GC2 battery brands

I am replacing 2 Walmart group 27DC batteries that I got 6 years out of. They are just now starting to use some water in a couple cells. I would love to replace with AGM batteries, but not sure I can justify the cost of the batteries and some recommend that I should also replace my PD 9260C with a Boondocker converter to use with AGM. I am strongly leaning toward just getting 2 GC2 batteries from Sam's or similar and hope I get at least 4 years from them. I must say that I am very pleased to have gotten 6 years from the Wally batteries.

Thanks for all the information. Happy travels-- Mick

PRICE
And I can fill up on a couple of Swanson's TV dinners. If price was master then Rolls & Surrette and Concorde would have gone out of business long ago. You can extrapolate that to any length you want.

People are silly as I have pointed out before. Go to a gambling hall in Nevada. They play dollar slots and throw 100 dollar chips around like confetti then go upstairs and stand in line for an hour to save five bucks eating chow hall grade slop.

I'll wager not ten percent of readers have downloaded the Rolls or Lifeline battery manuals and actually read them.

And for folks living in other areas of the country has is occured to you that unbranded batteries some love so much may come from a totally different vendor in the midwest and a 3rd on the west coast?

Blanket endorsements and curses at unbranded batteries are utterly worthless. It takes universal praise regionally to make an endorsement valid.

I got hosed by a Walmart west coast battery that failed internally 6 months after purchase. Left me stranded 300 miles from the nearest barbed wire fence.

So please if your region is not listed please abbreviate

Lwiddis wrote:
I think the AH rates are marketing tools for many battery makes...like engine horsepower, tow ratings. Generally in the ballpark but that is it.

I would somewhat agree.

But, I do think that there may be a few differences between brands which may have SLIGHTLY more advertised Ahr capacity. But the biggest thing is the more expensive brands typically have a bit more replacement warranty. But keep in mind, you paid for that in the price up front..

Example, the Duracell GC2s Sams sells has 210Ahr capacity and if you have a membership already out the door at about $90 each.

A Crown CR-220 (220 Ahr) can set you back $149 EACH
HERE

$59 more per battery and yet you only get 10 Ahr more advertised capacity.

You can buy 4 of Sam's Duracells and get 420Ahr for a mere $360 vs 2 of Crown CR-220 for 220Ahr at a mere $298.

So for $62 more with 4 Sams you get nearly double the Ahr capacity of Crown.

I saved money upfront by buying the Sam's batteries even though they may not have as robust warranty. Why? Typically the battery WILL outlast the warranty provided you didn't do something stupid to kill them.

I gave up years ago buying the most expensive batteries, Dihards at one time come to mind, used to pay top premium price for them because they had a top notch warranty.. Did have a couple replaced under warranty but since it was prorated, got basically beans back on said warranty.

Now I buy ALL of my auto/tractor/RV battery needs at Sams and save lots of bucks on a wear item.

Price and name is not what it used to be.

I think the AH rates are marketing tools for many battery makes...like engine horsepower, tow ratings. Generally in the ballpark but that is it.

Sam's club batteries are perfectly fine, I suspect Costco is the same way and for most folks that are budget conscience and don't have money to burn a real bargain. These are the best bang for your buck in capacity and cost and Sam's does have a 3 yr pro rated warranty.

If money is no object and you have deep, deep pockets you can easily spend two to three times more for other brands but only get a couple of Ahrs more capacity and perhaps a couple yrs longer "warranty".

No matter what brand of battery you go with, they ALL can be damaged or have their life severely shortened if you do not "care" for them properly..

Make sure you have a multistage converter/charger.. One that will drop to 13.2V for "storage" mode when you are not using the RV or battery.. This is extremely important to reduce the water "usage", anything over 13.2 will boil your batteries long term and will require very frequent water level check and adding.

Check water at least yearly provided your converter can go into storage mode and that voltage does not exceed 13.2V.

For converters with 13.5-13.8v output, you will need to check monthly maybe weekly or risk boiling the water out and exposing the plates to air (bad)..

Brands don't mean much with all the re-branding that goes on. Check their specs to see what the "real" brand is. I have GC15s made by East Penn, which is a good 6, but those GC15s come in many brands.


A good first clue is the AH at the 20 hr rate. EG, 232 is a common US Battery number seen formerly with Interstate 6s, 225 is a Trojan number now used by Interstate. 230 is the GC15 from East Penn. There are other lower numbers that line up too, since there are two usual "sizes" of 6s. EG Trojan does a smaller 210 as well as their 225, and US Battery does a 208 as well as their 232.

Sam's and Costco have all those branded every which way, so look at the specs to see what they really are.

Sam's sells Duracell which is manufactured by East Penn. East Penn sells batteries under the Deka brand and they also supply several other brands.