AGM Battery Suggestions - Good, Better, Best?

KenMast wrote:
I'm the OP on this thread. Never did I think it would be so complicated to just replace a battery. That's what I love (not) about RVing.

Well it CAN be simple, if simple is really what you are looking for.

Just visit Camping World and pay whatever inflated price they are asking for their recommended batteries. :B

Or visit Batteries Plus or equivalent and pick from what they have to offer. In my experience, they will tell you the pluses and minuses in a mostly unbiased fashion.

KenMast wrote:
Never did I think it would be so complicated to just replace a battery.

It's always complicated when more than one person is involved!

I'm the OP on this thread. Never did I think it would be so complicated to just replace a battery. That's what I love (not) about RVing.

The Lifelines that supply the living area and the cranking Lifelines have been in the coach since 2010.

dons2346 wrote:

westend wrote:
Good= UPG, Diehard, Interstate
Better= Trojan, Enersys Pure, LIfeline
Best= Concorde, Rolls/Surette, some telecom batteries that are exorbitantly expensive

On what basis did you determine the ratings you gave the batteries?
You have Lifeline as a "better" and a Concord as a "best".

Interesting as how they are the same basic battery

Experience and ratings.

I do not know that a Lifeline is identical to a Concorde but it could very well be.

Edit: looked at a 100AH battery in both product lines. A 100 AH Lifeline weighs 62 lbs. A 100 AH (extrapolated rate) Concorde Sun Xtender weighs 66 lbs. That would kind of show that not all Concorde and Lifeline batteries are identical It's kind of a moot point with me. You can put them in the same category if you wish.

westend wrote:
Good= UPG, Diehard, Interstate
Better= Trojan, Enersys Pure, LIfeline
Best= Concorde, Rolls/Surette, some telecom batteries that are exorbitantly expensive

On what basis did you determine the ratings you gave the batteries?
You have Lifeline as a "better" and a Concord as a "best".

Interesting as how they are the same basic battery

We have 12 volt deep cycle Interstate AGM batteries (made by C&D Technologies) in our Class C motorhome. They were originally intended to be "motive power" batteries - batteries for wheel chairs, etc..

They're coming up on 8 years old this fall and all they have seen for charging is the stock converter and the engine alternator.

Right on the battery label it says to float them at 13.5 volts to 13.8 volts - so the stock converter floats them fine.

But .... AGM batteries have lower internal resistance than regular wet cell batteries. What that means is that they charge faster at whatever voltage is used. This explains why our AGM batteries can both be floated and charged - fast enough for us - using the same fixed voltage stock converter.

Other than their long life, what we like most about our AGM batteries is that they require no maintenance and the complete lack of any corrosion around them in the cabinet or on the cables and connectors.

my CD technology AGMs

charge at 14.7 float at 13.2 ~ 13.8 depending on temperature

it posted right on the label

2oldman wrote:
Can't really argue that, but after 10 years of watering FLAs, that alone is worth the cost to me.

X2.

scrubjaysnest wrote:
The only two converters that come close are the Iota and Progressive Dynamics and they aren't very close.

Inverter/Chargers are another option. Don't know what OP has, but my 10-year-old Freedom 485 and my new Magnum both have AGM settings.

scrubjaysnest wrote:

AGM's don't require equalizing but flooded lead acid do and that voltage 15.0 or higher.

Not true. For my Lifeline AGMs, conditioning/equalizing is recommended under certain conditions.

Finally, I'm on my 2nd set of Lifelines. One of the batteries in my first set of 4 developed a leak, and Lifeline replaced all four batteries for free. Needless to say, they now have a lifetime customer.