Pre Purchase advice for a newbie

SistaB

Hello

I will be ordering my T@B in October. I have had a search on the forum but am not really finding the answers I am looking for.  

1.     Battery – What do I ask for? I am seeing that 6V x2 is popular, do dealers install those if not what should I ask them to install?

2.     Solar – I love solar power and would like flexible panels on the roof. Who installs it? What should I ask for?

Any other advice gratefully received.

Thank you in advance.   Louise

Nomad

Battery - Std seems to be either a Group-24 or 27. Anything bigger - or two 6 volts - will require reconfiguring the frame (possibly a new frame) in the propane/battery box. The battery is dealer installed so you need to discuss and make arrangements with/thru them. There's several threads here on the forum with pics showing what others have done - usually after the fact. I don't believe the two 6s will fit in the tube - at least don't recall any configured that way.
Flexible Solar -  think every one discussed/shownhere on the forum have been user installed.

jkjenn

@SistaB before you decide what kind of battery you need, you have to know what kind of camping you are going to do. If you are mostly camping at state parks or other campgrounds that will have electric, the 100ah your dealer installs will be fine. If you plan on doing a lot of off grid camping, I recommend 2 6v golf cart batteries. Some dealers will install the golf cart batteries and some won't. If you decide you want the GC batteries, the diamond plate tub on the Outback is a little bigger and would work.

jkjenn

@ST_Bob most dealers install a 100ah battery in a T@b.

Photomom

My dealer said he could install either an 84ah group 24 or a 100ah group 24 for a slight upcharge . Both the same physical size so they'd fit without modification. 

Nomad

Jenn - Not mine. Not sure you can blanket with "most"
SistaB - As Jenn mentioned, it depends on what type of camping you'll do. But, I'm full time. Haven't had a hookup sine way last June. Have a small Group-24 with 120 watt solar panels and do just fine. I'll upgrade to a bigger battery at some point but haven't found it critical. Do have a generator for really lousy solar days but would bet 85-90% of the time I'm straight solar.

jkjenn

I am not sure what you mean by dealer speak.  My T@b came with a Group 24, 100ah battery. It is common for a T@b.

Tabaz

The standard battery is a Group 24 from my dealer. I requested a Group 27 100 AH when I bought my Outback. The service guy complained that he would have to move the bracket to make it fit. Turns out there is plenty of room for the 27 and larger if needed.

Nomad

Did the same and still got the small 24.

SistaB

Thanks everyone this is really helpful.

Photomom

Well, all I can tell you is he showed me the batteries and one was clearly labeled 84ah and one was labeled 100ah. They were the same form factor. Do I expect to get 100 amps for an hour or 1 amp for 100 hours? Nope, but getting the 100ah battery makes sense for our first foray into the RV world since it will fit easily and is only a few bucks more. As I have no idea what our power needs will be, it doesn't make sense to spend more on bigger batteries at the outset. 

lapowers57

I will confirm that you can get a 100ah group 24 battery.  Most dealers will install a less expensive group 24 starting deep cycle battery.   They are 60-85 amp hours and cost well under $100.  I found that Trojan sells a group 24 100ah battery but it comes with a premium price of $200.  I will be taking delivery of my trailer this week and plan to take the dealer supplied battery and put it in my fishing boat since I need a new starting battery and will swap in the Trojan battery that I ordered from a local battery dealer.  Hopefully that combined with the Zamp 160 charger will allow us to boondock for long weekends.  

Nomad

If it were me, that would be total overkill :-)
So, if a normal person :-), wanted the largest capacity battery with no mods to the battery box frame - other than maybe an insert - what battery should they get?

ScottG

SistaB, unless you are familiar with 12 volt systems, know you will be doing a lot of extended dry camping (i.e., no hookups), and just love spending money on gadgetry, I humbly suggest you just get your camper and enjoy it for a season. At that point you will have a much better sense of what you want and need to upgrade.

For starters, I suggest two easy things--if I had done these in my first season I would have gotten much better service from my original battery:

1) Get a simple, cheap, plug in battery monitor and pay attention to your battery while in use. Try not to let it get depleted to the point where the innards become damaged.

2) Disconnect your battery when not in use. Unhook the negative terminal, pull the fuse, flip the switch if equipped, whatever. If you don't do this, little LED lights and other whatnot will drain your battery as it sits in your yard.

Regarding your specific battery question... The steel frame in the front tub of non-Outback T@Bs is designed to accommodate one group-24 size battery box. Other sizes and configurations will require some sort of modification. I'm a bit of a skeptic, so I would be surprised and impressed if your garden variety RV dealer would be willing and able to make such modifications. YMMV!  

