Re: Best Battery or worst
- From: Neon John <no@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:07:24 -0500
On Sun, 27 Jan 2008 19:29:18 -0700, "Davis D" <Davis D@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Need to buy a battery or two for the Tioga.
Your suggestions on what to buy and what to totally avoid.
Avoid:
Wal-mart - XXX
K-mart
Diehard (they die HARD)
other big box brands including big box auto parts.
OK:
Sam's club
Exide
Interstate
NAPA (Check date codes!!!)
Better:
Trojan
Other golf cart and floor sweeper brands
The best
Hawker
Larger Trojans
Optima (requires lots of 'em, though)
Lifeline
Rolls
Surette
Any other marine AGM
Any other ocean-going marine wet cell brand.
Sam's Club Group 29 wet cell 12 volt batteries, three of 'em, are in my rig. I
decided that these are the best trade-off between cost and quality, with a thought
going to ease of replacement.
I strongly recommend paralleled 12 volt batteries instead of seriesed 6's. I've been
both routes and have much more satisfactory results with the paralleled 12s. It's
nice to be able to turn on the inverter-powered microwave and not see the lights
flicker at all!
While you're at it, I suggest treating your brand new batteries to a quality
converter/charger, if you don't already have one, of course. My favorite is the PD
Intellipower/charge wizard. Especially with the higher current output versions, the
performance is remarkable.
I just returned from my first weekend dry camp since installing the 3 new batteries
and an 80 amp PD Intellipower. I could replenish most of the charge I used each day
in between 30 and 45 minutes' worth of generator run time. Very impressive.
I consider batteries to be expendable. I use 'em hard and replace 'em every 2-3
years whether they need it or not. Realizing that a set of batteries and a tank or
two of gas cost about the same puts it in perspective.
If you want to keep one set of batteries for the long term then I'd move up the
quality scale a bit. Trojans, at least, or maybe even AGMs. I have a 120 ah AGM
that I bought at Bass Pro Shops (had to have one on the road and they were the only
ones I could find.) Made by Surette, I think. Superb battery, though it cost around
$140. I use it for portable applications - when I take my portable freezers on road
trips, for example - and it performs very well. It withstands deep discharges as
well as any battery I've ever had.
One other point. If you live and/or camp in cold weather, consider moving the
batteries into conditioned spaces. Keeping batteries warm greatly extends their
discharge lives as well as cycle lives.
I do a lot of cold weather camping so I moved my batteries to under one of my dinette
bunks. Last weekend, for example, it was in the teens. I know from experience that
I would have lost half my battery capacity to the cold had they been outside. As it
was, my batteries were warm and toasty in their compartment under my dinette.
John
--
John De Armond
See my website for my current email address
http://www.neon-john.com
http://www.johndearmond.com <-- best little blog on the net!
Tellico Plains, Occupied TN
You can't turn [MS] shovelware into reliable software by patching it a
.
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