Batteries...what's best?

My current RV tech has recommended Interstate batteries.  I need to replace my current battery.  I'm aware that many of you say that golf cart batteries are best, but I really don't think that's necessary for me.  (FYI...I don't plan on ever dry camping.)

So, are Interstate at the top of the list of good ones?  Suggestions welcome.

Thanks,
Cathy

I'd suggest a 'search' of the word 'batteries' to get more reading material than you can get through in a month! :

The Interstate Co. market good quality batteries if you select their higher-rated (Amp Hour) group models...

Your Local Battery Specialist shop will usually give you the best info for replacement batteries for your particular application, etc...

You'll need a Deep Cycle battery for RV - just get the highest Amp Hour rating for the size (group) that fits your RV...

Cathy - Don't listen to a salesman. I have been using Walmart deep cycle batteries for years with great success. They cost about $70 each.

Your need for a golf cart battery (really a deep cycle battery) is most definite. They are designed to be charged and discharged over and over again. They come in 6 volt and 12 volt versions. If you only have one battery then it will be a 12 volt. Then you don't want to switch to golf cart batteries because they are generally 6 volt. You will want a 12 volt battery. There are lots of discussions on this forum about which battery is the best, but it all comes down to maintenance. If you make sure the terminals are tight and corrosion free and you check the water level monthly then your battery should last a long time. The huge advantage of buying a Walmart battery is the fact that they have a great one year warranty and they will replace it for free if it fails in that time period. And since there are 5000 Walmarts scattered around the county it makes it easy to get warranty work done.

The brand name is not important to me. I do however always but the highest cold crank AMP that will fit into my batt box.  I do shop wallmart for the replacement reason as well as there locations and always attach my receipt to the batt in a plastic zip lock bag for future need.

As noted above, just about any quality NAME BRAND battery will do just fine for your application. The reason I emphasize name brand is so you'll be able to get a replacement when a battery goes bad a few months after you buy it and you're on the other side of the country; just happened to me! Any battery can go bad early although it doesn't happen often.

Do get the right type! High Cranking Amp batteries are used for the Engine and Deep Cycle are for the coach.

Ernie

What the others said! As long as you get a brand name deep cycle you should be fine. The ones Walmart sells for use as trolling motor batteries are as good as any deep cycle and usually priced right. But Interstates are ok too - they offer a a "marine" battery that is an ok deep cycle. But just ok - no great claim to fame.

Interstate doesn't make batteries themselves - they are just a brand name that buys from a battery manufacturer such as Johnson Controls or East Penn Mfg. They do, however, have nationwide dealer network for warranty purposes.

If you don't go without shore power except while driving, a typical size 24 deep cycle should be fine for your needs.

I currently use two Interstate batteries in my battery bank.  I would have gone Trojan 6v's, but the price was right and I now have 4 years use out of the two used Interstates.  They were load tested with myself present before purchase.  $90.00 for the matched pair.  Original purchaser bought them both for heavy equipment application and replaces them yearly to save the cost of field repairs. 

If you have an Interstate branch (not a supplier) close to home, keep in touch with them for blemished or contractual batteries that have been load tested and proven.  Save big bucks!  Second time around for me with excellent luck.

When searching for a deep cycle batteries you want the most Amp Hours in a single battery.

My battery bank for the stick house.
http://i56.tinypic.com/30wxo94.jpg

Like this is a 820 ah bank of batteries (24 volt setup). In other words if I had a 1 amp load it would last 820 hours. So if I run my 4Kw inverter at max load (166 Amps) I would get about 4.9 hours out this.

As for battery life it all about how you maintain the batteries and deeply you discharge the batteries. Like my Dodge pickup still has the factory batteries from 2002 and still going strong twisting the mighty Cummins to life in the middle of winter here in Idaho.

seilerbird said:

Cathy - Don't listen to a salesman. I have been using Walmart deep cycle batteries for years with great success. They cost about $70 each.

Your need for a golf cart battery (really a deep cycle battery) is most definite. They are designed to be charged and discharged over and over again. They come in 6 volt and 12 volt versions. If you only have one battery then it will be a 12 volt. Then you don't want to switch to golf cart batteries because they are generally 6 volt. You will want a 12 volt battery. There are lots of discussions on this forum about which battery is the best, but it all comes down to maintenance. If you make sure the terminals are tight and corrosion free and you check the water level monthly then your battery should last a long time. The huge advantage of buying a Walmart battery is the fact that they have a great one year warranty and they will replace it for free if it fails in that time period. And since there are 5000 Walmarts scattered around the county it makes it easy to get warranty work done.

