| Author | Message | ||
| ChuckMC9 (Chucks)
Rating: N/A |
1.)When those of you in this camp so gleefully say that two Grp 31's do the job well as moderate weather start batts, are you speaking of 12v or 24v systems? I don't mean to reopen the Group 31 vs 8D debate - while all the threads in the archives were mostly very enlightening, everything I find seems to glance off the center of the target I'm trying to resolve. I've read a lot about this and know it's a complex discussion, but am trying to keep this question simple. It's not the $$$ I'm interested in saving, it's the ability to move inside to a charging station for charging/floating when not in use. 2.) Where are all these 1,100 CCA Grp 31's you talk about? From what I can tell even Trojan's top offering is 1,000 CCA. (C31-1000) I've looked a lot of places, but most battery co.'s web resources are so bad it's hard to do research. PS: This is not a challenge, it's a search for a solution. | ||
| niles steckbauer (Niles500)
Rating: N/A |
http://www.lifelinebatteries.com/rvflyer.php?id=12 | ||
| john w. roan (Chessie4905)
Rating: N/A |
Delco batteries have 1100, 1200 and 1300 series batteries in different output.... heavy duty, high output heavy duty, and high cycle heavy duty in threaded stud and top post. | ||
| Buswarrior (Buswarrior)
Rating: N/A |
Hello. Having been looking closely at the 18 wheeler crowd lately on an unrelated matter... The tractor trailers up here in Southern Ontario seem to be running three or four batteries in their battery boxes. While I'm thinking about it, don't embarress yourself asking the truckers about 24 volts. Generally speaking, there isn't any, and for most folks, there never was anything other than 12 volts. No, I didn't.... I already knew that, but I'm trying to help the rest of us! There is a difference between inexperience and "so far out in left field he's not in the game" In the interest of getting any more info from that source, we have to be careful not to be seen coming from the wrong group! FWIW happy coaching! buswarrior | ||
| Brian Brown (Blue_velvet)
Rating: N/A |
Chuck-ster: 1) The amps converted to watts from two batts (i.e. 1100 @ 24v vs. 2200 @ 12v) is the same in either, so I'd imagine that they'd work equally well in 12v or 24v. 2) Here's an 1100 CCA Grp 31 AGM beast, but it's 100 pounds, which probably defeats the purpose... http://www.battery-usa.com/power_battery_Marine.htm You might try NAPA, also. My 8D's are biting the dust, so I'm moving down (in weight at least) to the Grp. 31's also. I, too, have to keep my bus stored remotely and after my last near-hernia experience, vowed to never move the freaking 8Ds ever again. The way I see it, always having two 31's home on a trickle charger would be better than having 2 8Ds always in the bus drawing down. HTH, Blue Velvet | ||
| ChuckMC9 (Chucks)
Rating: N/A |
Well, yes of course, but because a G31 seems so hard to find at this rating I thought previous threads might have been speaking of 12V applications only.
That's exactly the issue. I've found many 850ish - 950ish CCA G31's, but didn't think those were muscular enough. I'm beginning to rethink the idea, since ones this size are so uncommon and if the use of G31's @ 24V is 'iffy' at best, I wouldn't want to be stuck in podunk with batts that can't be readily obtained. Schwanke, where are ya when we need ya? And if anyone can use that lame-o Delco site to find anything, let me know!  | ||
| Craig Craddock (Gs4)
Rating: N/A |
Try this page for some interesting info on a 8V71T. http://mallie.home.cwis.net/page17.html The compression is a little lower then a natural aspirated engine. So it should turn over a little easier but be harder to start in cold weather. Scroll down the page to military spec. sheet and look at the lower LH corner of that section for CCA both 12 & 24 V. at temps above & below 32 degrees F. I have 2-31's- 950 CCA each at 12 V parallel for my 8V71TA and it start great. You will see by the chart 1900 is what I need down to 32 degrees. It does take about 10 seconds in 38 degree weather to start and leaves a fuel cloud for a couple seconds and at higher temps start in 2 seconds or less and is perfectly clean from the start. The temp between 38 and a 106 outside I can not tell by just looking at it crank to say if it is turning any faster. I am sure a block heater would make mine start in 2 seconds in cold weather. | ||
| ChuckMC9 (Chucks)
Rating: N/A |
Thank you, Craig. That helped clear up some confusion. My maintenance manual says 975 CCA for the 8v71N but it wasn't exactly clear that it was at 24v. I had read 1900 in past posts and now know that that was for 12v, and it all makes sense now. Seems to me the thing to do is get two 950ish now, and when winter comes add two more. Sounds like a plan, without the expectation that they will last years and years. | ||
| Brian Brown (Blue_velvet)
Rating: N/A |
Random thoughts... If you're going to have a genny, then running low on juice on your coach side isn't necessarily a show-stopper (as long as you have a charged batt to start it). On our last trip, our marginal 8D starts didn't want to crank after a long stop (click, click, click), but I just fired up the genny and juiced them with the 100A "start" boost on my charger and we were back on the road again. My new diesel genny has its own batt., which I think is better (in a multiple-redundancy vein) than using a possibly drawn-down house side to start a genset. A block heater is also a necessity, IMHO. Because an hour or so on a block heater (from genset or shore) will make nearly any once-frigid DD easy-crankin' again. Besides, you're talking Dallas winters, right? I think you'll be fine with two G31's. A marine-style batt combiner (check ePlace) can also be used to tie your house and coach batts together momentarily. bb | ||
