need a replacement battery for Silver Shadow

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need a replacement battery for Silver Shadow

Postby mrredrocker » Sat May 21, 2016 11:22 am

I've done some precursory searching and i'm getting a little overwhelmed with the amount of battery knowledge I don't have....group sizes, 6v vs 12v, etc..

My Silver Shadow came with a D12350D battery, dead on arrival. I *think* it's a group U1.

I'm looking to buy a battery that can at least make it through one night running the fan and lights. If it's possible to fit in the existing battery "compartment", that'd be great but I don't want to compromise the ability to run the fan all night because I have some summer camping coming up. I will likely not be set up for charging while driving (will have to look into running extra wires to convert from 4pin to 7pin later), so I'm assuming I'll at least camp with shore power every other night. If that's an iffy assumption, for a road trip from New England to Northwest across Dakotas/Montana and then down through the Southwest thru NM and TX to LA, then please just set me straight.

I'd like to pick one up rather than order one. I think I read that I don't want "Marine" but "deep cycle". I noticed that Walmart's deep cycle batteries mostly have a "Marine" designation as well. Sears says "RV/Marine" and doesn't mention amp-hours. I'm guessing I don't want either of those options? Any other place I could look locally? I assume NAPA and other auto stores will all have automotive batteries..

**EDIT** Ok, so I just went to measure the battery compartment size for anyone who didn't have it handy (7.5" x 5.5") and I realized how makeshift that little battery compartment is. I assume it would make since to modify that to fit a bigger battery..
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Re: need a replacement battery for Silver Shadow

Postby tony.latham » Sat May 21, 2016 1:54 pm

I think that was probably a 35 amp hour AGM marine/Rv type battery: http://www.harrisbattery.com/sites/defa ... 2V35AH.pdf

You can pull about half (or a little more with an AGM) the amps out of a battery before you damage it. So that battery was good for about fifteen amps. Not much. Assuming you're running a Fantastic Vent Fan, you're drawing about 3 amps/hour.

I think I'd pull that plywood out and mount a Group 24 marine/RV battery that would give you about 40 useable amp hours. (assuming you have room) https://www.batterystuff.com/kb/tools/b ... sizes.html

You may have to go with a Group 24 AGM battery since it doesn't look like there is any venting in that space.

http://www.amazon.com/TH-Marine-BHF-24S ... ttery+base

Forget 6 volts. You're charging issues would walk if you got a mechanic to wire up that seven-prong connector.

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Re: need a replacement battery for Silver Shadow

Postby Shadow Catcher » Sat May 21, 2016 2:39 pm

You are correct you want a true deep cycle. Marine batteries are a compromise between starting a battery and a true deep cycle. And yes an AGM (more expensive) does not need venting or buy and install a vented battery box. Does your trailer have a converter?

http://www.solar-electric.com/deep-cycle-battery-faq.html
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Re: need a replacement battery for Silver Shadow

Postby noseoil » Sun May 22, 2016 8:30 am

Sounds like it's a 35AH battery. If it is, then you could get 2 of them, in the AGM type like they use in wheel chairs & run them in parallel (hot to hot, negative to negative) and have about 50 amp-hours available for power over night. The AGM battery type will run down to 20% instead of 50% like a more conventional flooded lead-acid battery. If you use a flooded battery, it should have proper venting. A sealed battery is better if it isn't vented in that space already, that's where the AGM battery shines, better cycling characteristics & no venting needed.

A small solar panel, maybe the folding type you can move (100 watts with a decent charging module), would charge things back up during the day if you aren't travelling. If you charge while towing it wouldn't take much time to bring it back up to full. Make sure your lights are the newer LED type, since they draw very little current.

This should do well for what you need, if you can do a good installation.
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Re: need a replacement battery for Silver Shadow

Postby mrredrocker » Sun May 22, 2016 2:33 pm

Shadow Catcher wrote:Does your trailer have a converter?


You'll have to bear with me, I don't know the answer or how to find out. If it's not standard equipment on the 2010 Silver Shadow base model, then probably not.

tony.latham wrote:I think I'd pull that plywood out and mount a Group 24 marine/RV battery that would give you about 40 useable amp hours. (assuming you have room) https://www.batterystuff.com/kb/tools/b ... sizes.html

You may have to go with a Group 24 AGM battery since it doesn't look like there is any venting in that space.


That's correct, no venting currently. AGM sounds like the solution.

noseoil wrote:Sounds like it's a 35AH battery. If it is, then you could get 2 of them, in the AGM type like they use in wheel chairs & run them in parallel (hot to hot, negative to negative) and have about 50 amp-hours available for power over night.


Is there an advantage to using two 35 amp-hr batteries vs buying a single battery with similar capacity?
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Re: need a replacement battery for Silver Shadow

Postby mrredrocker » Sun May 22, 2016 2:40 pm

tony.latham wrote:I think I'd pull that plywood out and mount a Group 24 marine/RV battery that would give you about 40 useable amp hours. (assuming you have room) https://www.batterystuff.com/kb/tools/b ... sizes.html


So a question about that link. Under Group 24 I see the first two batteries are designated as AGM, the Lifeline (80AH) is $285 and the Universal (75AH) is less than half that at $128. Is there any "Get what you pay for" philosophy here? Cause that's a pretty stark difference...

It also looks like the Universal's terminals are the same/similar to my previous battery, which would be convenient...
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Re: need a replacement battery for Silver Shadow

Postby Socal Tom » Sun May 22, 2016 7:04 pm

I have the Walmart[group 27] marine battery. I bought it in April 2012, it's still going good. It's rated for 114 amp hours, I don't let it get below 12.2 V (50%). It runs my waeco fridge, TV lights etc for a weekend without charging most times.

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Re: need a replacement battery for Silver Shadow

Postby noseoil » Mon May 23, 2016 7:43 am

"Is there an advantage to using two 35 amp-hr batteries vs buying a single battery with similar capacity?"

No advantage, but I was thinking that the space required for a bigger battery might be an issue for you. The venting thing is important & locating two smaller batteries might be easier than one big one. It just depends on the room you have already, location & what you need. A group 24 might be better if there's room to do it. The regular wheel chair battery costs between $25 & $85 each, so if you got 2 decent ones, it might be cheaper to run the system this way.
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Re: need a replacement battery for Silver Shadow

Postby Socal Tom » Mon May 23, 2016 12:53 pm

In my experience its better to use one battery. Unless the batteries are perfectly matched they can cause each other to go bad. The battery with the higher charge will push voltage to the other battery and that will cause the other battery to get warm, so then it will think it has more voltage than the other one and push voltage back, and this goes on until the batteries have killed each other. This is a reason battery isolators came to exist. So if you do go with 2 batteries, I recommend some sort of isolation system, but that's just more stuff to deal with. So my suggestion is get one good battery.
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