The Monty Battery

[RKassl]

Just what are the spec's required for a 12 volt battery on the Montana? Looked through my info and could not find anything. What do you look for in a replacement battery?

Thanks

[stiles watson]

There are several options for an RV battery. "Deep cycle" is a key word whether you use a lead plate acid battery or a gel battery or two 6-volt golf cart batteries to make 12-volts. If it were me, I would go online and study the battery info available. A typical 12-volt car battery is not what you want.

[8.1al]

First but foremost you need a deep cycle battery. If you very seldom use the battery without a 110 connection a group 24 will work fine. If you depend on it for short periods of time with a light load I would get a group 27 which is larger. If you want to go longer periods of time with heavier loads such as running the furnace overnight I would go to 2 trojan T105 six volt batteries. These are the ultimate in storage capacity and will last you longer than a 12 volt battery since the lead plates inside are thicker.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

For the average RVer, who does not do a lot of dry camping, the 12 volt deep cycle works the best. Check around and get the BEST group 27 12 volt you can find. I would suggest a brand name battery. There are many batteries that are not sold "nationwide" and therefore any warranty issue could be a problem.

For our old Monty and after shopping around we found the best battery at the best price at Wal*Mart.

[dsprik]

I will also replace my group 24 with a group 27/29 shortly from Walmart for the reason stated by Glenn above. Just replaced a two year old battery in my car and was surprised at Walmart when they told me it was still under their warranty and they gave me a free one with free installation. Also, many report that the Walmart brand battery is excellent on reliability.

[skyguy]

I have had two Trojan T105 6 volt batteries wired in serial to yield 12 volts since we moved up to our Monty. We can go a week in the summer in the Colorado Mountains dry camping with no problem. We will run the furnace first thing in the morning to take the chill off (it can be 35 degrees in the AM), watch TV for a couple hours each day, recharge the notebook computers, and run lights as necessary.

We are on our second set, only because I goofed up we left the Monty parked at a KOA under arrangement with the owner, but disconnected from any service, for a couple weeks. I shut everything off, including propane, but forgot the furnace.. Batteries ran down, froze, and broke. A very expensive lesson!!

[dsprik]

I have just priced a Maxx 29 Marine Everstart from Walmart. 125 amp hrs. $75. Our use does not dictate the cost of T-105s - although I would love to have them. Our boondocking experiences are limited to unexpected power outages and a couple Wally World overnights a year.

Of course, we need a good reliable marine battery that has to be constantly charged to run all our 12v systems while we are fulltiming, and the Walmart's Everstart battery gets rave reviews from several mechanic friends of mine.

[RKassl]

I saw this battery today at Wally. Is this a dual purpose battery as compared to the other one there that is deep cycle?

[dsprik]

Bob, I believe it says Marine/RV Deep Cycle right on the Maxx 29. I know Walmart has 24 and 27 marine batteries that are black. These are also RV (deep cycle) batteries that will work in your Montana, but they have less amp hrs, though. For $75, I'd go with the yellow Maxx 29.

It's a REAL MAN'S color...

I also looked at the lids on that yellow Maxx and I couldn't figure out that new strange looking mechanism for opening them. Didn't have time to ask any service personnel - I left my wife in the women's clothing section with the credit card. Had to run...

*On Edit~ Bob I just re-read your post. Your question was "is this battery a dual purpose?" Yes and No... Yes - it is a dual purpose, but aimed at MARINE use - ie. starting an outboard, or I/O, up and then also using it for your trolling battery. I believe that it is NOT intended for use in any automobile. I could be wrong and there are others that are much greater experts on this than me...

It is definitely for use in our RVs

[Rainbirds]

Hi All, I hope I can slide this battery related question into the mix.

I have a 2004 3400RL to which I had added a second battery and a generator. I have just replaced my batteries with Walmart's 12v 27 Everstarts. A friend was helping me install the new ones (I wasn't close enough to the Walmart to have them do it). While I was off in the garage, my friend removed all of the connections without making a note of where they went.

I now have 2 leads leading to a selector switch (OFF, 1, 2, Both); these appear to connect to the positive terminals. I have one ground wire going to the frame that appears to connect to one battery's negative terminal. Another ground wire that appears to connect to the other battery that disappears into the generator; (it does not go straight to ground). And a jumper cable that ran between the two batteries, (no indication if it connected the positive or the negative).

I'm miles from any dealer or repair place and I'm looking for advice. (Guesses are appreciated, but let me know if that's what it is.)

I called my home dealer, now a Camping World. Their advice was that I needed two jumpers and to only hook up one battery until I get a second cable.

Did this make sense? Does anyone out there have the same or similar connection?

Thanks, The Rainbirds

[rogue]

Here is my guess
Check to see if the generator frame have continuity to Montana frame ground if not, thats probably what that ground wire is doing. This is the part I am guessing at

The 2 leads from selector switch go to positive terminals one on each battery with no jumper between them
Jumper cable goes between the 2 negative terminals on the batteries

So your configuration is the switch controls which batter(ies) are connected to the circuit, Ground is common to the batteries, Montana frame, and Generator. You can choose to disconnect both batteries (off), the first Battery (1) the second battery (2) or both batteries (Both) with the switch.

[Rainbirds]

Thanks for the response.

I woke up in the night thinking about this and I came to the conclusion that there really was a connection between the two positive terminals. It was through the switch when it was in the BOTH position. That would resolve the possible conflict between the advice I got from Camping World and the way it had been working before I changed the batteries.

If anyone disagrees, let me know.

Thanks again, The Rainbirds

[noneck]

Rainbirds, does this help?

[Rainbirds]

Wow, what a great answer.
Thank you.
All the Best, Rainbirds