Beaver Patriot house batteries

Follow-up: Decided to go with the smaller batteries for cost and application reasons, we don't have a lot of time when we aren't plugged in (full timers) and also have an Onan 10k generator so this transition was mostly for the cooler overnights where heat (aqua hot) was needed and we didn't need to run the ac's. Installation was a snap, they are not quite as tall but fit the footprint of the battery compartment just fine. Made a test run of the batteries after installation for a little while before plugging back in and had enough power to run the residential refer for a bit and the inverter didn't trip off in 5 minutes like it had been because of the low battery voltage that showed up within minutes of going on inverter panel due to the age of the old batteries. Those old Lifeline's we quite heavy, even the Insterstates were about 63 pounds each. So, after changing my inverter settings, i was good to go after plugged in and charging overnight and they are now float charging at 13.4 volts.

Hoping the capacity will work for us and these set of batteries takes us a couple years without any troubles.

GC2-HD-AGM Interstate
Battery specs/ea
475 Reserve Capacity (RC)@25 Amps

210 Amp Hours (AH)@20 Hr

dougrainer,

There are several firms that produce a L-16 jar. For example Universal and Trojan.

The OP should have stated that he has AGM batteries because the compartment is NOT ventilated by design. He should have also stated that HIS battery compartment is designed for TALL AGM batteries, not regular size RV batteries. EACH battery weighs 119 pounds. He has 4- 6 volt Lifeline AGM's and unless he can find another brand AGM that fits his size in the compartment, he is stuck with Lifeline as the battery he needs. He could go smaller like regular RV AGM's , but he will lose the capacity of the larger Lifeline's AGM. Doug

pianotuna wrote:
jorbil2or,

Going to golf cart jars may not be a good solution. For the same load "real" usable capacity may be a lot less than what an L-16 will handle, particularly if a large capacity inverter is being used.

The OP needs to do an energy audit to determine what battery size will meet his needs. And he also needs to try to salvage his quite wonderful L-16 jars before he throws money at a solution.

I agree and sticking with them is best imo but the op still wanted less ... and asked where to find them. I gave info on where to look. What the op described in his original post wasn’t a large draw .. depending on inverters etc. I thought the beavers came with just one, but who know what mods have been done in 10 years.

jorbil2or,

Going to golf cart jars may not be a good solution. For the same load "real" usable capacity may be a lot less than what an L-16 will handle, particularly if a large capacity inverter is being used.

The OP needs to do an energy audit to determine what battery size will meet his needs. And he also needs to try to salvage his quite wonderful L-16 jars before he throws money at a solution.

RAINEYTXX wrote:
Smitty, I have 1600 amp hours available, 4 batts. I agree on having insurance, but we battery most for 8hrs or less.

Was hoping to maybe find an in between AGM 6v battery and work with that.you mentioned 230 a/h..that sound like a good alternative. Just have to measure to see about doing 4. Where would I find These?

Actually if you have 4 - 6 volt batteries and ea has 400 amps you only have 800 amps .. when you series tie 2 them together as 12 volt you double the volts but not the amps

Std golf cart batteries .. about 1/2 the amps you now have are avail at golf cart shops or battery suppliers in your area are good choices ... some googling in your area will reveal some options. You can of course amazon them but the shipping would be very high

Try here.

Smitty, I have 1600 amp hours available, 4 batts. I agree on having insurance, but we battery most for 8hrs or less.

Was hoping to maybe find an in between AGM 6v battery and work with that.you mentioned 230 a/h..that sound like a good alternative. Just have to measure to see about doing 4. Where would I find These?

If the compartment is not ventilated, stay with AGM's. Or, modify it to vent.

If you modify it to vent, the Trojan or Crown Wet Cells will save you some money, and also provide you with a good quality battery. They make L16 in wet. As I recall the Trojan wet L16 is yielding 440A, so you jump from 800AH bank to 880AH bank. (Don't recall the Crown L16 AH rating.)

If you wanted to sacrifice a some AHs, then the mentioned Trojan T125, or it's bigger brother the T145, would fit in the same floor space as the L16's. The T145 are 260AH, so you'd drop down to 520AH's.

How old are your Lifeline L16's? If not too old, a call to Lifeline Tech Support would be appropriate. The mentioned Deep Recovery cycle might bring the bank back to life for a bit longer. Lifeline is a stand up company, and work well with mere mortal RV'er's who are not necessarily the most knowledgable about all this stuff. (I know, as they helped me tremendously while working some issues with my bank of X's L16's.)

Final comment. I'm in the camp that believe having some extra capacity in the house bank is a form of insurance.

Best to you,
Smitty

I had the filler kit and squeeze bulb. The plastic was friable and broke in several many places within a year. I was furious. As I had 7 jars at the time it cost a heck of a lot more than $50.

jplante4 wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
It is SUCH fun to top up the battery bank while laying in the snow. NOT!

2oldman wrote:
Lower cost usually gets you into wet batteries, which require watering.

Or for $50 you could get THIS.

Squeeze bulb sold separately. How stupid is that?