just tell them I want 6 volts & or tell them I'll get my own.
& I have an awesome electrician that can wire anything I want.

Funny, Until reading these post I never even thought about the inverter stuff?
I'm assuming a 2018 TT will have nice inverters?

This also reminds me about one RV dealer was telling us about 12 TV's vs 110?

Your dealer might work with you. On this trailer, I pulled the 2x6VDC out of my old trailer, and told them I wanted them in my new trailer. They were happy to supply the new box and wire them in, for the cost of the single 12VDC that was part of the sale. If you bought the 6VDC batteries in advance, your dealer might do something similar. And if he won't, well you'll have them and will just need a box. Think about where they will go. Different trailers handle that differently, and on some pull-behinds it can be a problem.

Most trailers come standard with a converter, but not an inverter. Usually an extra option.

You won't want 12V television.

I'm at about 10 years on these Interstate 6VDC batteries. They really last if you take care of them, and if you've got a good converter handling the maintenance.

[Atlee]

It's my experience that the dealer will put the cheapest 12V he can find on the trailer. The only way you will pull that trailer off the lot with 2 6V batteries is if you ask that 2 GC2's be added and you will pay for the privilege.

You will have to have a battery of some description on the trailer before you pull it off the dealer's lot.

A high end trailer might have an inverter, but not many will come that way.

Blanco1 wrote:


But since I'll be buying a new trailer that the dealer may or may not give me the option of 6 vs 12 volt?
I might just tell them I want 6 volts & or tell them I'll get my own.
& I have an awesome electrician that can wire anything I want.

Funny, Until reading these post I never even thought about the inverter stuff?
I'm assuming a 2018 TT will have nice inverters?

This also reminds me about one RV dealer was telling us about 12 TV's vs 110?

[Blanco1]

bpounds wrote:
This topic always goes off the rails, due to a few guys who think their science is something special. It's not necessarily that they are wrong, it's just that they don't seem to live in the real world with other average RVrs.

The fact is, if you're going to drop by the local Walmart, Sears, or Autozone and buy a couple of batteries off the shelf, get the 6V deep cycle. They will always be your better choice among the common stock.

Yeah, I'm not a techy or plan to get all trick about it.

But since I'll be buying a new trailer that the dealer may or may not give me the option of 6 vs 12 volt?
I might just tell them I want 6 volts & or tell them I'll get my own.
& I have an awesome electrician that can wire anything I want.

Funny, Until reading these post I never even thought about the inverter stuff?
I'm assuming a 2018 TT will have nice inverters?

This also reminds me about one RV dealer was telling us about 12 TV's vs 110?

[Blanco1]

edatlanta wrote:
I took the 12v battery out of my rig as soon as I got it to my home base in August 2010 and installed two Trojan T-105 Plus battery's. Now 7 1/2 years later they are still going strong. I top off the water in them every spring and fall.

Wow!
thats a long time.
But I think I've been led to believe they hold a charge longer without discharging as fast as 2 12 volts?

[westend]

SoundGuy wrote:

Soundguy wrote:
...just yesterday I ordered Group 31 AGM

westend wrote:
What brand did you order?

DEKA 8ADT31M manufactured by East Penn at wholesale from a friend in the business. :B

Thank you!

[Gdetrailer]

bpounds wrote:
This topic always goes off the rails, due to a few guys who think their science is something special. It's not necessarily that they are wrong, it's just that they don't seem to live in the real world with other average RVrs.

The fact is, if you're going to drop by the local Walmart, Sears, or Autozone and buy a couple of batteries off the shelf, get the 6V deep cycle. They will always be your better choice among the common stock.

Yep.

Not everyone is interested in special ordering batteries which are not "popular", easy to find, extremely heavy nor more expensive.

6V GC batteries ARE extremely easy to find, easier to handle and because they are extremely popular they are produced in large enough volume that the cost per Ahr IS much less than pretty much anything else out there.

One pair of 6V GC batteries gives you MORE Ahr than TWO group 27 12V "marine/RV" combo multipurpose start/deep cycle batteries and the two 6V GC batteries does it for LESS cost than two 12V "marine/RV" batteries.

It would take THREE 12V "marine/RV" batteries to get equivalent Ahr capacity and that would be pressing it having to deeper discharge them MORE than one pair of 6V GC batts..

That is why many folks like myself go with 6V GC batts..

By the way, for the folks that insist that a pair of GC batts cannot run a high wattage inverter, I have NO problem running my Tripplite PV1250 inverter from my one pair of 6V GC batteries.

I DEPEND on that inverter and batteries to reliably start and run my Home fridge conversion.

My home fridge has a startup surge current of about 9A-10A at 120V which translates to about 90A-100A at 12V DC and running it only draws 1A at 120V or about 10A at 12V DC (AC current IS measured, DC current is estimated and may be slightly higher due to inverter losses).

I have no problem running this setup for 24 hrs before recharging with NO (ZERO, NADA, ZILCH, ZIP) low voltage alarm from the fridge start up surge.

I think the battery resistance with 6V GC batteries is a NON ISSUE with 99.9% of the people and it is nothing but a "red herring" argument by a few people about nothing..

[crosscheck]

Old Wives' Tale, repeated ad nauseam here on the forums "just because" the 6 volt answer was considered a "rule of thumb", born when inverter use wasn't as popular with RVrs as it is now and significant voltage drop under heavy inverter load that 6 volts suffer so badly wasn't such an important issue as it now is ... well, at least for those of us who understand the difference.

The ORV TT that we purchased (2016 Creekside 23RKS), is designed for dry/boondock camping. It is a 4 season unit that comes with large tanks, (80gal F, 2x40gal G, 40gal B), beefier suspension, large propane tanks etc. Owners have done mods to the units which include: replacing the 2x12V stock batteries with 4x6V GC-2's in a special, Century Plastics box and fabricated, battery tray between the yolk rails, large inverters and plenty of solar. These mods were so popular that the company is offering them now as options.

I guess the "Old Wives" have created quite the following.

Dave

[bpounds]

This topic always goes off the rails, due to a few guys who think their science is something special. It's not necessarily that they are wrong, it's just that they don't seem to live in the real world with other average RVrs.

The fact is, if you're going to drop by the local Walmart, Sears, or Autozone and buy a couple of batteries off the shelf, get the 6V deep cycle. They will always be your better choice among the common stock.

[SoundGuy]

Soundguy wrote:
...just yesterday I ordered Group 31 AGM

westend wrote:
What brand did you order?

DEKA 8ADT31M manufactured by East Penn at wholesale from a friend in the business. :B

[westend]

Soundguy wrote:
...just yesterday I ordered Group 31 AGM

What brand did you order?

[SoundGuy]

crosscheck wrote:
The rough rule of thumb was 2 x 6V for 1000W minimum and 4 x 6V for 2000W minimum, according to the boondocking crowd.

Old Wives' Tale, repeated ad nauseam here on the forums "just because" the 6 volt answer was considered a "rule of thumb", born when inverter use wasn't as popular with RVrs as it is now and significant voltage drop under heavy inverter load that 6 volts suffer so badly wasn't such an important issue as it now is ... well, at least for those of us who understand the difference. 😛

crosscheck wrote:
There is an old saying that is as appropriate now as it was 200 year ago, "The proof of the pudding is in the eating".

If you're hungry, I've got another spoon.

No thanks, I learned long ago to eat better than this. :W Sorry to say because I know you'll be sad but I won't be sitting at your dinner table 'cause just yesterday I ordered Group 31 AGM. :W