Click to expand...

The current battery is from Walmart.  Touche'...  It's dated 2008.  Don't know how much usage it got since my RV was a repo.  I've only been living in it for 2-1/2 months.  I thought batteries were pretty much sealed.  Have to check if I can even open it to add water.  The terminals are tight and corrosion free.  That I checked...  Warranty on battery says 18-month free replacement. 

I will check online, walmart.com  Already ordered a toolbox from there for my truck ...needed for storage.

StarDancer said:

The current battery is from Walmart.  Touche'...  It's dated 2008.  Don't know how much usage it got since my RV was a repo.  I've only been living in it for 2-1/2 months.  I thought batteries were pretty much sealed.  Have to check if I can even open it to add water.  The terminals are tight and corrosion free.  That I checked...  Warranty on battery says 18-month free replacement. 

Click to expand...

An almost four year old battery is getting pretty long in the tooth. Some batteries are sealed and some aren't.

When you go in to get a new battery take the old one in with you and have them test it. If it is bad make sure you get one that will physically fit in your battery compartment. The exact number of amp-hours is not really critical unless you boondock a lot. If you are hooked up to shore power most all of the time then the size of the battery is not that critical.

seilerbird said:

An almost four year old battery is getting pretty long in the tooth. Some batteries are sealed and some aren't.

When you go in to get a new battery take the old one in with you and have them test it. If it is bad make sure you get one that will physically fit in your battery compartment. The exact number of amp-hours is not really critical unless you boondock a lot. If you are hooked up to shore power most all of the time then the size of the battery is not that critical.

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Battery was tested on Saturday by the RV tech.  Losing charge.  Testing without any load on it is not the same as if just testing free standing.  (Is it?)  My neighbor took it to Auto Zone before I left and it was "fully charged."  Nevertheless, will do the Walmart thing.  Don't feel much like buying two batteries at $119 each!  I'll have to get one of my male neighbors to pick it up.  These suckers are heavy!

StarDancer said:

I'll have to get one of my male neighbors to pick it up.  These suckers are heavy!

Click to expand...

Doesn't this kind of go against the "equal work, equal pay" thing? ;D

You should be able to get a decent deep cycle (aka trolling motor battery) for $70-$80 at Walmart. A size 24 or size 27 is sufficient for the task if you don't go without shore power very much. If you never boondock, you could even consider buying just one house battery. There is no law that says you must have two - that merely gives you more electrical storage space (amp hours).

A battery that shows a full charge can still fail or simply lose its charge under a moderate to heavy load. And if the batteries you have were not top quality deep cycles, or were not well cared for, they certainly are likely to be toast at 3-4 years of age.

I have used Wal Mart battery's for years and never had an problem.

If I'm not mistaken I think Wal-Mart batteries are produced by Exide.

The source for the Everstart brand that Walmart sells will be one of three manufacturers, depending on the model of battery: Exide, Delphi or Johnson Controls.

Walmart also sells the Minnkota brand of trolling motor battery, which is a deep cycle actually made by Trojan battery, the premier name in RV and marine deep cycles.

Everstart now outsells the Sears Diehard brand and is the most widely used brand name of battery in the USA. That doesn't make them better (or worse either) - just indicates their popularity. Perfromance can vary a lot by battery type and model.

I design and integrate back up power systems (UPS, Gens, etc; up to 10mW) as my profession so I deal with battery manufactures on a regular basis. There's one thing rarely known about battery companies... there are probably fewer than two dozen lead acid battery manufacturing facilities global and about only six in the US. Lead acid battery manufactures is the US are C&D, Enersys, GNB, Tojan, East Penn and Johnson Controls Inc (JCI). As far as "the best quality name brands" for deep cycle I'd put my money on East Penn (Deka) or Trojan. The Optima line (by JCI) have a great technology but due to their technology they don't have a "true" deep cycle battery.

