Reserve Capacity Question (Battery)

Trojan used to buy GNB batteries and then private label them but not with the name Trojan,

This is the smaller Interstate 6v that they call HCL while the 225 AH one is called ECL. Seems EC stands for "extreme cycle". HC is "high cycle"

This HCL at 210AH is the Trojan T-605 while the ECL is the T-105

https://www.interstatebatteries.com/products/gc2-hcl-utl?productLine=rv&subcategoryKey=&ignorecategoryid=true

Interstate "extreme cycle" ones include an AGM, and also some 2300s like the OP mentioned.

https://www.interstatebatteries.com/recreation-vehicles/golf-cart-batteries/extreme-cycle

While a flooded group31 cannot be compared to a golf cart battery, I had bought a USbattery group31 that was plastered with the words Deep cycle.

Long story short the thing required ridiculous absorption voltages and Vabs durations, and then still required 16v EQ charges every 14 deep cycles, before I took it out of service at about 500 deep cycles.

It took a bunch of testing and raising voltage and observations to find an acceptable (to battery performance) regimen, which was a heck of a good learning process, but basically the charge efficiency factory of that battery was extremely poor, and if I did not take the time and expend the effort to figure out what was required to get decent service from it, in daily deep cycle duty, it would have achieved NOwhere near those 500 deep cycles.

This battery ( the screwy31) is still alive, it uses a LOT of water, is fed by a 100 watt solar panel on a cheapo charge controller that seeks to then hold 14.7v for 2 hours each day. It might get cycled 5 to 10Ah each night 76 nights a week, occassionally deeper.

I can tell when it is low on water, as the morning voltage is in the 12.9's. After filling it is in the 12.5's.

A battery which is easy to fully charge, will stand a much better chance of getting fully charged by those not much concerned about their battery longevity, and thus not only use less energy in the recharging, but last significantly longer too.

But The screwy 31 is now approaching 5 years old, and if I were completely ignorant of its performance, and asking it to power just 5 to 7Ah each night, I could say it is still going strong, and fine, just fine.

But it is not. Though there is certainly bliss in ignorance.

Interstate GCs as to who makes their batteries, likely varies regionally.

I put a pair in a friends RV, with an Iota DLS-45 and alternator as the only charging sources. They weighed the same as Trojan t-605s at 58 Lbs and had some similarities in case design, but more recently someone posted that the interstate GC-s resembled other manufacturer batteries even more. IF trojan is making some costco interstate GC-2's in some regions, they are clones of the t-605, not the venerable benchmark t-105 which weighs 4 Lbs more.

I checked these costco interstate GC-2s about 6 weeks ago before a long roadtrip and gave em an EQ, but the SG was at the bottom of the green before the EQ and did not take long to get into the middle of the green. HArd to say just how much and how deep they are cycled, but I know the owner would have no issues running them to 10.5v or deeper. My instructions were to plug in for 3 days after an outing then hit the main disconnect.

Mediocre batteries are frustrating. You do everything according to the book and they seem to sulfate a lot easier. That's not the worst of it. Getting them to revert is really the hard part. Whereas a Trojan or a Crown may require an hour and a half equalization the Yugo may take three hours or more. Only to sulfate in 30% of the activity. It irritates me like having a rig with 12 tires all slow leakers with crummy tread wear would.

I've tangled with far too many "Sad Sack" brand golf car batteries. Customers do not appreciate the amount of kWh needed to spend 15+ hours getting these substandard batteries back to normal ("But they're only two years old!") is the standard comment. Well guess what skipper, you ain't making the big puddle jump to the Marquesas with these refugees from a keel lead scrap pile. Boats are much more demanding than RVs.

NAV to steering, 3 forms ofradio communication, radar, more lights than the White House christmas, tree, multiple inverters. washer dryer, reverse osmosis seawater system, and kids in two berths playing separate video games. Refrigerator separate freezer -- well you get the idea. Many of the bigger craft are catamarans, with dual engines, twin alternators and a Chapter 7 size fuel capacity. Young adults act as if they would go stir crazy if they couldn't watch "Captain Ron" on their 75" flat screen and 300 watt Dolby surround sound. This is high velocity separating chaff from wheat time. And reading this same tune on this site is as grating as being sentenced to continuous 100 hours of trying to ignore "Neil Sedaka's Greatest Hits".

Hey MW, anytime I hear from you I'm wearing a smile. When I first went to the 4 Crowns some years back you were very helpful and did not flinch at all my questions. SOooo tell me, how easy is it to satisfy those Trojans, (batteries, not horses)?

sjturbo is going to be wearing a smile when he finds out just how much easier it is to satisfy those Trojans.

About 25 years ago I did someone down in Mexico a favor -- I stopped by US battery in corona at his direction, purchased 4 batteries precisely as asked, hauled them 884 miles, he paid me to the penny what I paid for them. For four years I listened to his whining about how ""I"" screwed-up and got bad batteries. That learned me,

sjturbo wrote:
I agree MW, Crown is a well built battery. Usually if you cannot find specific information regarding a product then the company either does not know or does not want you to know. I did find out that Interstate only had a 6mo warranty. At this point I just could not swing the Crown cost. The Trojan T105 was my next best alternative, quality and cost wise. I do try to follow the correct charging regime. So hopefully I made the right decision.

Interstate has its 6v batteries made by whomever. It used to be US Battery, with their 2200 (232AH) size most common, with also the other US Battery sizes like 208AH--

The "2300" is a US Battery term. They have their 2200 (232AH) and so on down--208AH being one.

Meanwhile, Interstate went for a while with a different Mexican supplier from about 2010 -2017, which they called their "GC2-XHD" eg, that also had 232AH.

Then last year or so, they came out with a new 6v (two sizes) that are 225AH for the bigger one, same as a T-105.

On checking with the local Interstate wholesale guy and from info in the Interstate website's links where they show Trojan documents, it turns out that the new Interstate 6s are supplied by Trojan. Same -same.

https://www.interstatebatteries.com/products/gc2-ecl-utl?productLine=rv&subcategoryKey=&ignorecategoryid=true

This PDF will give you a peek at the topology applied to plate pasting (while ignoring the critical uniformity or content of finish of the grids.

A battery is a battery -- is nonsense simplification. It is damned difficult to make a good battery and light years harder to make a better battery continuously on a production line.

I believe a majority of the difficulty is the majority of readership has no grip on perspective between an ordinary and superior product.

Enjoy the article some folks will glean a whisker of perspective from it. Not how to build a good battery but how tempting and easy it is to build a mediocre battery...

http://www.electrochemsci.org/papers/vol6/6010091.pdf

I agree MW, Crown is a well built battery. Usually if you cannot find specific information regarding a product then the company either does not know or does not want you to know. I did find out that Interstate only had a 6mo warranty. At this point I just could not swing the Crown cost. The Trojan T105 was my next best alternative, quality and cost wise. I do try to follow the correct charging regime. So hopefully I made the right decision.

I would stack my chips behind a Crown versus interstate any day of the week. Same with Rolls & Surrette. You cannot spend Kia money and get a BMW.