Ultimate Guide to Travel Trailer Battery

A travel trailer battery is a critical component of your rig’s inner workings. It powers certain RV parts alongside electrical appliances like lights, TVs, refrigerators, ACs, etc. But you must account for several factors, including the number of appliances you’ll run on the battery, how long you want the battery to power the appliances, and how much room your RVs have for batteries. You also must consider the available budget and the best battery that fits your trailer.

But an efficient battery can be costly for many, and if it’s the same for you, you may consider opting for reliable and sustainable Jackery Solar Generators. Compared to traditional batteries, they’re powered by a clean energy source, don’t take up much space, and are affordable.

Key Takeaways

• A travel trailer battery is one that powers all the electrical appliances in your RV.
• The battery contains a cathode, an anode, and an electrolyte, and the electrolyte stores the electricity.
• The four types of RV batteries include absorbent glass mats or AGM batteries, flooded batteries, lithium batteries, and gel cell batteries.
• The number of RV batteries you need depends on your energy usage, travel duration, room available for batteries, and budget.

What Is A Travel Trailer Battery?  

A travel trailer battery or RV battery is a power source for all the electrical appliances in your recreational vehicle (RV). These are typically of two types:

Starting Batteries: Also known as chassis batteries, these take power from the running RV engine to power all the electrical appliances. These are similar to car batteries but more durable and provide a steady current flow for a long time.

House Batteries: As opposed to starting batteries, these batteries power the appliances when RVs are not running or connected to shore power. These typically connect in parallel to increase the capacity.

Batteries in a travel trailer ensure a comfortable experience while on the road and more. Here’s how:

Power Supply: A travel trailer battery powers the lights and other electrical appliances, such as refrigerators, TVs, water pumps, etc., when the trailer isn’t connected to shore power. It also ensures that safety appliances like smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, and others work optimally. This is beneficial when in a remote location without access to an external power source or in the event of a main power failure.

Starting Power: If your travel trailer is equipped with a generator, the battery often provides it with the necessary power to start.

Stabilization and Leveling Systems: Many modern trailers include these systems, which require a battery to operate.

How Does A Travel Trailer Battery Work?

Travel trailers typically consist of rechargeable batteries that, rather than producing electricity, store and dissipate when needed. The battery stores the electric energy in a chemical form, so when the trailer is plugged into an external power source, such as a generator or a shore power, the battery gets charged.

Inside the battery are negative (anode) and positive electrodes (cathode) dipped in an electrolyte. When the trailer is plugged into a power source, the respective positive ions move from cathode to anode through an electrolyte, storing electrical energy to form a chemical bond. For example, a lead-acid battery, during charging, converts the lead sulfate in battery plates into sponge lead and lead oxide. Similar is the case with lithium batteries, where lithium ions move from cathode to anode.

The bigger the cathode and electrolyte volume in the battery, the more electricity it can store. When the trailer isn’t running or plugged into an external power source, the stored energy re-converts into electrical energy and is used to power the available devices. A battery can go through plenty of charging and discharging cycles, and proper maintenance ensures its longevity and efficiency.   

Types of Travel Trailer Batteries   

There are four types of RV batteries: absorbent glass mats or AGM batteries, flooded batteries, lithium batteries, and gel cell batteries. Let's take a closer look at the types:

Flooded Lead-Acid Batteries

Most RVs that leave the manufacturing plant are equipped with these batteries. These traditional lead-acid batteries contain lead plates submerged in an electrolyte solution made of sulphuric acid and water. They are the cheapest but heavy and require you to ensure they stay topped up with distilled water and that terminals are cleaned from time to time.

Pros

• Less expensive than any other battery types
• Lead-acid batteries are rechargeable
• They provide a higher surge current.

Cons

• The higher the group size, the larger and heavier the battery.
• It requires regular inspection and maintenance.
• Lifespan is much shorter than other types.

