Hello All,

I may have to purchase a couple of deep cycle coach batterys in the near future and was wondering what brand you have purchased and why.

Thanks

I'm a Trojan fan, never had bad luck with them. Others recommend Sam's Club batteries as they have had good luck with them and they are cheaper. Another option if your chargers will work with them are AGM batteries that are quite nice and priced accordingly.

I've had good luck with Sam's Club Golf. I got around 6 years out of a set of 4. Would have gotten more, but let one get low on water while distracted with some family problems.

A possible problem with Sam's is that they seem to have changed their sources several times, so longevity accounts need to be evaluated carefully. Mine were made by Exide and were excellent. Other folk say that their's were were made by Interstate, another good brand. Last time I looked, the batteries were marked Champion I think, so their sources do seem to vary some.

I bought Trojans, just to give this "exalted" brand a try. Trojan prices can vary considerably from store to store, so shop carefully. Best price I found here in Memphis for the T105 was at a large battery warehouse which seemed to service commercial buyers. The T105 is the least expensive in terms of dollars per Ahr. I'm guessing but I suspect that is true because of the huge volume in the golf cart business.

I got 4 each 4D 200 Amp Hour each and 2 each, Group 27, 100 AH each, MK Brand AGM batteries, for a total of about 1,000 AH storage capacity.

I chose the MK brand because I got a very good deal. I chose AGM over flooded lead acid batteries because I couldn't use batteries that outgassed when charging which could cause a fire and corrosion hazards.

These hazards arose because I needed to install the batteries in with my inverter and solar controller inside a closed 5th wheel basement storage compartment - actually I used the steel box front compartment which would normally have been used for a generator.

Besides no maintenance and safety of the sealed AGM's, another advantage is their comparativley higher charge efficiency, i.e. very quick acceptance of a charge. This helps when using solar charging taking less time to float the batteries.

Likewise when generator charging I can use a 100 amp charger to float them very quickly - much less gennie run time.

The downside is that they cost more and should be installed with temperature compensated charging systems which also cost more.

If they over heat and out gas, you cannot refill them like the lead acid batteries.

However, when set-up correctly with ample solar capacity and temp compensation, they are virtually maintenance free. No hanging out listening to the drone of a generator staring at the meter waiting to complete gennie charging.

I calculated that I would average about 150 AH's per day of power consumption and wanted to have sufficient reserve capacity to last 3 days w/o charging, and w/o going below 50% discharged.

Summer averages about 130 AH/day with fans running 24/7. Winter, with below freezing temps in the 20's and running the propane furnace - about 220 AH's.

But I will be getting a Blue Flame catalyctic heater to reduce winter consumption - still need to run the propane furnace to keep the tanks from freezing.

I am running 8 Wal-Mart group 27 deep cycle 12 volts. They were purchased about 3 years ago, and except for one that failed last year they have been working well. The biggest advantage is the cost. They are much less than most of the alternatives so I figure I can replace them more often if necessary and still come out ahead.

We used and severely abused Costco/Kirkland Groupd 27's for years. I still remember we paid $111 for two. We'd get a set of 2 about every 3 years and run them into the ground, draining them down to nearly nothing before recharging to avoid running our contractor generator. (inflicting our generator on others)

I thought they werre great/tough batteries and didn't mind paying about $110 every 3 years.

Different story now with about $1,100 of AGM's. Hopefully, with all the care we are taking to ensure they are kept charged just right, we'll get 6 years service out of them.

If I had the ventilated space, I'd stick with the Costco Group 27's or mabe the Trojan 6 VDC batteries.

I bet with solar and/or a good 3 stage charger and treating/maintaining/charging them right, with periodic equalizations, they would last as long or longer than AGM's.

I wonder if using a generator to charge them - specially with the cost of gas these days - the slower charge acceptance rate would cause the flooded lead acid batteries to be more costly than AGM's to own and to charge by generator over the long run.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: HB Phil,

We have three 8D AGMs in our bus, and after 7 years they are still going strong.

The 4D and 8D size batteries are "hernious" to handle - best done by two, even better done with fork lift assistance.

My back has not been the same since lifting them up and over the side of the battery box in my front storage compartment.

IMO the best price/performance out there is still the Sam's Club golf cart batteries. But that assumes you do not have special needs that push you to AGMs. AGMs are ALWAYS the best batteries. They have many advantages over regular flooded cells for solar applications. The ONLY disadvantage to them - IMO - is cost.

A little off topic here, but I'm wondering if I can charge AGM and lead acid batteries, if one set is house and the other chassis in a MH? Or must they all be the same type?
Vern

quote:

I wonder if using a generator to charge them - specially with the cost of gas these days - the slower charge acceptance rate would cause the flooded lead acid batteries to be more costly than AGM's to own and to charge by generator over the long run.

