By the Never-Bored RVers
You probably heard about the unusual rainy weather that has been changing the very lives of many Southern Californians. We have been here in the area to witness it first-hand from our parking spot in Orange County’s O’Neill Regional Park.
We were lucky enough to evacuate the park Tuesday before the only canyon road was sealed off by high water and mudslides, or at least the threat of impassible roads.
Anywhere else in the country, the inconvenience of weather is nothing to talk about; in Southern California, “RAIN” headlines newspapers and media reports.
But that’s not what this article is about. It’s about RV batteries, and – more specifically — the twisted course that our efforts to upgrade has taken over the past few weeks. I’m submitting this blog to remind you to measure twice on projects; or in other words, check out the specs before putting out the money.
Since beginning our RV travels in 2006, I have looked forward to the day when our 12-volt deep-cell marine batteries would die so that I could follow the advice of just about every RV battery expert. We have often read and heard that two 6-volt batteries will give more power for more years than two 12s.
Voila! During the past two weeks of dry camping (not referring to the precipitation), we suffered with batteries that wouldn’t hold a charge. The solar regulator installed inside our “grand salon” when we had our solar panel mounted atop our trailer told us that the battery charge got up to 13.7, a very good reading, but the reading only lasted for a few minutes.
Our new LED lights didn’t phase them, yet, any other 12-volt electric usage caused that reading to drop down quickly and dramatically, once going to 9.9 – alarm level! A call to Interstate Batteries and others in the know convinced us that our original batteries had run their course.
I could now justify investing in two costly 6-volt “golf-cart” batteries, and the ever-frugal Monique agreed.
Being in the area where Ken — the mechanic who has advised and saved us several times over the past two decades — has his crowded shop, it was a no-brainer to have him order in the new batteries. With all those confounded wires connecting to the battery poles, I decided not to chance making a mistake and asked him to install the new power source upon arrival.
Remember that rain I mentioned earlier. That kept us from pulling our trailer over to his shop when the batteries were delivered, and, anyway, we wanted to avoid having him work in the rain, since his work area isn’t large enough for an RV and every parking space around him is taken.
When it was time to leave the campground to relocate to the home of one of our sons, we stopped in a bowling lanes parking lot near Ken’s car-repair garage, just as the rain let up. In a thick mist, he drove his truck to meet us and began by removing one of the original dying batteries.
He then visually compared the size of the 12-volt and the 6-volt models – and here’s where the “Beware before you switch” comes in. The 6-volt one is heavier because its lead walls are thicker. That wasn’t a problem.
The 6-volt was wider by about a half-inch – wider than the tray that came with the trailer — and that was a problem that could probably be overcome with a new tray. Next hurdle: it was also about an inch higher, and that meant he couldn’t put the cables onto the poles.
Who would have thought the space would be a problem – but it was. Oh, and I didn’t mention that this whole time the mist became a drizzle which became a light rain and then a constant pelting rain.
Three long hours later, replacement 12-volt deep-cell marine batteries were delivered, and Ken took an hour from his already scheduled workload to drop them into the battery compartment.
To say that it’s no fun being under the trailer in the rain is an understatement. I was helping out mainly by holding an umbrella over Ken and completely forgot to ask Monique to take pictures of all this. You can probably imagine the scene without a graphic.
In another four or five years when it’s time to change out these 12-volters, I’ll try to figure a way to get those 6-volt batteries to fit. I just hope it happens on a dry day.
From the “Never-Bored RVers,” We’ll see you on down the road.