Can a Motorcycle Battery Be Used With a Gas/Electric RV Water Heater

Question:

I have a mini home Id like to install an atwood gas/electric water heater in. Since I dont have a 12 v. system for the ignition can I just use a 12 v. motorcycle battery and just use a battery tender to keep the charge up? Thanks,

asked by: Jesse

Expert Reply:

Yes, you can use a motorcycle battery to power the thermostat and ignitor on an RV water heater such as the Atwood RV Water Heater part # AT96163 for 6 gallon or part # AT94022 for 10 gallon. However, you will need to make sure the motorcycle battery is 12 VDC as some can also be 6 VDC which you could still use but would need to use two and wire them in series.

Please note that the unit would still need to have access to 120 VAC as well as natural gas in order to function properly. The 12 VDC circuit that this unit uses is just for the thermostat and ignitor as mentioned above. The above options both have automatic pilots which is a very nice feature to have, especially with a smaller home.

For a battery mender to keep your motorcycle battery charged, I recommend using the NOCO Genius On-Board Battery Charger part # 329-GENIUS5 which works for batteries up to 120 amp hours.

expert reply by: Conner L