Battery Upgrade
First let me set the stage. We boondock 1-2 weeks a year. The rest of the time the trailer is plugged into shore power either in storage or at campground with hookups. We have one house GP27 wet ce...
Forum Discussion
Yep, and at my age a jar of mayonnaise may have a "Lifetime Warranty" :) If you run out of power it's jumper cables and prayer time to start the generator. Before you settle on jar car, wet batteries, only Rolls & Surrette offers 24 and 27 batteries that are truly cyclable. The rest of the lot are .040" plate batteries that are EXACT COPIES of DeSoto and Chrysler Imperial batteries from the 1960's. Neat huh?. But no tar tops. With Trojan, you get a car battery that is better quality like the old Globe Union Sears Die-Hard. But Trojan comes at a stiff price. When I had a cab over KAMP KING monster camper in the late sixties, RV batteries were unknown. They did not exist. I settled for group 27 Autolite tar top batteries. 105 amp hour jobs. They had a CCA of around 525 amps and were heavy. I griped at the cost of $44.00.
(Use the Wayback Machine and take today's Johnson Controls RV batteries back to the 1960's) Unhappy customers would probably have lynched you. That's how bad things have gotten with underprocessed recycle lead, typewriter thin and stacked like onionskin.
Up until the 1980's a person could count on truck 4-D, 6-D, 7-D and 8-D batteries as being naturally deep cycle. Not any more. Stuff 29 old fashioned plates per cell into a new battery and they would jut out the case ends by over two inches.
There are a few golf car battery companies that do things the old fashioned way. But Nation wide only Trojan refuses to cheapen their recipe. Premium lead used to cast grids is expensive and so is plate paste. Scumbag manufacturers measure out cheap paste by the milligram and it's not only the quality of the paste, it's the thickness applied to the grid. There are 1,001 ways to scumbag battery construction and guess who pays for it? Rolls flooded batteries have a top quality niche that is deserved.
Bottom Line
I would go with CHINESE AGM batteries 10 to 1 versus trashbag car jar flooded batteries. Especially if you can find positive referrals for the battery. I have seen enough car jar garbage to be repulsed by it. Chinese AGM batteries versus Trojan T-105 batteries brings forth a much stiffer argument.
As for the 14.4 volts argument it has gotten out of hand here. Repeatedly undercharging an AGM battery takes it's toll after weeks of misuse. It is more important to maintain a bulk charge level above 20% amp hour capacity. When you get home, apply 14.4 volts for a week which will absolutely get the batteries 100% full. And a week's worth of 14.4 absolutely will not harm an AGM battery.
UNLESS it was done weekly over a long period of time like years. an occasional vacation does not enter into the misuse program.
Hard to service car jar flooded batteries are a nightmare. Like giving a birthday present McLaren to a 16-year-old. Flooded car jar batteries require TLC. Wanna devote hand's on TLC with hard to reach batteries?
My statements here are not directed at the OP solely. And are not meant as criticism. Hopefully others can take a hint about this subject. Toward the end of my battery testing I rejected new models of car jar wet battery tests as a waste of time. I made more money doing real work with GC, Scrubber, and L-16 testing. (Who makes the best Chef Boy Ar Dee canned spaghetti gets old fast)
The question may be to find reasonably reliable group 24 Chinese AGM batteries.
(Use the Wayback Machine and take today's Johnson Controls RV batteries back to the 1960's) Unhappy customers would probably have lynched you. That's how bad things have gotten with underprocessed recycle lead, typewriter thin and stacked like onionskin.
Up until the 1980's a person could count on truck 4-D, 6-D, 7-D and 8-D batteries as being naturally deep cycle. Not any more. Stuff 29 old fashioned plates per cell into a new battery and they would jut out the case ends by over two inches.
There are a few golf car battery companies that do things the old fashioned way. But Nation wide only Trojan refuses to cheapen their recipe. Premium lead used to cast grids is expensive and so is plate paste. Scumbag manufacturers measure out cheap paste by the milligram and it's not only the quality of the paste, it's the thickness applied to the grid. There are 1,001 ways to scumbag battery construction and guess who pays for it? Rolls flooded batteries have a top quality niche that is deserved.
Bottom Line
I would go with CHINESE AGM batteries 10 to 1 versus trashbag car jar flooded batteries. Especially if you can find positive referrals for the battery. I have seen enough car jar garbage to be repulsed by it. Chinese AGM batteries versus Trojan T-105 batteries brings forth a much stiffer argument.
As for the 14.4 volts argument it has gotten out of hand here. Repeatedly undercharging an AGM battery takes it's toll after weeks of misuse. It is more important to maintain a bulk charge level above 20% amp hour capacity. When you get home, apply 14.4 volts for a week which will absolutely get the batteries 100% full. And a week's worth of 14.4 absolutely will not harm an AGM battery.
UNLESS it was done weekly over a long period of time like years. an occasional vacation does not enter into the misuse program.
Hard to service car jar flooded batteries are a nightmare. Like giving a birthday present McLaren to a 16-year-old. Flooded car jar batteries require TLC. Wanna devote hand's on TLC with hard to reach batteries?
My statements here are not directed at the OP solely. And are not meant as criticism. Hopefully others can take a hint about this subject. Toward the end of my battery testing I rejected new models of car jar wet battery tests as a waste of time. I made more money doing real work with GC, Scrubber, and L-16 testing. (Who makes the best Chef Boy Ar Dee canned spaghetti gets old fast)
The question may be to find reasonably reliable group 24 Chinese AGM batteries.
