First Timer... Please help?

[tatyatl1022]

I just purchased a 2007 keystone Challenger 5th wheel 34 TBH camper... It has a 50 amp converter... What battery should I buy? I do not have access to any external power... I am aware that I can only run two things at a time at Max... I know I need a deep cycle battery but I don't know like the details where it says 12 volts 12.8 what MH etc etc please help...

 

[jackiemac]

Hi and welcome. I can't help but I'm sure someone will be able to give you advice.

Our trailer uses 2 6V golf cart batteries but not sure if that suits a 5th wheel.

Good luck and enjoy your new camper.

 

[mnc]

If you don't have access to any external power how are you going to keep a battery charged?
you need some way of charging a generator, solar, or something.

 

[Isaac-1]

What type of battery you need to buy will depend on how and where you plan to use your RV, along with what will fit in its battery compartment. If you plan to just go from one full hookup RV campground to the next only needing battery power to run things for a few hours while you drive from one electrical hookup to another, then you can get by with a single basic 12V deep cycle group 24 (smallest)/ group 27, 29 or group 31 (largest) that sells for about $100 give or take at Wal-Mart, etc. These will usually be marked as RV or Marine Deep Cycle batteries. If you plan to camp off grid, things move up from there, though many come from the factory with a pair of Group 27's wired in parallel, this is just a starting point.

Depending on how much stuff you run, and assuming your RV has a RV style absorption refrigerator and not a residential refrigerator with an inverter, then you can likely get 1 or two nights out of a pair of group 27's between needing to recharge depending on how much you run the furnace and conserve power. Though daily charging is probably most common.

 

[PaulBates]

Welcome, I'm relatively new as well and found myself with similar questions. I have a pop up and was able to squeeze 3 nights out of a single small marine battery.. but all we ran was lights, magic fan occasionally and the 12volt fan for our heater.
The generous, experienced technical members here nicely walked me through it in this thread... give this a look and see how it helps. Some great links to battery basics are in there too

 

[Kirk]

I did some investigating and was able to find a 2007 Challenger brochure so here is a copy. It does give a list of what your trailer had when new.

It has a 50 amp converter... What battery should I buy? I do not have access to any external power.

The first thing to know is that the size of converter is how much current it can supply but has nothing to do with the best battery size. As mentioned above, you must have some source of outside power in order to charge whatever battery you buy. Are you telling us that there is no battery in the RV now? You should have a 50A power cord that needs to be connected to an outlet in order to have 120V power to the outlets, microwave, TV and your outlets.

I am aware that I can only run two things at a time at Max.

If connected to a 50A RV outlet you can probably run everything at the same time if you wish. The brochure makes no mention of an inverter so most likely you do not have one. The battery will supply you with 12V power until it is rundown, which will happen fairly quickly if you do not have a means of recharging it. There is a 120V/12V converter that will recharge the battery and supply 12V power if you are connected to an RV outlet or to a proper generator.