Nomad

Someone (Ratkitty?) made a simple insert for the battery box frame to accommodate a Group-27. As I recall, a Group-26 battery box was bolted to this insert.

Good advice ScottG - The only thing I'd change is that Group-27 swap. More for margin of error purposes than actual need. With solar, the 24 has worked fine the vast majority of the time.

Photomom

ScottG said:

For starters, I suggest two easy things--if I had done these in my first season I would have gotten much better service from my original battery:

1) Get a simple, cheap, plug in battery monitor and pay attention to your battery while in use. Try not to let it get depleted to the point where the innards become damaged.

2) Disconnect your battery when not in use. Unhook the negative terminal, pull the fuse, flip the switch if equipped, whatever. If you don't do this, little LED lights and other whatnot will drain your battery as it sits in your yard.

Rumor has it that T@Bs being built now include a battery monitor and a battery cutoff switch.

Verna

66% of my wintering in Arizona is spent without electricity.  With that percentage, I can easily justify my two 6-volt golf cart batteries and my 200 watts of solar panels (and no generator).  

If you are camping with electricity 90%+ of the time, there really is no economical reason to justify such an upgrade in batteries. As others have said, figure out what kind of camping you will be doing. You may not like camping without electricity. Solar power may sound neat, but make sure that is what you really want to do first. 

For instance, if you are camping in campgrounds east of the Mississippi River, a non-shaded campsite is hard to find. The same goes for the PNW--those trees are tall and don't let much sun through. 

ScottG

Since I had to replace my battery anyway, I just installed a group 27. I'm not saying it wouldn't be a good upgrade from the start, just that getting an RV dealer to do it at delivery might be a tall order. As such, it's a good project to do once you know your needs a little better, and have had ample opportunity to destroy your first battery.  :-)

In short, I put a wooden insert in the existing size 24 frame. Then I constructed a new size 27 frame out of some scrap angle iron, and bolted that through the insert and the original welded on frame. It wasn't difficult, but it did require power tools and some basic fabricating skills.

The most challenging part was getting the new frame positioned just right over the old one. A group 27 box will fit, but the clearance is limited. I did have to remove and reposition the PVC tube that holds the cheapo drain hose that came with the trailer (which yes, I do use and it has worked fine for my needs thusfar).

I first got the idea--and the assurance that the larger box would fit in the standard tub--from a post by RZRBUG. I think he did something similar, but made his entirely out of pressure treated lumber.

I have some pictures of the project. They're not handy, but I can post them another time if anyone is interested.

Photomom

@ScottG that sounds like a good approach to installing a larger battery. I'll star this conversation just for your description! I assume you used something like exterior grade plywood?

I also got the distinct impression that our dealer didn't want to install anything other than a group 24 battery for some reason.

ScottG

I used two layers of 1/2" pressure treated plywood for the insert. Since the new steel frame is solidly bolted to the old steel frame, the wooden insert probably wasn't strictly necessary in my case. However, it does keep everything nice and tight, and provides a solid base to screw the plastic battery box into.

Your dealer's reluctance/refusal to provide a larger battery is consistent with what several earlier posters relayed. Generally speaking, they are in the business of selling campers, not fabricating new battery cradles. If I was going to pay somebody to do this, I'd probably spec out what I wanted and enlist the services of a good local welding shop to make and attach the larger frame.

ericnliz

Photomom: Just to verify the rumor, my 2016 T@B S has a cutoff switch, and battery monitor. The monitor is very accurate,as I have check it myself. Just some info for you & maybe new folks looking for the bells & whistles in the newer models!

Photomom

In my many months here it has become apparent that one reason T@Bs are awesome is that they are adaptable to all kinds of users. Some live in them for months at a time, some enjoy modifying them (like the guy who gutted his and installed a fireplace!), and some, like me, are aging baby boomers who want to keep camping but need more comfort than a tent provides. Not everyone will need or want the same power capabilities. After tent camping all my adult life, I will be thrilled to have ANY amount of electricity to charge my stuff with.

Nomad

Verna - Only 66% - Wimp ;-)

Verna

PXLated said:

Verna - Only 66% - Wimp ;-)

Yeah, but next winter will be more!

Nomad

Figured, gets in your blood.

GrandmasKid

We've been tent camping out of the car and backpacking for the 42 years my wife and I have known each other. Our 2017 Outback should be delivered in a few weeks. I love the idea of boon docking by using solar but I know nothing about it. I just brushed up on the meaning of, volts, amperes, and watts. Can anyone steer me as to what I might need to buy to camp without hookups for four or five days at a time? I've read here that my T@B should come with a battery monitor and cut off switch. Any advice as to size and brand of solar panels or anything else would be greatly appreciated by this old newbie. I'm so looking forward to not having to deal with a wet tent when it rains.