not sure yet i just picked up my 53'gooseneck yesterday and have a sleeping area up front. proably a small tv---laptop---dah dah dah

 

Herb,

That shouldn't be too much of a load.

If I were setting that up, I think my choice would be two Trojan T-105's (6v in series). Those are generally thought of as the best bang for the buck as far as a good performing true deep cycle.

Other choices would be the Trojan L16HC's. They are about twice the price of T105's but have twice the capacity. The nice thing about them is they have about the same footprint of a T105, just taller, so you can get the capacity of 4 T105's in less space.

Optimas are also good batteries.

Here's a good article about cost and life span of various battery types.

http://www.vonwentzel.net/Battery/01.Type/index.html

 

ok.... I thought you were going to try to run a 5 hp sir compressor or something crazy.... That should handle that with ease.... Get quality batteries... They usually end up getting placed in a hard to get to spot and are not much fun to swap out if/when they go bad.
They are a heck of a lot better than I generator!!! I don't care how quiet they say they are... You can here and feel them running... Inverters are quiet and you can put them away and run power remotely so you don't even have to hear the fans...
With a 53 footer... I guess you are delivering nation wide in comfort and putting that hotel money back in your pocket!

OG

 

Loaded and leaving in the morning for Fla.

 

where can i get the Trojan batteries ? why not two twelve volt like is in the trucks instead of two 6 volt ?

 

I think I've seen the T105 trojans at Costco at a good price. Big box stores that have a lot of RV stuff will likely carry them, as will dedicated RV shops and/or golf cart places. There are also lots of places on line.

From reading various RV forums, it seems that with 6v you get batteries that will tolerate more cycles of deeper discharge for your money. Mainly I think that all the parts of a 6v are designed specifically for deep discharge (since most go to golf carts, floor machines, or RV's) where 12v deep cycles might share cases or plates with starting batteries made by the same company.

The other choice to consider would be Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM) types. They don't need periodic water added, are more tolerant to extreme vibration, can't spill, give off less gas, and have a longer life... but they are usually more than twice the price amp hour per amp hour when compared to a quality flooded cell battery like the T-105 or the bigger L16HC.

Anyway, if your batteries are going to be in a location where checking them and/or adding water a couple of times a year is going to be a real project, you might go with AGM deep cycles. Trojan and Optima both offer AGM types, in a variety of sizes and 6v or 12v.

If you can get to the batteries, though, I'd go with the flooded type (T105 or L16HC) and get twice the battery capacity for your buck.

 

Herb,

Any updates? Did you get it set up, and if so how's it working out?

Also, one other advantage to two 6v's that I forgot to mention is that when you have 2 twelve volt batteries and one has a weak cell or self-discharges faster it will draw down the other battery because they are in parallel. They need to be like types of the same amp hours and similar age. 2 six volt batteries act more like one huge capacity 12 volt battery, since you basically have 6 two volt cells in series, just in two cases.

Anyhow, that's a super-cool looking trailer. I hope it serves you well. Do you have a furnace, or any other stuff drawing 12v other than the inverter and some lights?

 

Here are some good sources of information for inverters systems.
In a way you are creating an off grid system on wheels less the solar panels although there is enough area on the top of that trailer to install an impressive array.

I have a 3000-watt inverter in my truck; it is connected directly to an 8-D deep cycle battery with short #2 gauge-welding cable interconnects.
I would like to replace the 8-D with 2- 6 volt Trojans but that is for another project.
Instead of charging the battery bank with a generator/ battery charger I would build a gas powered DC generator using an 8 Hp engine and a 1 wire GM alternator.
This way you could charge it with 50-100 amps you could never get from a AC charger.
Also some of the larger inverters have built in battery chargers onboard.

Todd Engineering makes excellent battery chargers.
http://www.cisolar.com/catChargers.html

I would also install some way of monitoring the batteries state of charge since your battery bank could be a small investment of its own.

http://www.backwoodssolar.com/Catalo...attery%20Meter

http://www.backwoodssolar.com/

http://www.homepower.com/

Jim

 

Not to highjack the thread, but I have a 900 watt inverter. It is wired directly from the battery. What I did, was cut off the ends of jumper cables and put ring terminals on the ends. also put an inline fuse from a car stereo application. the inverter is under the passenger seat and it has it's own small fuse.
Is there anything wrong with the way I did it?
I used jumper cables because that is heavy wire that is relatively cheap compared to car stereo amplifier grade wire.

 

No... there is nothing wrong with that... Herb is hooking his up in a trailer with its own battery bank that will need to be recharged... If you hook your directly to your truck batt... it will work just fine.
The only thing I see that may cause you some problems is dust and lent getting into the inverter and causing some over heating problems or noise from the fan being out of balance from collecting junk. Make sure that it is easy to remove to clean periodically.
I mounted mine under the glove compartment so all you see is the face... Looks pretty clean and is easy to remove and blow the trash out that seems to always get in there.

Oilguy

 

I also agree that should work fine, as long as you are using it primarily when the truck is running.

Most inverters shut down when the batteries get down to 10 volts, and pulling the truck's shallow cycle starting type batteries down that far would trash them in short order.

Herb is looking at running a TV and what not in his trailer, and that's why folks were suggesting installing some deep cycles, and either using an isolator or unplugging the trailer when parked and using the inverter...

 

ok, thanks. It is actually sitting on a metal bracket under the seat, about 4 inches off the floor. I am sure the is some lint and dirt that makes it's way in there. The last inverter was a cheapo, it lasted 3 years. Just got this one a few months ago at a Flying J. I wanted a 1500 watt, but they were sold out of the better 1500 one.
Thanks for the input!

 

Whoa - - something just caught my eye in the original post. Interior lighting in a trailer is all 12v - - don't hook it up to an inverter or you will blow all the bulbs.
Bob

 

I presume all the 12v lights were going to stay on 12v, and he was going to add a 110v light or two, plus computer and maybe TV...

 

Believe it or not, the trailer has been on the road pretty steady since i began this thread. I am hopeing to get to this project over the next week . need to pick up an isolater (somewhere?) and going to go with a couple large deep cycle 6v batteries in series and see how it works.