Quote:
Originally Posted by JAPetal
... from the TM website link to the owner's manual, there is no reference to what type of batteries are supposed to be installed.
If anybody knows what type was recommended by the factory, I'd really appreciate the help.
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As noted by tentcamper and others, there is no "supposed to be" and no "recommended by the factory". The factory left it to the dealer, and most of the time, the dealer made the cheapest choice possible - a Group 24 battery from Interstate Battery. Available most anywhere. A few dealers installed a Group 27 battery, slightly larger, and again from Interstate. But I don't recall any dealer going further than that for a default installation. By the way, "Group" is battery-speak for "size".
These batteries are quite adequate to the needs of most TMers, and weren't a bad choice. TMers who planned to do a lot of boondocking could ask the dealer for a bigger/better battery (or battery pair), paying for the upgrade of course. Or they could upgrade the battery themselves. A common upgrade, as Bruce and Padgett point out, is a pair of 6-volt golf-cart batteries such as GC2. Batteries with even higher capacity (and higher cost) are available, of course, for those who take their boondocking really seriously. But if you plan to spend every night in a campground with an electric hookup, there is no point in spending the extra money.
If you are planning to install a common 12-violt battery, you should look for one that is called a "deep cycle" battery. This is not the same as "deep cycle/marine" battery, by the way. There are a number of threads here on the forum where this is discussed - the Search tool will bring them up.
Enjoy your "new to you" TM.
Bill