Adding battery storage

Mountaintrails · October 24

We have a new T@B 360 coming home Saturday, and one of the first things on my list, is to add more battery storage. The trailer comes with a single Battle Born 100ah battery but has the upgraded solar panel package. I am not new to wiring or to these type of battery systems. I have a fishing boat that I installed 2 Lifepo4 batteries for a 24 volt electric trolling motor and a completely separate battery system for the fish finders and navigation system. I am very familiar with the Lifepo4/batteries, but the boat batteries are charged off the shore power and store their energy. I have never ran my batteries in my boat dead, even in a long day with heavy use. I have Wattcycle batteries in the boat..The trailer, I am worried about the battery not lasting for multiple days. I know it has solar to charge but parking in a wooded camp ground will not allow it to charge. Battle Born batteries are very expensive. Worth it? Not to sure about that! Choices are to add 1 more BB or swap out the BB for a Litime 328ah and call it a day. I can but one battery that does 3 time the storage for the price of a single 100AH BB. Anyone experience this with their system?

Notes; I don’t want to mix batteries.. and I won’t need to do any new wiring or breaker increase with either option..
give me your thoughts.

Thanks Dave

AnOldUR · October 24

I went with non-Battle Born, large capacity LiFePO4's. Battle Born has a good product, but competition has similar quality at a much better price. BB's strong point is better customer service. Most installations are "set and forget", never needing help from the manufacturer, but if the cost is worth the peace of mind, stick with Battle Born.

In your situation, I'd get the bigger battery and try to sell your Battle Born. This is a fast changing technology. Doubling down on what you have doesn't make sense to me.

Horigan · October 24

I've been very happy with my SOK batteries.

ckjs · October 24

Can you try a short trip as it is? You can find out how much the battery gets drained in a typical day’s of your use. Depending on the deepness of the shade, you might get more solar charging than you expected.

I use about 350Wh / 30 Ah per day, mostly for the 12v Norcold. I’ve gotten > 200 Wh of rooftop charging in the dappled shade of a Sierra pine forest, in September.

Mountaintrails · October 25

Thanks for the input. Option 3. More solar panels? Buy a suitcase 200 watt so it can be located away from the trailer and in the sun. Option 4. Buy a separate power supply. We have a 750 watt Bluette that we use for out 12 volt power coolers in the vehicle. I could use one of these and plug the trailer in if we ran out of power. I really only care about the fridge and occasional water pump. I can live without lights.

AnOldUR · October 25

@Mountaintrails

Option 3, more solar panels, should not be considered an option to achieving your goals. I'd consider it a necessity if you plan to dry camp.

Option 4, buying a power station has been an option for some owners, but it's workaround for not having the battery capacity that you need. I'd personally rather invest in a larger hands-off onboard battery system than lug around another piece of gear. If you're in need of a power source outside of T@B camping, a power station might make sense, but it's a poor substitute for a more convenient and economical built-in system.

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