Replacement battery for a 2003 Coleman (Fleetwood) Taos

[goatsage]

I just purchased a used 2003 Coleman popup and the battery needs replacing. I do not intend to use shore power, the battery will only be used to run interior lights (LED) and occasionally the propane heater fan as well as charging my cell phone via USB. My truck is only equipped with a four-pin connector, so will not be charging the battery while running. I hope to purchase a solar panel to charge the battery while camping or parked at home. Any suggestions on a battery and/or solar panel system? I am on a budget ...

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

"Cheapest" would be a group 24 marine battery. Just a WAG but I would say it could run your described loads at least a couple days. To count on solar to recover that though you need to overspec the panels a bit so you end up back at 100% most every day. You can run it a while first and see how much panel it would take but 300W is probably your baseline.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[goatsage]

Thanks Mark. Just to be clear, what is a WAG?

 

[HueyPilotVN]

Wild A** Guess

 

[goatsage]

That's what I suspected ...

 

[RNS]

Make sure is a deep cycle and not a starting battery also.

 

[gwinger]

A marine battery is not a true deep cycle. Also, never let the battery drop to less than 80%, or about 12.4 volts. Letting it discharge below that will shorten the battery life, and you will be replacing it sooner.
The best alternative is to use 2-6 volt golf cart batteries.
The led's won't draw much power, but the heater fan is a power hog.

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

A marine battery is not a true deep cycle.

But it's "cheap". (hence the quotes I used) It might be "good enough", meaning even at a diminished cycle life compared to true deep cycle it might last long enough to beat out the clock, in which case a "better" battery would only be more expensive. Example, let's say a marine battery offers 120 deep cycles. You go camping 2 weeks a year. 14 cycles a year times 5 or 6 years is under a hundred cycles before that battery craps out from age, so a battery twice or more expensive that offers 500 cycles only means you're paying more up front to throw it away later. We don't know what the use case here is other than "budget" so until more facts are known, "cheap" wins.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[Utclmjmpr]

It also would be cheap and beneficial to run a 5th wire to charge that battery while driving down the road..>>>Dan

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Your pop-up probably came with a single Group 24 size 12v marine/RV deep cycle. That's usually adequate for a couple days of the usage you describe, but be aware that the "propane heater fan" is a substantial power draw from the battery. Pop-ups have very little insulation and the heater can run quite a few hours on a chilly night. Don't be surprised if the battery is mostly discharged by morning.

Also, never let the battery drop to less than 80%, or about 12.4 volts. Letting it discharge below that will shorten the battery life, and you will be replacing it sooner.

That is extremely conservative. Many RVers would say 50% (about 12.1v) is a good cut-off point but the battery manufacturers say more like 20% (11.6v) is fine. I don't want to get into a major debate in this thread but did not want the OP to think that 80% is a widely accepted "rule of thumb".

 

[gwinger]

Your pop-up probably came with a single Group 24 size 12v marine/RV deep cycle. That's usually adequate for a couple days of the usage you describe, but be aware that the "propane heater fan" is a substantial power draw from the battery. Pop-ups have very little insulation and the heater can run quite a few hours on a chilly night. Don't be surprised if the battery is mostly discharged by morning.


That is extremely conservative. Many RVers would say 50% (about 12.1v) is a good cut-off point but the battery manufacturers say more like 20% (11.6v) is fine. I don't want to get into a major debate in this thread but did not want the OP to think that 80% is a widely accepted "rule of thumb".

The 80% is the recommendation from the battery manufacturers.

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

Since most manufacturers (any?) don't publish any marine cycle life data then strategizing to a given DoD limit is a bit moot. If it's a critical factor then a marine battery is a misapplication in the first place. Even a starting battery is good for a few dozen deep cycles so for "typical" camping a few weeks a year running modest loads, some deep and some not, a marine battery can serve just fine. I don't think they'd be a mainstream product if they weren't working for somebody.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

The optimal battery life is achieved with a maximum discharge of zero, i.e. the battery remains at 100%. But that kind of defeats the purpose of having a battery, no?