Questions about Auxiarly batt system

[Tress]

Hi Everyone,
My girlfriend and i are planning to drive from down here in the DC area to Alaska and down to Chile starting this coming July. We are in the middle of converting a Ford '84 E-350 4x4 Pathfinder conversion into a pop top overland camper and wish we had found this forum a long time ago. At this point more than anything i am just looking for advice on building a good auxiliary battery system but i guess i will start with asking what is the best battery to use to build a solid bank. We plan to have solar panels, hopefully (2) 130watt panels and shouldn't consume too much. We do have a 1.7cu/ft 12V fridge, Microwave, water pump, Maxair fan, coffee maker, stereo, laptop, a few interior lights, small inverter and thats about it. My first thought was to use 2 or 3 Optima Blue tops but have recently realized that may not be the best battery to use and i really have no idea what is best. I heard that 6V batteries are better than 12V batteries? Has anyone any experience with L16's? Ideally i would like to be totally self sufficient, anyways any info or advice would be greatly appreciated, we could really use some help, thanks:smiley_drive: .

 

[Martyn]

Welcome to the Portal.

We use DEKA group 31 deep cycle batteries and find them to be very reliable. They have 106 amp in comparison to the Optima 96 amps.

I'd look at the dual battery management system by National Luna. www. Equipt1.com is the importer. Paul May is the owner.

If Adventurer Trailers can help you out in any way with please let us know. With solar panels the best bang for your buck starts with the 80 watt panels. Make sure you have enough space for the larger 130 watt panels. Multiple smaller panels is an other option. There is information on calculating your energy requirements at http://www.adventuretrailers.com/12volt_solar.html

Hope this helps.

 

[Tress]

So Deka 12V huh, does anyone use 6V around here? If i were to buy say 3 or these Deka's and had say (3) 80watt solar panels would they be able to charge the batteries enough to dry camp for an extended period of time? Does anyone here use high amp alternators? :smiley_drive:

 

[Martyn]

So Deka 12V huh, does anyone use 6V around here? If i were to buy say 3 or these Deka's and had say (3) 80watt solar panels would they be able to charge the batteries enough to dry camp for an extended period of time? Does anyone here use high amp alternators? :smiley_drive:

I think you need to do a complete energy assessment on what you require before moving ahead.

It's important to work out how long you will be in a single place without starting the engine. As soon as the engine is running your alternator is charging the batteries.

You don't need to completely recharge the batteries from solar, all you have to do is provide enough recharge to lengthen the time you can remain in a base camp and still be able to operate all of your accessories. Hence the need to know the longest time you will be immobile.

Unless you have a large power draw 3 auxiliary batteries is a lot, you may be able to use two. If all of the accessories you mention use 12 volt and any 110 volt are just used occasionally an educated guess would tell me 3 is too many.

6 volt batteries won't be as common as 12 volt, if you need to replace one when you are on the road you may find it difficult to do so.