Absorbent Glass Matt Batteries

AGM or Absorbent Glass Matt batteries are advanced lead-acid batteries that use fiberglass mats to absorb the battery’s acid. The mats separate the negative and positive plates and store the electrolytes in a suspended state rather than a free-flowing liquid, as in flooding batteries. As the battery is used, the electrolytes are transferred from the mats as needed.  

Pros

• Lighter than other lead-acid batteries.
• Maintenance-free and spill-proof.
• Can store and deliver high amounts of current.
• It lasts longer than any lead-acid battery.

Cons

• Expensive than other types.
• Overcharging can shorten the battery life.
• Battery gets damaged if charged at higher temperatures

Gel Cell Batteries

If you’re looking for a low-maintenance battery for a travel trailer, consider gel cell batteries. They use a thick gel instead of water as an electrolyte that doesn’t evaporate or spill, meaning they never need refilling.  

Pros

• Gel cell batteries are maintenance-free.
• It can perform at extreme temperatures and have a long lifecycle.
• Lighter than flooding lead-acid batteries.
• More durable than lead-acid batteries.

Cons

• Sensitive to overcharging.
• Heavier and bulkier than dry cell batteries.
• More expensive.

Lithium Batteries

Lithium batteries are an excellent alternative to traditional ones and probably the best travel trailer battery types. Though expensive, they are more efficient, lighter, have higher energy density than traditional lead-acid batteries, and are more reliable than the other types.  

Pros

• Double the power of lead-acid batteries
• Long lifecycle
• Lightweight and durable
• Fast charging

Cons

• Expensive
• Cannot tolerate extreme temperatures

Here’s a table for capacity, physical size, DoD (Depth of Discharge), and Voltage for all the battery types:

How Many Travel Trailer Batteries Do I Need?

Sizing your battery bank for emergencies or long travels is probably the most critical step when preparing to go off-grid with RVs. At a minimum, you want to run basic appliances like lights, fans, TVs, and laptops, and with enough batteries, you can run RV air conditioners, microwave ovens, or refrigerators. Now, to determine how many batteries you need, follow the steps in order:

Step 1: Determine Your Energy Usage

Estimating your daily energy consumption is key to developing a realistic power consumption baseline. For that, you must determine the appliances you have in your RV and how many hours they’ll run daily. Here’s the list of common appliances and their power consumption:

With approximately 85Ah daily electric consumption, you probably will need batteries of 100Ah capacity and more, and a flooding lead-acid battery isn’t recommended. It is because, despite their 100Ah capacity, they have a 50% depth of discharge rate, which means there’s only a 50Ah battery capacity.

Step 2: Assess the Battery’s Charging Capacity    

Having the ability to recharge and replenish your battery is a good start. But it isn’t possible most days, especially when you’re in remote areas where there’s no access to electricity. In such cases, Jackery Solar Generators that charge just by the sun’s rays come in handy. It takes around 4-6 to fully charge and power your appliances for a longer period. And if you have cloudy skies for a day or two, you can also use your car battery to power them.

Step 3: Room Available For Batteries

Space is also a limiting factor for the size of your battery bank. Lead-acid and gel batteries typically take up a lot of space, so you must consider various sizes from various manufacturers. You can also opt for portable and light Jackery Solar Generators. In this way, you use clean and renewable energy to power your appliances, reducing your carbon footprint.

Step 4: Budget

Now that you’ve decided upon the manufacturer and which size battery to opt for, it’s time to determine how much you can spare cash for these. Lithium batteries are the costliest, followed by AGM batteries, and flooding lead-acid batteries are the cheapest. But each has its advantages and drawbacks, so weigh those alongside your needs to make a smart investment decision.

How to Connect Travel Trailer Batteries?

Now that you’ve sorted out the batteries for your travel trailer, it’s time to connect them to create a battery bank and access more power. Many build large battery banks when planning off-grid camping for long, as they can store more power and run more appliances. If you want to build your own, here are the ways to do:

RV Batteries in Series

Connecting two or more RV batteries in series lets you maintain the same amperage but adds extra voltage. For instance, connecting two 12V batteries in series provides you access to 24V of power, but with amps intact.

