dual vs single house battery

[bajaman]

Other than redundancy...what are the advantages, if any, to having two house batteries instead of one on your travel trailer that never sees boondocking, and is always plugged into A/C power at a campsite? Like many, I have (2) group 24 deep cycle lead-acid batteries that weigh about 65 pounds each. I have considered going to a single battery (I need to replace the batteries regardless due to age/condition)...perhaps going up in Group size to a 27 or 31...or using LiFeP04 batteries. If not LiFeP04 I will go with AGM battery/batteries. I find the information regarding converting to LiFeP04 batteries too opinionated, questionable accuracy, etc...with seemingly the whole thing hinges on if the 12v charging system is capable of doing Lithium.
But I digress...it hit me out of the blue when I was working on the batteries and my wife said, "Do we even NEED two?"

 

[TheLooks]

No you do not. I work on many campers that are stationary and they have no battery at all. If you have large amp draws like slides or levelers, the battery(ies) work together to make sure there is no dip in the power. Some of the motors are sensitive to that. As to lithium, I sure do understand the hesitation. I did it and it only helped me in the least when I boondocked briefly a few times.

 

[Holdmybeer]

Other than redundancy...what are the advantages, if any, to having two house batteries instead of one on your travel trailer that never sees boondocking, and is always plugged into A/C power at a campsite? Like many, I have (2) group 24 deep cycle lead-acid batteries that weigh about 65 pounds each. I have considered going to a single battery (I need to replace the batteries regardless due to age/condition)...perhaps going up in Group size to a 27 or 31...or using LiFeP04 batteries. If not LiFeP04 I will go with AGM battery/batteries. I find the information regarding converting to LiFeP04 batteries too opinionated, questionable accuracy, etc...with seemingly the whole thing hinges on if the 12v charging system is capable of doing Lithium.
But I digress...it hit me out of the blue when I was working on the batteries and my wife said, "Do we even NEED two?"

Two batteries in parallel double your available Ah and are better able to handle spikes like slide motors and for redundancy ( if one fails, disconnect the bad battery and continue with 1/2 the previous Ah capacity).
Two 6v " Golf Cart" batteries in series ( true deep cells with thicker lead plates) are more durable and can handle being discharged much deeper than standard 12v marine batteries. Only if one fails you can't run the system off only 6v.
* I run the house with the two 6v golf cart batteries in series. We never boondock as well.

 

[dave54]

Power outages occur at FHU campgrounds. Happens more often than you think. Especially at older campgrounds with electric systems not anywhere near current codes.

We don't boondock as often as we used to, but still do occasionally for 1-2 nights. Plus stop enroute for lunch and breaks. Having a second battery is more reliability.

 

[Holdmybeer]

There are 5,200 WalMarts in America. If the house battery in my MH were to fail I imagine I could find one of them.