Interstate batteries are manufactured by JCI

Deep cycle = fewer large plates
Starting = many smaller plates
Dual purpose = some hybrid form of starting and deep cycle (personally, I'd stay away from these for any application)

The batteries from Walmart are decent bang for the buck but I live in AZ and I've found them to be extremely sensitive to high heat conditions. But one way to look at it... you can buy 2-3 Everstarts for the price of one Deka or Trojan and about anywhere you're bound to be close to a Walmart. Walmart has a great return policy... I went three years with my boat battery (Everstart group 27) where I returned it five times no hassles for a replacement. End of it all... I just got tired of having to return the battery twice a year.

There are two types of lead acid batteries: flooded or valve regulated. Flooded are traditional lead plates with liquid electrolyte that require maintenance. Valve regulated are also called sealed or maintenance free that require no internal cell maintenance. Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM) and gel cells are examples of valve regulated batteries. AGM's have textile mats (sort of like fiber glass) wrapped around the plates which are soaked with the electrolyte and gel's suspend the electrolyte in a (you guessed it) gel substance.

As far as application, flooded will be the least expensive but [again] require internal cell maintenance (checking fluid levels) and must be mounted level with caps up never being on their side or flipped as the fluid will leak. Sealed batteries can technically be mounted sideways or will not leak if flipped but typically you want to mount right side up. Flooded batteries don't like to be moved or bounced. AGM's are probably the most durable. Gel's, I would personally stay away from.

One other thing... if you are running parallel batteries, both batteries should be bought and replaced always at the same time. The is especially true for deep cycles.

JC

dustybuster said:

I design and integrate back up power systems (UPS, Gens, etc; up to 10mW) as my profession so I deal with battery manufactures on a regular basis. There's one thing rarely known about battery companies... there are probably fewer than two dozen lead acid battery manufacturing facilities global and about only six in the US. Lead acid battery manufactures is the US are C&D, Enersys, GNB, Tojan, East Penn and Johnson Controls. As far as "the best quality name brands" for deep cycle I'd put my money on East Penn (Deka) or Trojan. The Optima line (by JCI) have a great technology but due to their technology they don't have a "true" deep cycle battery.

Deep cycle = fewer large plates
Starting = many smaller plates
Dual purpose = some hybrid form of starting and deep cycle (personally, I'd stay away from these for any application)

The batteries from Walmart are decent bang for the buck but I live in AZ and I've found them to be extremely sensitive to high heat conditions. But one way to look at it... you can buy 2-3 Everstarts for the price of one Deka or Trojan and about anywhere you're bound to be close to a Walmart. Walmart has a great return policy... I went three years with my boat battery (Everstart group 27) where I returned it five times no hassles for a replacement. End of it all... I just got tired of having to return the battery twice a year.

One other thing... if you are running parallel batteries, both batteries should be bought and replaced always at the same time. The is especially true for deep cycles.

JC

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tidbit of knowledge dustybuster... (Thumbs Up!)

JC,  There are many more than the six battery Mfrs you mentioned that regionally Mfg. Lead-acid batteries from lead ingots to finished products...

Just the few that come to mind are, I'm sure there many more regional mfrs I'm not familiar with:

US Battery in Corona Ca, Evans & Augusta, GA...  http://www.usbattery.com

Ramcar Batteries in So-California...  http://www.ramcarbattery.com

Rolls/Surrette batteries in the East...  http://www.surrette.com

Exide Batteries (a real biggie) with 7 or 8 plants in the US alone...  http://www.exide.com

Lead-acid battery manufacturing used to be an affordable cottage industry - we had a small plant for years in the the SF Bay Area, where we had at least 5 others to compete with... However the EPA's ever changing air-quality Reg's put us ALL out of business...

EPA demands a certain PPM number for air contaminates - as a business you invest in the necessary expensive equipment to comply - Several years later, the EPA then requires a smaller PPM number that again require new expensive equipment - to comply one then would have to price their products too high to compete with the 'big boys', due to our limited production numbers.  As a result, we then decide to close up shop... Gee, I wonder why so many of our country's mfrs have flown over seas???

I always suggest that battery buyers also check out their Battery Specialists locally, as they usually will give you the expert information you need, the info you can't find at the big box stores...

Exide is GNB... the company I work for used to be Exide Electronics. Exide Technologies acquired GNB back in 2000... so my bad, I just think of them as GNB since that's how they go to market with UPS batteries.

There are a few others noted by Mexray but you'd be hard pressed to find out where they make their batteries since they more than likely have them OEM'd from one of the few.

JC