Battery replacement brands

[bobandvicki]

Must replace my 2 interstate 12v batteries after 5 years. One is for my residential refrigerator and the other runs everything else. What brand battery do you use? Any particular reason for that brand. Thanks for the info / opinion. Bob

[Sandia_Man]

Yeah, I do not fret the badging plastered on the side of a battery since the vast majority are produced by a few entities anyway. We just get our golf cart batteries at Samsclub, first set were labeled Interstate, they went 8 years and still had life when we traded them in.

Current set have Duracell badging, this pair has 25 amphours more than our previous set, purchased on one of their one day sales for just over $60 each four years ago. Still performing like new, Battery longevity really boils down to maintenance and proper charging techniques.

[Happytraveler]

JAC1982 wrote:
We have Optima marine batteries. We've had them around 4 years and they still work fine.

We have Optima and they are great long lasting batteries. We are on our second set, not cheap.

[pianotuna]

Due to Optima's spiral design they have about 60% of the capacity in amp-hours for the same "foot print". They are also expensive per amp-hour. Hence worst choice for a large "house" battery bank.

dpgllg wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
Optima would be the worst choice for this situation.

This does not really help unless you can provide a reason why these batteries are the worst choice.

Dave

[dpgllg]

pianotuna wrote:
Optima would be the worst choice for this situation.

This does not really help unless you can provide a reason why these batteries are the worst choice.

Dave

[Crabbypatty]

I sold my first TT with 2- Trojan t125s on it after 10 years and still going strong. Bought 2 T 125s for my next TT just sold that and went to a fiver. We dry camp alot, so I added two more. Now have 4 T 125's. I expect to get at least 10 years out of them. The trick with flooded batteries is not to discharge them more than 50%. If you do then you will shorten the life dramatically. Yes Trojans are expensive $450 for pair but with a 10 year life and No Hassles $45/year works for us. Also have a tri-metric 2030rv battery meter. We just came home from 7 days with out hookups along with solar never ran the generator. Two T125s are 240amps so you get 120 amps. 6 volt batteries are larger than 12 volt batteries as such it takes them a while to drain down as the plates and cells are much larger.

Happy trails

[Goostoff]

Just tossing out a number with no data to back it up but 80 - 90% of all batteries are made by Johnson Controls and just put the different brands labels on them to ship tp stores. That being saif I just replaced my Farm&Fleet group 27 marine battery that was 6 years old this spring. I think it would still be good but I think it froze solid this past winter when it got down to 50 below. I leave my trailer plugged in 24/7/365 as well

[laknox]

I don't use an inverter, but have been using 2 6v golf cart batteries from Sam's for years. Had I the funds, I'd build a lithium battery from Nissan Leaf battery modules. For the same weight as my 2 6v batteries, I could have nearly 4x the amp hours.

Lyle

[Lwiddis]

“If you don't want to fool with battery maintenance (checking water levels, topping off, dealing with corrosion due to gassing)...”

Yes, just put everything on AUTOMATIC and turn off tour brain.

[ford_truck_guy]

I just replaced my 2 group 29 batteries with 2 Lifeline Group 31 batteries... Had them on my last fifth wheel as well...

[smlranger]

If you don't want to fool with battery maintenance (checking water levels, topping off, dealing with corrosion due to gassing) go with AGM batteries. As noted, Lifelines are hard to beat. Full River is another brand that holds up well. I'd go with two pairs of 6volt GC batteries (each pair wired in series to make 12V). Sam's sells Duracel AGM's that are reasonable priced.

If you don't care how much you spend, go with lithium.

[cummins2014]

bobandvicki wrote:
Must replace my 2 interstate 12v batteries after 5 years. One is for my residential refrigerator and the other runs everything else. What brand battery do you use? Any particular reason for that brand. Thanks for the info / opinion. Bob

Replace with the same Interstate RV batteries from Costco , great batteries warranty etc

[RobWNY]

I use 4 GPL-4CT 6v Lifeline batteries. Not cheap but they get rave reviews. In my 3rd year with them. So far so good.

[pianotuna]

Optima would be the worst choice for this situation.

Find the biggest meanest Group 29 agm batteries that will fit.

[JAC1982]

We have Optima marine batteries. We've had them around 4 years and they still work fine.