| Author | Message | ||
| Ace (24.28.44.126) Rating: |
Just getting around to the purxchase of my inverter and will be needing a battery bank for house current. I was told to use AGM batteries but they are quite expensive and golf cart batteries would work just fine. My question is, are there different brands, types, etc.? I was also told that 4 would be plenty when wired together. Would 6 be even better or just overkill and waste of space? Are the golf cart batteries sold at Sam's club ok or are they off brand and cheaper than others? The label on them reads: group size GC2 6 volt 110 min. @75 amps I didn't have a way to measure them so I used a business card!!!! 3 cards long 2 cards wide 3 cards high to just above the terminals If this helps! Thanks Ace | ||
| jmaxwell (66.42.92.22) Rating: N/A |
Used Trojan t-105s before; recently one went bad and 2 got weak, after 4 yrs, switched to the Exides from Sam's (about 6 months ago). They spec. the same as the Trojans, in fact they weigh 1 1/2 lbs. more each, and they are about $25 cheaper. I run 4 with a trace 2500 U series inverter and 300 amp alternator + 240 watts of solar. Has proven adequate but if I had the space for them, I would use 2 more. No experience w/AGM but some of the scuttlebut says they don't perform well with deep discharging and hate overcharging, which solar will tend to do if u don't keep a load on them during peak charging times, but that may be my controller. | ||
| OAE Palmer (208.164.96.185) Rating: N/A |
FWIW... Yesterday I went to the local partshouse looking for a battery for the van, knowing that I am soon approaching the day when I will be looking for house batteries for my inverter, I also asked them about price on these units. The price quoted me for a Dekka glasmat 8D house battery was $300 even...the quote on the Optima Gelcell deep cycle was 116.00. My original plan was to have about 4000amp hrs of battery for the house system 4-8D's or 6 gelcells, the plan included buying a battery that with care would last 5yrs. w/o a service problem Gelcells x 6 = $696 Glasmat x 4 =$1200 Std. 8D x 4 =$500 I would expect to get 2+yrs. from the std. 8d's... so I have arrived at 1000 every 5 yrs or 1200 for 5 glasmat yrs or 700 for 5 gelcell yrs. even if I boost the gelcell set another unit it seems they are the best deal for the money vs the lifetime of the battery. Fred....looks like theres goin to be a delay of this game until you step in with a ruling...!  | ||
| FAST FRED (65.58.191.191) Rating: N/A |
I have never found a real use for the fan$y gel cell ect batteries. The biggest advantage is that they can be drawn down & left fairly dead , & will recover , AND a faster charge rate can be accepted. Since very few are willing to pay for a gen set , or 120V charger that will cut the time charge down (talking over 200A of DC output) why bother? Most 8D are NOT deep cycle , but there are companies that build them ,Rolls & Surette are about the be$t. For a camping coach the tried & true 2 8D starting batts and a house bank of deep cycle live the longest .Tied together with a $50 200A solenoid & its almost bulletproof. BUT only if the house system has some sort of discharge monitor , to keep track of the sets total discharge & recharge. With out this $200 device , the best batts are the cheapest you can find , with return priveliges . Sams club is great to kill fast or learn with. With a proper monitering set up ,any good deep cycle's like the Trojan 105 or L16 are the best bet , to go many hundreds of discharge cycles , and 6-8 years. Surettes have even more deep cycles, at a higher price. IF they are charged before 72 hours at 50% discharge, not overcharged ,But properly charged, kept clean & watered REAL deep cycles are the best (cheapest ) financial deal in town over the years. Only purchase good batts , if you can purchase the monitor and charge system first. The "best" charge system is built into the Trace Real Sine Wave inverter , that's needed anyway IF the coach is going to use the coach alt. and RV units for on the road air cond. A coach that only does an ocasional night or two of camping can get by happily with ONLY the start 8D batts if common sense is used about loads. No house frige or 24 hour furnace, just lights , TV , radio and a bit of radar oven, or Margureta blender! FAST FRED | ||
| Scott Whitney (24.205.233.25) Rating: N/A |
I have seven 12v AGMs. They seem to work fine. I like being able to charge them quickly. Although my Heart 3KW inverter only has a charger rated at 40A, according to the amp meter, when in the bulk stage, there is ~140A flowing into the batteries. (side note: is this normal?) Granted, I have not yet had a long experience period using these batteries, but another cost might get figured into the equation. If you are using genset to charge batteries like I am, the faster you can charge batteries, less fuel is needed. In my case of a propane genny, fuel = $$$. So the faster I can blast the batteries with a charge, means the less I have to run the genny, and the less propane I have to buy. Will the saved propane balance the extra expense of AGMs? Dunno. In my case, I got a good deal on the AGMs, so probably yes. But might not be the case for everyone - esp. if mostly using 'free' campground power or running a diesel genny. Scott | ||
| Tom Caffrey (Pvcces) (64.114.233.52)
Rating: N/A |
I agree with Fast Fred in that a good monitor is the way to go. It takes all the mystery out of power consumption and recharge. We like a lot of capacity so we carry around 1100 amp hours at 12 volts, 440 in the 8D starting batteries and another 660 in house batteries. That, with the monitor, makes boondocking a worry free experience. Since we had a supply of good 8Ds, we went that way, but if I were buying new, I would look real hard at Trojan's L16. Made in three grades, they have a claimed service life of 12 to 20 years with proper care. Scott, the literature I've seen on 3 KW Heart inverters has listed about 130 or so amps for the charger. Are you sure that you've got the right information? One thing we discovered about the charge controlling battery monitors is that they take over control of the voltage and current regulator in the inverter. If you are using 40 amps of 12 volt power when you first plug into shore or genny and your charger is rated 100 amps, the charger will put out its 100 amps into the batteries plus another 40 amps for your loads. Heart seems to be relying on conservative circuitry and overheat protection to keep from hurting the charger. Also, this means that you need to set power share to match your source more often than you might think. I would expect more or less the same thing with Trace inverters, but I don't have any experience with them. Tom Caffrey PD4106-2576 |
