Camper trailer Battery

[404pug Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close 404pug]

New battery needed for camper. It will run only led lights and perhaps charge the odd phone ie light use. Fridge is in car running off deep cycle battery. Trailer has 20 amp DC charger. Car is a 2.8 150 where voltage sits at about 13.5 after the initial 13.8 on start up.What battery type will be charged by this set up given that I read that some types need over 14 volts eg will there be enough to charge an AGM? I don't need huge capacity so will a marine battery do or even a normal car battery? Are their any types to avoid for this set up? I am looking at the cheaper end of the market not the better stuff that would go in the car.

[RedAdventureWagon Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close RedAdventureWagon]

I guess it will depend a lot on your use case, but our trailer camping is either a week or so at a powered site, or just a few days unpowered, and all we do is the same lights and phone charging. So I just went for a couple of old SLA Yuasa's, probably they are designed for alarm use or similar but they work fine for me. They are very slim line as well. Total capacity is about 35AH which I agree is tiny in comparison to most but it does what we need.

We don't charge off the car just with a mains charger either at home or on site, but most seem to think something like a DC-DC charger is best for charging a camper battery. Not done that myself as I am a total cheapskate but I have researched the topic quite a lot.

[Leethal Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Leethal]

You said the camper has a DC charger so that should have selectable charge modes or did you mean a AC charger.

Lee

[Leethal Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Leethal]

Double post somehow 2 hours apart, weird lol

Lee

[404pug Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close 404pug]

DC. Matson 20amp. So long as the battery gets charged I am not fussed as to type Do some batterieshave minimum charge rates e.g.. AGM ?

[Leethal Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Leethal]

Not sure about minimum charge rate but definitely have maximum charge rates and of course varied charge voltages.
Some batteries absorb really high charge rates, Optima for example but I think you tend to pay more for the battery types which do.
Maybe look for options that accept a max of 20 amps to maximise charge while not overcharging the battery hence prolonging its life.
I think that makes sense lol

Lee