Best Place to Buy Trojan Batteries?

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DesertMax

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May 30, 2016
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Looking at picking up a couple of the Trojan 24-AGM 12V 76AH batts and wonder if these
can normally be purchased locally at a comparable price as the online prices I'm seeing.
Shipping is a killer...
 
If there are golf cart shops in your area, shop around them. Some of them have decent battery prices (and others gouge).

Sams Club and Costco are good sources for GC2 golf cart batteries. They won't be Trojans and almost surely are a private label brand, but nearly all private label GC2's come from US Battery and they make as good a battery as anyone. Whether it is worth joining Sams or Costco is debatable. Probably not if just to buy batteries, but maybe if you can use it for other stuff during the year. We keep a Sams membership simply because we like some of the stuff they have available, and not to save money.
 
Hey Gary, thanks for the great response..  I had forgotten about the golf angle.. 
I'll do that when I get ready to add batts..  I guess it's really all about AH isn't it..
Those Trojans are looking great at 74 or whatever..  My AGM is nowhere near that..
 
Trojan makes AGMs as well as flooded cells, and the amp hours vary by type as well as size. AGMs produce a bit fewer AH for a given size.

But yes, it's mostly about amp-hours, but cycles (how many charge cycles a battery can last) is an important factor for longevity. A car battery can produce the AH, but dies an early death when subjected to frequent deep charge cycles. That's where the GC2 flooded cells and most all AGMs shine.

I'm running 4x Trojan 31AGMs, Group 31 size 12v AGMs. Started their ninth year last month and still performing decently. Not like new by any means, but not too shabby either.
 
Today I landed at the Harbor Freight site looking for a tool and found 74AH AGM's for $129.00...  Chinese?
 
Maybe. I've not seen batteries at HF, so don't know.

74 AH would be typical for a [roughly] Group 24 size AGM. Even Sears has AGM automotive batteries in that price range, and a car battery probably has an AH rating around 65-75. How well it holds up under frequent deep discharging is another matter. A starting battery has more but thinner plates than a deep cycle, so rarely lasts as long when subjected to deep discharges. But many RVers always have shore power and rarely deep discharge anyway, so it may not make that much difference for some people. AGMs are more durable than flooded cells in general, so one of these automotive AGMs might be a reasonable choice when cost vs lifetime is considered. It's much like the price tradeoff with a marine type battery vs true deep cycle: costs less up front but doesn't last as long. Pay me now, or pay me later.
 
Gary..  I'm building a 36 or possibly a 48V AGM Batt system and wondered about mix matching batts?
Do they all have to be the same AH or totally the same..  same make & model?
 
Best if they are all same type and rating and age/condition, but practical differences may be small if they are close. However, you will be wiring the batteries in series to get 36v or 48v and that basically limits the performance of the entire set to that of the weakest or least capacity battery. You can't push through any more current (amps) than the least one can handle.

Did you really mean 48v, or was that short hand for 12v wiring but 8 x 6v batteries?

If you really want a 48v system, GC2 are available in 8v instead of 6v. Golf carts often use the 8v version to get a 48v from 6 batteries.
 
Gary, as for the ref to 48V, I meant 4  12V batteries in one system...  is that not the correct way to refer to a system like that?
 
Short answer: No.  The voltage is normally given as the system voltage produced, so 4 x 12v batteries in parallel is still a 12v system.  It just has more amp-hours of capacity.  Your RV uses a system voltage that is nominally 12v (actually anywhere from 11.5-14), so the battery bank is always referred to as 12v, whether it is made up of a single 12v battery, 2 x 6v in series, or 4 x 12v in parallel.
 
Find a distributor of Trojan batteries and open a cash account with them.  You might need an EIN with some companies, but some don't bother asking. They'll deliver the batteries for free at a nice discount.

I bought 4, Trojan T-145 Plus, 6v batteries for $439 this way.
 

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Thanks all for the great responses..  Hey Wolf..  I like the batt boxes in your image..  did you make those yourself or buy them?  Just about what I'm going to need real soon..
 
I bought them, but had to use a dremmel to cut out the paths for the battery wire.

I bought them here:

http://www.allbatterysalesandservice.com/browse.cfm/4,576.html
 
Yes, shop the golf cart shops. Here is what I was quoted in Oregon.

"Trojan T-105.  They have a rating of 225 AH @ 20 hr and sell for $130.00
each, exchange."
 

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