Maybe if you're using an inefficient contractor-style generator. I charged my 4 Sams Club golf cart batteries using a Honda EU1000 generator, at 40-50 amps via an Intellipower converter.

At 3/4 load (including watching a TV while charging) the Honda runs more than 4 hours on about 1/2 gallon of fuel (the tank holds 0.6 gallons)- long enough to bring half discharged batteries back up to snuff. At less load the Honda runs longer, up to 8 hours per tank under a light load.

At $4 per gallon, that means it costs $2 in fuel to charge the batteries.

Figure the up front cost for the generator is about the same as a single solar panel and charge controller. If you charge the batteries every other day it will cost about $1 per day for fuel. At an average cost of $400 per solar panel, you'd have to boondock for 400 days to pay for each additional solar panel beyond the original one. How many days per year do you plan to boondock?

P.S. - my usage was higher than normal because I was also running a house-style electric refrigerator via an inverter. Without the refrigerator you could probably go at least 3 or 4 days in mild weather on a set of 4 golf cart batteries, meaning less generator usage and proportionately longer payback times.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Lou Schneider,

quote:

A little off topic here, but I'm wondering if I can charge AGM and lead acid batteries, if one set is house and the other chassis in a MH? Or must they all be the same type?

You can, if you have two seperate chargers. If you're using a single charger for both, you'll have to set it for the lower AGM charging voltage. Your conventional chassis batteries will also charge, but only partially, not all the way to 100%.

The Balmar Digital Duo Charger will isolate the two banks and charge each bank at different charge voltage set points, so you can have two different types of batteries: one type for the house and one type for the chassis. It also has optional temp compenstaion. It also provides for using a solenoid relay to combine the two banks if needed.

quote:

Originally posted by Vern & Sue:
A little off topic here, but I'm wondering if I can charge AGM and lead acid batteries, if one set is house and the other chassis in a MH? Or must they all be the same type?
Vern

Solar is not more efficient than using a small generator, specially if you have a high amp charger and can minimize the gennie run times. If solar were more efficient than the carbon based alternatives, the whole country would be doing it.

My question was if using a generator to charge batteries... wether the much faster charge acceptance rate of the AGM's would cause them to be more cost effective to charge with a generator than the flooded lead acid batteries over the long run.

I have a 100 amp charger and only have to run it a little over two hours to float my AGM's after a 200 AH discharge. Add at least 10% more generator run, charge time to charge the less efficient flooded lead acid batteries.

Multiply that 10% by 6 years and, with the high cost of fuel these days, the AGM's may actually come out on top and be more cost efficient than flooded lead acid batteries over the long run - if generator charging.

To me solar is mostly about convenience, and to a lesser extent, the quality of my boondocking experience.

I do not have to sit around waiting for my batteries to charge, monitoring a generator, re-fueling a generator, setting up a generator, etc. And I do not have to inflict the drone of a genrator on others or listen to it myself. It's all done automatically and silently.

I like it a lot, but, it is not more cost effective than a generator. Solar cost more. But once it is installed, it's free! HA! During the day th esun runs nearly all my stuff w/o even touching the batteries - free!

quote:

Originally posted by Lou Schneider:

quote:

I wonder if using a generator to charge them - specially with the cost of gas these days - the slower charge acceptance rate would cause the flooded lead acid batteries to be more costly than AGM's to own and to charge by generator over the long run.

Maybe if you're using an inefficient contractor-style generator. I charged my 4 Sams Club golf cart batteries using a Honda EU1000 generator, at 40-50 amps via an Intellipower converter.

At 3/4 load (including watching a TV while charging) the Honda runs more than 4 hours on about 1/2 gallon of fuel (the tank holds 0.6 gallons)- long enough to bring half discharged batteries back up to snuff. At less load the Honda runs longer, up to 8 hours per tank under a light load.

At $4 per gallon, that means it costs $2 in fuel to charge the batteries.

Figure the up front cost for the generator is about the same as a single solar panel and charge controller. If you charge the batteries every other day it will cost about $1 per day for fuel. At an average cost of $400 per solar panel, you'd have to boondock for 400 days to pay for each additional solar panel beyond the original one. How many days per year do you plan to boondock?

P.S. - my usage was higher than normal because I was also running a house-style electric refrigerator via an inverter. Without the refrigerator you could probably go at least 3 or 4 days in mild weather on a set of 4 golf cart batteries, meaning less generator usage and proportionately longer payback times.

Get batteries from a reputable source that sells a lot to folks that use them like you do and will stand behind what he sells.

The life of your batteries will have more to do with how you use and maintain them than with brand.