To do so, use a jumper wire to connect the negative terminal of one battery with the positive terminal of the other and the remaining terminals to other batteries if needed. But please note the connected batteries should have the same amp and voltage rating.

RV Batteries in Parallel

When you connect two batteries in parallel, as opposed to a series connection, you increase the amperage while keeping the voltage the same. To establish a parallel connection, you use jumper wires to connect two positive and negative terminals together and then connect them to the appliances you wish to power.

RV Batteries in Parallel and Series

Other than the separate connections, it’s also possible to establish a series of parallel battery banks. In this way, you increase both amperage and voltage and require a minimum of four batteries. Here, you connect a set of batteries in parallel and the other in series.      

Jackery Portable Power Stations Explained

Over the decade, Jackery has established itself as a pioneer for energy and portable power. It offers a host of products that offer clean and off-grid energy, including solar generators, portable power stations, and solar panels. These enable customers to operate appliances, charge gadgets, and power electronics while traveling.

RV owners can use Jackery Solar Generators to generate clean and sustainable energy without gasoline while traveling.  Jackery Solar Generators consist of Jackery SolarSaga Solar Panels and Jackery Portable Power Stations, which convert sunlight into usable electricity and pair with any number of appliances in your RV.

Jackery Solar Generator 3000 Pro

Jackery Solar Generator 3000 Pro is a powerful charging solution for RV appliances. Its double wheels, ergonomic design, and foldable handles make it portable and easy to carry in and out of the RV. Besides, its high battery capacity lets you charge 99% of the available electrical appliances, including water heaters, refrigerators, ACs, and more. You can also charge it with foldable Jackery SolarSaga 200W Solar Panels to bolster your off-grid living experience.

Appliances Running Time:

• Electric Grill (1600W): 1.6H
• Mini Cooler (90W): 28.5H
• RV AC (1000W): 2.5H
• Blender (300W): 8.5H
• Coffee Maker (550W): 4.6H

Customer Review

“I unboxed and charged my Jackery 3000 Pro as soon as I had a chance. I tested it with a hair blower, but other than that, I have not had a chance to test it on anything else. I'm satisfied with my Jackery. My intended primary use for it is to power my RV when I go boondocking.”- Luis Zamudio.

Jackery Solar Generator 2000 Plus

Jackery Solar Generator 2000 Plus is another versatile charging solution and a potential companion for long-term RV trips. Its portability is the same as other models, and a suitcase design ensures safe storage in an RV. Besides, it doesn’t emit toxic fumes, so it can be charged safely in an indoor RV.

Appliances running time:

• Electric Grill (1600W): 1.0H
• Mini Cooler (90W): 19.2H
• RV AC (1000W): 1.7H
• Blender (300W): 5.7H
• Coffee Maker (550W): 3.1H

Customer Review:

“I recently went off the grid with my family in the trailer. The 2000plus with 1-2000plus added battery pack runs my trailer for 5 days. I did run the gas furnace all 5 nights, 2-30 inch TVs, the trailers 12 CUFT fridge, Starlink internet, toaster, blender, water pump, sons X-Box and charged 2 phones, 1 tablet & 1 laptop every other day. “- Customer.

Jackery Solar Generator 1000 v2

Jackery Solar Generator 1000 v2 is a comparatively small power station that can keep basic RV appliances like a cooler, TV, fan, blender, coffee maker, and others running for long hours, even if you’re camping off-grid without electricity. It’s popular for its off-grid power because of its multiple output ports and dependability and adaptability.

Appliances running time: 

• Mini Cooler (90W): 12H
• Blender (300W): 3.6H
• Coffee Maker (550W): 1.9H
• LED TV (60W): 17.9H
• Freezer (50W): 21.5H