Best Rv batteries

2oldman wrote:
... BMS should take care of that. I once drained my pack to below 20%. It shut itself down, as per spec.

BMS only kicks in when battery is about to be damaged right now. Plus, it does cells balancing.

All those other things that I mentioned, affect Li lifecycle - a lot. Hot temps are about as bad as running 10-99 cycle.

Might as well let it all hang out in the confession booth...

When a battery has an antimony content of 5%, when it ages it does not screw around. Antimony transfers to the negative plate and hydrolysis begins in earnest.

More H2SO4 vapor, SO2, H2O emitting from the cell caps. Water loss, corrosion, self discharging all goes through the roof.

So it is important to understand the chemical state of these true cyclable batteries. When electrolysis gets out of hand, the batteries must be yanked out by their roots. Corrosion from angry 5% batteries can approach extreme levels. A quart of added water per week is not uncommon per three cells and self discharge rates approaching five percent per week is also de riguer. Destructive energy hogs -- about as "green" as a stop sign.

The answer is to promptly acknowledge and accept the inevitable and get the batteries out of the rig.

For power pedestal princesses, observance of manufacturer's temperature compensated float voltage recommendations must be observed like it is the holy grail. Two tenths of a volt too high is a killer premature aging death due to antimony poisoning. Why so sensitive? The battery is spending 24/7/365 on a charger. Aggregate error means aggregate destruction.

This commentary certainly is not an indictment of high antimony batteries but it is a head's up. There has been an avalanche of positive testimonials for golf car batteries but a dearth of information about what goes wrong and why.

For storage where solar and a premium controller cannot enter the picture I'd rather rely on disconnected batteries and a temperature compensated battery maintainer rather than an unsophisticated flat-line battery float voltage from a plain vanilla converter without temperature compensation.

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Cranky?

:) ha

There are several ways of deciding which is BEST.

Now in terms of Bang for your Buck, pairs of GC-2 Six volt batteries in series (two 6V in series make one big 12V) are likely the best. This is becaue it is the single most produced rechargeable battery and thus the cost of production is lower per unit. They are also s TRUER deep cycle not a "Combo" battery which is another advantage.. NOTE: YOU can get GC-12 batteries as well (Technially no different from a GC-2 but cost more per watt) and other DEEP CYCLE type. but again COST MORE PER WATT of storage.

The LI batteries are very likely the best from a TECHNICAL (Money does not matter) point of view.. but as the song says I May be John D. but I'm not Rockefeller.

Cranky?

1Longbow wrote:
What would you rate as the best Rv batteries for dry camping. Name brand,reason. Thank you

By now we know that there really are dumb questions :))

Hi longbow. I understand why you never came back. You are not allowed to ask questions in the tech forum. You are only allowed to hear the opinions of the internet experts.

theoldwizard1 wrote:
There are always limitations/constraints to "the best". Some of the limitation in any RV may be cost, installation space available and weight.

Best durability/life is probably nickel-iron (NiFe). VERY HEAVY. Requires a lot of spaces. Not cheap. These will out last even LiFePO4.

LiFePO4 are probably the most expensive, but lighter weight and long life.

Lead acid (including AGM). If you want reasonable life, you must use REAL deep cycle batteries. The most commonly available, and "best bang for the buck" are GC2 golf cart batteries. As OptPara mentioned, there are very FEW 12 volt deep cycle batteries. They are expensive and you will like have to special order them. If you really hate "flooded" lead acid batteries, there are AGM GC2 batteries available. Much less common and more expensive.


For LiFePO4, Battle Born is one of the better brands.

For Lead acid, either Trojan or Rolls.

TY.

2oldman wrote:
Well, there's price, longevity, maintenance, capacity. etc. Best usually means price around here. Lithium is best.

X2. Low temperature charging issues can be resolved by keeping them warm during low temperatures. :C

If lithium peddlers were HONEST and ACCURATE they would not include the unusable first and last percentages of the amp hour capacity in their huckster advertising.

Whenever I encounter carnival hyperbole in an ad it turns me off. Way way off.

With my modified alternators I started off with

NOT SUITABLE FOR...

Then offered another model that could live in that environment.

I am reminded of this every time I walk past a hundred dollar seven thousand watt powered speaker in the local supermercado.

NO CONSUMER has strained the bounds of SEVEN THOUSAND CYCLES

Once per day full cycling for NINETEEN YEARS?

Where is Jim Varney when I need him?

I could give a rat's *** what theoretical projections lend themselves to. Theoretical projection and five bucks will get'cha a foam cup of java at a starbucks.

I'm not complaining about a quality lithium product, I am complaining about the absurd Herb Tarklek advertising claims...