House Batteries

haste maker wrote:
I have got the batteries out of the unit & they are exide xtra gc-135 battery with manufacturing of Jan 2011, both had bulging on the sides & were very heavy...I hope the new ones will last 10 years...yea I know that's a pipe dream..

Not a pipe dream if you maintain them, my Sam's Club batteries are 14 years old and still are fine and I only dry camp. My first set were Trojans they lasted only 4 years. It took me a while to figure out the proper way to maintain them.

I have got the batteries out of the unit & they are exide xtra gc-135 battery with manufacturing of Jan 2011, both had bulging on the sides & were very heavy...I hope the new ones will last 10 years...yea I know that's a pipe dream..

opnspaces wrote:
It depends on your camping style.

If you always have shore power then a single 12 volt starting battery from Walmart will suffice.

If you off grid or boondock camp then two six volt are the way to go.

I agree. Do you go from full hookup campground to full hookup campground? If you do, I wouldn't waste a lot of money on golf cart batteries.

If you are boondocking, go with the more expensive option.

It sounds, to me, like your present batteries haven't been a problem to you.

I, personally, like to use an inexpensive "smart" battery charger on my batteries to keep them fully charged.

I suggest GC2 pairs Which brand is up to you Many thing TROJAN batteries are best But are they that much better to justify the price when Sam's sells very good batteries for less than 90 a pop? (Plus tax) I think not.

IF getting to them for service is an issue you might wish to consider AGM's (Also more expensive and again in my opinion not worth the added cost UNLESS access for maintenance is an issue) The advantages of agm is less frequent connection cleaning and you never add distilled water.

Flooded wet cells you do have to add Distilled water to from time to time add to about 1/4" below the bottom of the filler tube.

Why GC2 (6volt) Pairs?
Put two six volt 220 amp hour GC-2 in series you get one 12 volt 220 amp hour battery (roughly a 4D or 8D) but easier to wrangle (install/remove)
True DEEP Cycle batteries you can use half the power they store.
MARINE/deep cycle, at best 25%

Finally.. IF money is NOT an issue, consider conversion to one of the new LI batteries.. far more expensive but... Longer lasting and you can use over 90% of the stored power from what I'm told... I have two small ones (not big enough for RVing) will put one to the test in just under a month. (Amateur Radio Field Day it will power my TS-2000)

Sam's sells the GC2 batteries for $89.99 each I think, I just replaced mine last week. Its the best deal on deep cycle 6 volts I've come across. Sam's has great prices on batteries, they are American made Penn State sourced Duracells.

I’ve been happy with Trojans...but expensive.

haste maker wrote:
It appears that the time has come to replace my house batteries...they will charge up to 12.9v over a 24hr period, but will drop to 11.2 in 3 hrs unplugged...

Discharged batteries should bulk charge to 14.4V and then taper to 13.4V float. Do yours? Is the water level above the plates? Are the batteries bulging on the sides?

Have the batteries load tested for free to help determine if you have battery or charger or excessive load issues.

Since you have a pair of Golf Cart batteries, go the same way again. Sams club, Costco or batteries + bulbs will all have them with the big boxes being a few bucks cheaper than most others.
Take a picture of how they are now wired to assist in installing the new ones.

sams

It depends on your camping style.

If you always have shore power then a single 12 volt starting battery from Walmart will suffice.

If you off grid or boondock camp then two six volt are the way to go.

IIRC someone recently posted that wal mart had the 6 volters.
bumpy