Battery in Jayco Eagle Outback

As a broad overview as I have never owned a Jayco eagle, the single 120amp/hr may be sufficient as the newer vans predominantly have led lighting that won't draw much power, the other power requirements are fairly standard. It will just be the length of free camping that will determine your need so maybe try free camping first as we find the limiting factor is water capacity not battery capacity. As a ballpark in NSW I find that 1 watt of solar panel per amp of battery capacity seems to keep us fairly reliable in battery charging, this obviously changes depending on the locaton. The general concensus seems to be if you want more solar go for a combination of a fitted panel and a portable folding setup, giving both the set and forget as well as maximum input by tracking the sun with the moveable. The battery can be charged through any number of regulators or MPPT's installations which convert the solar panel output into a useable charging current to maximise battery charging and life. The jayco charger is of fairly low quality, not a multistage charger as such, more a 240v/12v converter and as for charge from the vehicle I see no info on the website suggesting your van comes with a DC/DC charger so no, the battery will not get charge from your vehicle when towing. Any DC connection to the car is usually to run the fridge whilst travelling as it draws upto 15 amps which is way to much to run it off battery power as the battery life would be severly reduced. I hope some of that helps, enjoy your new van.

Hi Sarah, I agree with the previous respondent. Why not fit one Deep Cycle Battery to
the existing system & try it out. You can then upgrade the charger,add solar , wire the
car to the camper etc, if ,& when you find it necessary. We run our van on one battery&
a Ctek charger but only used for lights. The 240 option is covered by a Honda 2oi genny.
Put a battery in & get out & try it out, you must be busting to do that...the rest can all
happen later..:)))).cheers....oldbaz.

Thanks for the quick replies.

You are right we are itching to get out in it, I would do it this weekend but I have a uni exam on Monday morning that I need to study for :(

I will get other half to get a battery next week & we might head off for the weekend free camping & see how we go.

Sarah

alliejack
I have a 2008 Eagle Outback with one 120ah battery supplied by Jayco ($300) when I purchased the van new. We mainly do bush camping.
The one battery is ample especially with led lights, and the battery is also used to power a water pump that I've had installed. On cold nights we use a gas lamp for heat and light, which saves on battery power and on warm nights we sit outside with a good old fashioned lamp for light and to keep the mosies at bay.
The one battery may not be enough if you want to run a 12v tv, but if your bush camping there may well be no reception anyway.
The car does charge the battery.
Overall, battery power is not a limiter on camping for us and we have no need for solar. The only time limiter for bush camping is water supply. We carry two 9kg gas bottles which is enough for cooking and running the fridge for a month, and the one battery is ok for this period if used sparingly for led lights and the pump.

Hi Sarah,

I agree with the first couple of replies. I'd suggest that, for your present requirements and assuming that you don't want to be independent of mains power for extended periods, a single AGM deep cycle battery would be the way to go. A 100 Ah one would be my choice.

Your electrical storage needs, and hence recharging requirements depend on your usage patterns and how you charge your battery/s, but as already suggested, I'd go initially with a single battery and rely on charging from the mains. Everyone's needs and solutions are different, so be prepared to innovate as necessary to suit your own usage patterns.

A very useful tool is a simple multimeter so you can measure the voltages in your rig - one capable of measuring currents too, up to at least 10 amps, is especially useful and allows you to monitor just how your system is running and where your current is going. $20 or 30 should buy you a suitable one.

Next step I'd take would be to fit a controller near the vehicle battery to automatically connect, while the engine is running, a reasonably heavy dual cable running from that battery to the van. This cable will allow the 3 way fridge to run on 12V from the alternator.

Next step, I'd run a second dual cable from that controller to the van to charge the van's battery. (It's tempting to just run the one dual cable to both run the fridge and charge the battery but the voltage losses due to the combined load current may both cripple the battery charging and limit the fridge performance.) In this scheme it is essential to fit a suitably wired relay or a second controller to ensure that the battery line and fridge line are electrically separated when the engine isn't running - otherwise the fridge can draw from the van battery and quickly flatten it.

The final step, once you've identified any limitations in the system, is to improve the charging capability, or maybe simply increase battery capacity. This all depends on your usage patterns. If you are likely to stay in the one place for weeks, solar (and/or some extra storage) is very attractive. If you are unlikely to stay still for more than a day or two, a dc-dc charger may be a better option - this is simply added close to the van battery and inserted into the charging line from the vehicle. (Having both solar and dc-dc charging is very good, but you may find you need neither.) Experience with your own rig will suggest what form of charging and how much you require, but for now, I'd suggest get on the road with a minimal system and enjoy.

Cheers

John

Hi Sarah

I have a 2011 outback dove check the globes to see if they are LED's i think you'll find there not. I changedmine to led's, outside one as well, much better light than the filament type that jayco use.

The fridge 12v is wired to run from the car not the battery under the seat You'll have to run a wire through a circuit breaker direct from the battery. also the car does not charge the battery, If you do run the fridge from the car install a fridge-switch in behind the fridge it disconnects the battery when you stop,got caught twice with flat battery now all is OK

I have also installed a 12v Whale pump for the water got sick of pumping by hand this runs off the battery.

happy camping

Bill j

Another point to remember.
If the camper wasn't originally released from the factory with a battery fitted then the weight of any new battery,additional batteries and solar etc will have to be included in the camper trailers miserable payload allowance.
Ozjohn.

Thanks to everyone for their replies. I have printed them off for other half to read (he isn't too internet savy, just showed how to enter a comment on facebook the other week ;)).

I am going to get a deep cycle battery to take with us when we go away for a weekend & see how we go. He gets his new car this week so we can work out what he needs form that.