New owner 6v battery, charger and solar question - Trojan, Duracell, or other?

[FairviewFairyFarm]

Hello everyone! We are thrilled to have just bought our first 2006 TrailManor 2619 and of course the crappy marine/rv autozone battery is dead. We have decided that we would like to switch to two 6v traction golf cart batteries and are considering the Duracell GC2 and the Trojan T-105+ or similar lead acid battery, or an AGM. We have a few questions for anyone out there with knowledge or experience or on this issue:

Will our stock charger handle the new charging needs of the much larger batteries?

Lead-acid or AGM?

Is there a way we can bring a solar input into our stock charger/inverter?

Any info would be much appreciated, thanks!

[rickst29]

I think that I'm the best "TM expert" WRT to Solar on a 2619, and can advise. First thing for Solar: Figure out how much battery power you want to consume per day, when plugins are NOT present. Then: Make another post and ask for advice within in the "Solar Power" section. Don't forget to become a full member within 30 days, or you'll lose access to the "technical" forum topics.

But before doing anything else, I think that you should upgrade the existing "Charger/Converter" with something better. If it's WFCO, like mine, then you can buy an upgrade "Boondocker" upgrade converter board (size 55A), while keeping the existing DC wiring board and case. It's pretty easy to do an "upgrade", in comparison to replacing the whole thing. My old WFCO failed me at the worst possible time, over a thousand miles from home... and it died young. Neither model did a good job of maintaining batteries, and probably killed the old ones (if it wasn't a case of simple "old age").

If it's not WFCO, then it's the probably the older Magnetek/Parallax "7300 Converter", which didn't even pretend to be a "3-stage" charger. That one can be upgraded too. IMO, "bestconverter.com" is a great store for both of these upgrades, and has superb support. Amazon has some alternatives too, but no after-purchase support. (Trailmanor used two different models of Converters in building 2619 Trailers during year 2006.)
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The brains in a Solar system resides in the "Solar Charge Controller". When the Converter is plugged in, the Solar Charge Controller will see that the batteries already have correct charging voltage for their State-of-Charge - and it won't "pile on" more. But, when driving down the road or sitting in camp, the battery terminals will not be at charging voltage - and the Solar Charge Controller will try to draw power from the panels, and push it into the batteries. A few TM owners get buy with as little as "80 Watts" of panels on the roof, but most have 200 Watts. Some, like me and BrucePerens, have much more. (I have 330W, and a very tricky set of equipment to use my 4Runner as a 280W Solar panel when it's dark or cloudy.) There are great diagrams, discussions, and pictures in the "Solar" section of the forum: it's separate from the "electrical" section.

The "Solar Charge Controller" connects to the batteries on it's own set of wires, and doesn't go "through" the AC/DC Converter unit.
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I won't advise about batteries. I personally get by with cheap ones - but I've got a bunch of fancy electrical equipment to accomplish that "charge from the 4Runner" trick. It took many hours to design and install, and a really good Solar configuration is prerequisite for putting that stuff in.

[B_and_D]

We've owned our TM since 2003 and are on our second set of the T-105's. I bought the second set not too long ago, and they are still going strong. I think that the first set lasted at least ten years. Still using the original converter. I think our TrailManor is blessed.

[Padgett]

Trojans are probably the best battery you can buy but for me the Duracell GC2s at Sam's Club were more cost effective.

Enclosed is my circuit.

[BrucePerens]

Flooded lead-acid are more durable and less expensive than AGM, but you have to look in them once in a while and add distilled water. You might go half a year between actually having to add water, so it's difficult to see where an AGM would add value. I also recommend a battery protector. I did manage to destroy a pair of brand-new GC2s without one, just by leaving the master switch on while the trailer was covered. The Victron BP-65 is $45 on eBay. It will shut off the battery when it gets to 12 volts, saving it from being run to dead, which will damage it.

I have 400 watts of panels on the rear shell and an electric (not gas) refrigerator. As long as the camper is not shaded, that refrigerator will run forever. Boondocking is not a problem.