Electrical Full river battery vs. Jayco battery

[Macca_75]

Hey guys,

I have at home a 12v 105Ah Full river battery from my old camper trailer. It was only used 4 or 5 times and never flattened. Topped up bi-monthly.

Should I swap the standard Jacyo one out (supplied with Outback model van) for the full river? Or just sell the Full river?

Would the Full river be *that much better* than the one Jayco supplies?

 

[mikerezny]

Hi @Macca_75,
to get a better response, you might be advised to give the type of the Full River battery and the make, Ah, and type of the Jayco battery. Jayco supply at least two types of batteries ex factory. The battery shipped with my Penguin was a Ritar 100Ah GEL.

How old is the Jayco battery?

Are you intending to charge the battery using the Setec power supply / battery charger? If so, the Setec is better suited to a GEL battery. The battery charging voltages on the Setec are not adjustable and are a little low for keeping an AGM battery fully charged (@Boots in Action is one of the experts in this area).

Also, what are the warranty details? That might also influence your decision. All else being equal, I would probably keep the battery with the longest or best warranty.

cheers
Mike

 

[Macca_75]

Will try and "pop the hood" and find out which battery I got from Jayco. FYI - 2016 20.64.1 OB so it will soon be out of the 1yr warranty period.

 

[NoWorries]

take them both to a battery place and get them to load test them.

 

[Drover]

Sell the oldest but if they are same type ( ie: gel or AGM )and AmpHr just wire them both up in parallel and have more storage, age may show something on paper but in real use you wouldn't notice........Full River are good units with great PR, same as many batteries however.

 

[SkinnyBuddah]

Agree with @Drover. Can never have enough

 

[geedub]

Yes, If you have the room parallel them. Otherwise I would be tempted to keep the full River over the Ritar.

 

[Crusty181]

Hey guys,

I have at home a 12v 105Ah Full river battery from my old camper trailer. It was only used 4 or 5 times and never flattened. Topped up bi-monthly.

Should I swap the standard Jacyo one out (supplied with Outback model van) for the full river? Or just sell the Full river?

Would the Full river be *that much better* than the one Jayco supplies?

I put a Full River 120ah AGM in my 2009 Expanda and in early 2016 had it load tested and it came up at 100%. I have nothing else to compare with, but thats a pretty good plug for Full River. The current Expanda came with a Bosch 100ah AGM

 

[Macca_75]

I put a Full River 120ah AGM in my 2009 Expanda and in early 2016 had it load tested and it came up at 100%. I have nothing else to compare with, but thats a pretty good plug for Full River. The current Expanda came with a Bosch 100ah AGM

I still need to check what was shipped with my van, however if they ship with AGM then the charger must be up to the task.

 

[Boots in Action]

I still need to check what was shipped with my van, however if they ship with AGM then the charger must be up to the task.

Hi @ Macca_75, not necessarily so about the charger! The Setec unit is the "standard" charger for Jayco and the battery you get seems to be whatever Jayco want to give you. My 2011 Penguin was installed with a 120ah AGM, which the "standard" Setec charger will NOT give the best result for an AGM. Satisfactory , yes, but not optimum. If a Gel battery is installed (as in @ Mikerenzy later model Penguin) , then the Setec is more suitable and is the optimum for best results and for battery/life. I agree with most of the comments above, but remember, you cannot (or should not) parallel two different types (chemically) of batteries. The amp hour capacity is not critical as long as both are in similar (charged) condition. I would say that as you seem to have looked after it and kept it regularly charged and not discharged too low too many times , if ever, it would still be VERY usable.

 

[Drover]

If you have a decent bit of solar on the roof the 240 charger is rarely used I have found......My Projecta charger is an all singing all dancing unit and only gets used when Big Mal gets parked up under a roof, so can go for a year without being turned on but then with a lot of the new systems they do it all Solar, 240 and 12v from tug so you don't have any choice, one fault and the whole system dies......

 

[Boots in Action]

Hi @ Drover, from memory I think you have Gel batteries in " Big Mal". Does your solar controller have different settings for Gel, AGM or Flooded batteries?? And do you know what setting it is on, and what the CHARGE/ABSORB voltage is?? Float voltage is not so critical once battery has been FULLY charged. An occasional charge with your sophisticated Projecta is beneficial in the long run as "the all singing, all dancing unit" looks after your batteries better than the solar controller. IMHO.

 

[Drover]

Yep select GEL can't remember the other stuff but it charges on solar while parked up and gets a good charge and when it hits the road it often won't get 240 plugged in for possibly weeks and when i do it runs the fridge, really crappy weather I'll give the Projecta a run to keep it all juiced up. But basically it so rare now to use 240 I forget but I do give the aux battery in ute a good run up with the little Projecta 5 stage charger often it gets a workout from the old Engel.