The house batteries in our new motorhome need to power a 2000w inverter and allow us to boondock for several days at a time. Against our better wishes, it cam furnished with a full size residential refrigerator that must be kept going while in the boonies. It came furnished with 4 6v Harris Professional Plus golf cart batteries. I think that the dealer let them discharge badly before the motorhome was sold to us. Anyway, time for new ones! After a little research and some prodding from a local dealer where we are having our warrantee work done, they are recommending 4 new Centennial CB6-250 GC2H sealed lead acid AGM Batteries. They seem pretty top notch when looking at the specs. 250 AH @20 Hr rate, reserve capacity of 570 min @25 amp draw. I can get them locally for $320 each + 30 core charge. Has anyone used these batteries or anything similar? Any thoughts? Thanks!!

The value and specs look fine. I usually compare to Lifeline brand AGM. Not sure what your expectations are to camp off-grid. I suspect you will be running the generator a couple hours every day. If there is space I would be looking to go a bit more battery all things considered. Will depend on your usage.No I have not used those batteries. My set of 4x GC2 are just wet cell.

Check this out YOUTUBE INDEPTH ON BATTERY JAN2019

Sounds like really robust jars. AGM is nice, had 8 lifeline.

https://www.battsys.com/amfilerating/file/download/file_id/8/Should work. Having four 6s at 77lbs each could be handy. I have a 250AH 12v AGM in 8D size which I needed help with to install it is so heavy.The charging specs are unclear to me. Usually with AGMs you charge them at a minimum of 20% AH rate, so at least 50 amps for 250, and at some max rate, usually about 30% (except Lifeline you can do more %). This shows cyclical recharge at 0.15 to 0.1 as rate, but for equalizing (see Float maintenance guide at bottom) 0.3 is given. It also says 68 amps max or 27%. Some other AGMs also use 27%. (136 amps on the 500)If mine, I would recharge the 500AH at minimum 100 amps or more to a max of 150 amps. To do that, you would need one of those inverter/chargers that have those amps. To power a power factor corrected charger such as in those inverter/chargers at 150amps you will need a 3000w generator. Your typical RV converter will undercharge those batteries with its low amps and incorrect charging profile.Be sure to fully recharge to 0.5 amps/100AH -- so taper down to 2.5 amps at 14.6v on the Trimetric (you must have an ammeter of some kind to see that figure --part of the AGM set-up) before dropping to 13.6 Float.Important to wire the four in series/parallel with the load/charging with pos on one pair and neg on the other pair. DO NOT let the dealer wire them up with a "downstream" pair like he probably will.

I agree the value and specs look find being GC (Golf Car) batteries they will be DEEP CYCLE which is good.. Now he said Sealed Valve Regulated Lead Acid (Maintenance free) DId he specifically say AGM?There is truly no advantage to AGM over liquid filled Maintenance freer for RV use. For OFF ROAD use yes. and not just AGM but perhaps Optima (Physically way more rugged than any other battery) but for RV use I have yet to be convinced there is an advantage to AGM over other SVRLA batteries (liquid filled).They are more expensive however.But I think you will be very happy with these non the less.

Replacing house batteries in our new motorhome with AGM

mark52
Explorer II
Feb 15, 2019
time2roll wrote:
I assume the 2000w inverter will charge at 80+ amps and should be adequate.

I need to look into what rate my inverter will charge at over this weekend. If it charges at the right rate, It seems that one big advantage over flooded batteries is the AGM charges up to 5 times faster. This would mean a lot less generator time while dry camping I hope.
mark52
Explorer II
Feb 15, 2019
wa8yxm wrote:
I agree the value and specs look find being GC (Golf Car) batteries they will be DEEP CYCLE which is good.. Now he said Sealed Valve Regulated Lead Acid (Maintenance free) DId he specifically say AGM?

There is truly no advantage to AGM over liquid filled Maintenance freer for RV use. For OFF ROAD use yes. and not just AGM but perhaps Optima (Physically way more rugged than any other battery) but for RV use I have yet to be convinced there is an advantage to AGM over other SVRLA batteries (liquid filled).

They are more expensive however.

But I think you will be very happy with these non the less.

Yes. He specifically said AGM by Centennial. I had to do my own research to find what i think is the exact batteries that he was talking about.
Veebyes
Explorer II
Feb 15, 2019
To answer the question, yes to the AGM. Got 9 seasons use out of my first one, a Lifeline 4D. Also have a 2kw pure sine wave inverter charger. Have a RV fridge but seriously considering a domestic one if needing replacement. We do occasional dry camping lasting up to 5 days. No solar. Just a Honda 2000.
Sam_Spade
Explorer
Feb 15, 2019
time2roll wrote:
I assume the 2000w inverter will charge at 80+ amps and should be adequate.

An "inverter" does not "charge".
It converts DC to AC.
time2roll
Nomad
Feb 15, 2019
The OP nor that link give enough information to expand the comments.
BFL13
Explorer II
Feb 15, 2019
time2roll wrote:
I assume the 2000w inverter will charge at 80+ amps and should be adequate.

This says it has a converter. OP could give some more details on how he will recharge his batteries.

https://www.rvusa.com/rv-guide/2018-holiday-rambler-vacationer-class-a-floorplan-35k-tr36691
time2roll
Nomad
Feb 15, 2019
I assume the 2000w inverter will charge at 80+ amps and should be adequate.
Ivylog
Explorer III
Feb 15, 2019
Adding a 100amp charger will be the best $170 for boondocking. Will come close to cutting your generator time in half and AGMs like more amps.
Sam_Spade
Explorer
Feb 15, 2019
wa8yxm wrote:

There is truly no advantage to AGM over liquid filled Maintenance freer for RV use.

Sure.

IF....you disregard the fact that they will not sulfate or self discharge nearly as fast. And they are able to "withstand" really BAD deep discharges better. And that they tend to last 30 to 100% longer.

Yep, no real advantage. :R
Sam_Spade
Explorer
Feb 15, 2019
mark52 wrote:
The house batteries in our new motorhome need to power a 2000w inverter and allow us to boondock for several days at a time.

With no mention of a generator, this is NOT a practical goal.

And just because the residential fridge is THERE does not mean that it MUST be used while boondocking.

If you didn't WANT that kind of fridge, why DID you get a unit with one in it anyway ????

In general, I am a big fan of deep cycle AGM batteries for RVs.
I think they are well worth the extra expense.

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