GC2 which?

johnhicks wrote:
I'm looking at Batteries Plus; Duracell is $89 while the same at Sam's is $89 (+ membership). The Crown 220Ah is $125 at Batteries Plus. I'll probably go with Duracell. I'm good about taking care of batteries.

Thanks!

Good pricing on Batteries plus.

I have a membership to Sam's and use that membership a lot, not just for bulk food but their gas prices have been running $.20-$.30 cheaper per gallon than all of the other gas stations in my area saving enough just on gas alone to justify their "Plus" membership..

My first set of Sam's GC2 got me 9 yrs of camping, could have stretched that to 10-11 yrs but I depend on the batteries to support my home fridge conversion and at 9 yrs the batteries were showing signs of not as much capacity as they had when new and I didn't want them to fail while camping.

Couple of items for long life on batteries.

#1, recharge as soon as possible, never allow them to be partially discharged for long periods of time.

#2, Make sure your converter is going into "storage mode" once the batteries have reached full charge. This is also called "float" charge and the voltage at the batteries should drop down to about 13.2V in this stage. Some converters only drop to 13.4V or even 13.6V which is sort of OK IF you don't mind the batteries "using" a lot of water.. The higher voltages will boil the water out of the batteries and you will need to check them often!

I have a PD9160 with optional Charge wizard pendant which drops to 13.2V in storage and it is very easy on the batteries water usage.. Typically batteries use 16 oz of water for all 6 cells once a yr for me.

#3, Check and replace lost water often until you figure out how much water your setup and usage patterns affect the batteries.

#4, ENJOY your savings by choosing Duracells, I highly doubt that paying more will result in a significantly longer battery life, at least long enough to justify the extra $70 of the Crown for the pair..