| Brian Brown (Blue_velvet)
Rating: N/A |
Oh, yeah:
If your 31's spend their idle days on the trickle charger, they just might last a very long time. | ||
| James Maxwell (Jmaxwell)
Rating: N/A |
My 2 Trojans lasted 5 yrs. Trojan has a new series out and it comes in Gp31, 1100 CCA. Brother in Law dealer lists them @ $113. Trojan also has AGM now, priced right up there w/Lifeline. | ||
| Dennis Johnson Rating: N/A |
I bought 1100 cca 31's 3 years ago at Truck Pro for my MC7 24 volt system. They were 57.95. They work fine. Whenever I am in cold weather, I use a block heater. | ||
| Craig Craddock (Gs4)
Rating: N/A |
For the last 1 1/2 yrs. I have been using a 1 1/2 amp fully automatic Schmacer [ sp ? ] 12 V charger for my bus start batteries. Cost 29.95 at Kragen's It has keep them up at all times but I do have the luxury of power at home. I have 7 more of them in other vehicles and it sure has saved me a lot of grief. I also have a 10 amp one for my house batteries. In my 12 v bus system when I entered into 31's vs 8D's if it did not have enough cranking my plan was to add another 31. This was cheaper 59 vs about 112 dollars ea., also 3 if needed would give me more CCA then what I had with 2 8D's if I needed the third battery, much easier to handle, better battery warranty and could fit on one battery tray in my 04. Than way I could put my 4 house batteries on the other shelf. Just throwing out my thoughts and experiences. | ||
| John Jewett (Jayjay)
Rating: N/A |
My 950 CCA Autozone Grp 31's ($57.95 each) have competently cranked my 8V71 GMC 4905 down to a well cold-soaked, overnight low of 19, without the block heater. They were new and the engine certainly isn't, so that would help, but so far (after 3 years) I've had no problem with them. I use the original battery disconnect switch, and any time I shut down the coach for more than a few hours, I shut them off. ...JJ | ||
| ChuckMC9 (Chucks)
Rating: N/A |
Well all you guys must live in more bus-friendly places than I do. Must be that only clientele in DFW is pansy city-slickers. Strikeouts/non-availability at: Autozone Sams WallyWorld Pep Boys Interstate Batteries Plus TruckPro. Contintental Battery, the Trojan so-called "Distributor," doesn't have Trojans but Continentals, (any good?) for $80 or so. Looks like NAPA is the winner at this point - 950's for $82. Hardly anyone has ever *heard* of anything bigger than 950. I'm on a QUEST for $60 Group 31's! It ain't the money, I just hate paying more than you did! Maybe I'll call Freightliner and some of the other big guys here to see where they get 'em. | ||
| Brian Brown (Blue_velvet)
Rating: N/A |
Hang tough! Yup, call around to Stewart and Stevenson or some of the big truck places off Irving Blvd. They may not end up beating NAPA's price, but they'll at least know what you're talking about. Dennis mentioned Truck Pro earlier in the thread. Looks like they're in the Big D. Or... I hate to say it, after our last experience with these fine folks, but you could try to find someone at DART that has a clue and query them about their batt. supplier(s). Keep us posted on that quest! bb | ||
| Stephen Fessenden (Sffess)
Rating: N/A |
Is it just Dallas prices? When I travelled through Texas in the early 60s prices in Houston were marked up from the manufacturers preprinted suggested retail on the package and I was told Dallas had a higher markup. You will want to go with a store or brand that has nationwide service. | ||
| john w. roan (Chessie4905)
Rating: N/A |
Don't forget to compare the battery ratings at the same temp. Some are at zero and some are at 32 degrees, and most are rated at two or more temps. | ||
| ChuckMC9 (Chucks)
Rating: N/A |
Followup: I ended up finding a small, hole-in-the-wall kind of place recommended by another busguy. VERY glad to have found someone who *really* knows what they're talking about. He fixed me up with two 1,000 CCA's, and we arrived at the decision to go with the stud, not post type. They custom make cables and I decided to do it the right way - now have all new cables made from welding cable, crimped & heatshrunk professionally. The best thing about doing it this way is that adding two more Grp 31's will be a piece of cake, if it seems like four will be a better long-term solution. In almost every case, none of the batteries I found *anywhere* were brands I recognized. That seems extremely weird, and perhaps leads me to think that I missed something as I went about the chase. Long story short, the 1K CCA's were $72 each + about $50 in custom cables, for $200 and change out-the-door price. And, Vroom, Vroom. Works in 100 degree weather at least! | ||
| pat young
Rating: N/A |
My 2 centavos worth I have a bunch of Gilligs and Crowns, and probably every type of engine configuration that ever came in either one. After ruining my back for the Hundredth time, I spent the bucks and got a Group 31, 1100 CCA, and it sarts the biggest diEsel I have (855 cubic inch, 290 turbo Cummins) without even breathing hard. Next time I do batteries, I'm definitely going to go with 2 Group 31s, and leave the 8Ds to those who like pain more than I do. I also don't think it matters that much if you have 1000 CCAs or 1100 etc. Some of my 8Ds I have come with 1000 CCAs, just like my group 31s, except that the group 31s cost about 60% of an 8D. I'm sold! Oh p.s. some of the sdchool districts are going from two 8Ds to three group 31s. Me thinks it would be a good setup. Patrick Young Fresno, CA Gillig with an 1160 CAT |