Lifeline L16 AGM?

wintersun wrote:
For the price you can buy six flooded lead acid deep cycle batteries with a life of more than 25 years, and pay as you go. So the breakeven point with the Lifeline is at 25 years. Is the warranty for that long and do you plan to hold onto the RV for that long as well? Makes zero sense for an RV to use these.

MMMMMMM....don't think so. I take it you are talking about 6X6V wet cells. 2 are needed to roughly equal the amperage of the single 4D. So that is 3 banks with your 6X6V. Each bank would have to last over 8 years. Not likely. Not without alot of careful maintenance & easy use. 4 years life per bank is more like it & even that is a stretch if well used. That gives 12 years total life span for those 6X6V wet cells.

Now it is not likely the the 4D Lifeline will give 12 years service either. 10 years should be about it. The thing is that the AGM will not need a drop of water. It can be mounted anywhere you please. It is not going to leak & corrode your steel battery frame. Until it gets near the end of its lifespan it will be worry & maintenance free.

Yes that Lifeline AGM 4D is very expensive. It costs about as much as the 6X6V wet cells. The one 4D AGM Lifeline will last about the same as all those 6X6V wetcells. While the wet cell owner is busy changing batterys every 4 years the AGM owner sits & watches. He has a battery lifespan 2-3 times longer than that wet cell owner.

If it was just about price we would drive a 10 year old Prius and camp in a tent.

For the price you can buy six flooded lead acid deep cycle batteries with a life of more than 25 years, and pay as you go. So the breakeven point with the Lifeline is at 25 years. Is the warranty for that long and do you plan to hold onto the RV for that long as well? Makes zero sense for an RV to use these.

Thanks all for your info on this line of batteries. I just happened onto them, so I will place them into my list of things to add to my trailering some day!! Good to hear other's people's experience!! Just finished my longest camping for the year, still hope to get out a bit though!

I am using the GPL-6CT 300AH 6V's and they are great batteries. Mine are only 6 months old, but my dad has a set of 12ish year old 6V's that are still going strong.

They can accept a very high rate of charge, but I haven't seen a minimum rate.

Actually, no, they don't have to have 80amps slammed into them. When I bought the AGM I chucked the ratty converter/charger too & bought a 2kw INverter/charger which is programable.

Sorry I am in Bermuda right now & the rig with paperwork for the battery is in MD but I seem to recall that the bulk charging rate for the 4D is somewhere around 30amps.

Specs on the L-16

I am not a fan of AGM batteries but... If you are going to buy AGM Lifeline is the brand to buy. they are the best.. You may also need to upgrade your converter These puppies are 400 amp hours and as I recall Lifeline says 80 amps is the MINIMUM converter size for them, they really would like 120 amps (I would go with 100 cause that is what my Prosine can pump) and that is for a single pair.

The price on the linked page does not look too bad either (Roughly a kilo-buck a pair)

I also have a single 4D Lifeline. New in 2011. It has had over 600 nights of use, 2 trips to Alaska with quite a bit of dry camping. Going strong though I wish I had room for an 8D.

Yeah, the AGMs are expensive but the convenience of no filling, no mess & long service life make them economically viable.

I replaced my OE 12 volt "semi" deep cycle batteries with two 6 volt Lifeline GPL-4CTs. I can now go 3 days on a full charge (to 50% level, 12.2V). My old batteries couldn't even hope to pull that off.

No more cleaning in the battery compartment and not more corrosion in there. They were $300 each when I bought them last year.

I intend to add solar to the mix.

I have a pair of the Lifeline 6CT 300 AH 6 volts. They've been in service since Dec. 2012. I haven't put them through anything extreme, and they're quite new. They've met my goal of up to a week of dry camping w/ 200W solar and not using generator. So far, so good. The battery compartment is perfectly clean-no acid spatters or leaks.