Rough Survey / Who Switched To AGM Last 12 months? HAPPY?

I got two 100AH AGMs for the truck camper this winter and they do the job. I got the news on here that the way you can tell if they have been fully re-charged is by noting the amps they take in during the last part of the absorption stage. (No hydrometer for AGMs)

I now see that this can work, but you need an ammeter. In the 5er we have the Trimetric. A converter alone does not show the amps. I am able to get around this in the TC by using my Vector portable charger which has its own ammeter display.

BUT--what can the average RVer do with his converter and AGMs with no Trimetric?????? The typical converter will drop to Float "early" so at least he will not overcharge the AGMs, but howinheck can he ever get them properly full when he can't see how many amps they are taking in?

Is buying a Trimetric ( costs as much as another battery) a "hidden cost" for going AGM?

I replaced all the Coach/House Batteries and the Chassis Battery on last Thursday 13Apr17 with AGM Batteries, 6- 6v 220Ah Lifeline Batteries, and I replaced a group 65 Duragold From Auto Zone Chassis Battery. (the chassis battery was replaced in November 2014) All of them were completely dead, and all of the coach batteries were dry as a bone. The Coach/House Batteries were all Interstate U2200 Workaholic 6V 220ah flooded batteries. I bought them in Aug of 2007, I think if I would not have neglected them since January of this year, they might still be working, but then again I was very ill and in the hospital for 10 days in February. So I would say I got my moneys worth out of the Coach/House Batteries.

My battery philosophy can be summed up in my choice of everyday pants...

Dickies...

Purchased April 2002

Like me, they're faded. They don't run fast, purely institutional...

And while other folks smear their VISA cards until the magnetic strip wears out.

Old cheapskate here pinches pesos so hard the Aztec farts.

Joined the Telco AGM group about 20 months ago. Will last a looooong time. However, doubt it would power a 300w inverter very well, being just only 150Ah and having very, very thick heavy lead plates so it will last 10+ years in an isolated cell phone site location miles and miles up a dirt road on the mountains in the boonies. Also, my Teleco does NOT like to take much more than a 20Ah recharge rate so far... YMMV, it's a Deka.

Highly doubt I will ever again buy FLA battery ever again, would buy an AGM, and when the prices drop a lot, Lithium chemistry may in my future. YMMV.

i'm very happy with my telco AGMs
but this is my Second set, so i didn't fit the last 12months new to the game

Two camps each with good solid points. No comments tho on AGM ability to hot-foot a high wattage microwave with fewer batteries. Curious...

Not in the last 12 months but I switched to AGM's about 15 years ago and it was the best decision I have ever made (other than asking my wife to marry me).
I could not properly keep up with the wet cells and usually had to install a new set every year or so. When I made the hugely expensive leap to AGM I did not think about my batteries again for over 10 years. Yes, the still worked but I was seeing some decrease in capacity. I now have another (cheaper) setup of AGM's which cost about 1/2 of what Lifeline AGM's cost. They have already passed the 5 year mark so even if they crapped out today I would break even. The good news is that they are not showing any signs of deterioration so I am pretty sure my cheap Chinese AGM batteries are going to have been a good choice.

I paid $140 each for six 12v/120ah AGM's in 10/06. Still going strong 10.5 years later although harder to compare as I replaced all my halogen lights and the plasma energy hog TV with LED. No telling how many times I would have removed all the 6V batteries and repaint the area they were in if I had not gone AGM... plus no need to add water 3-4 times/year. What is that worth although I do hose the area off every couple years to get the dust off them. 1.5 years ago I added four more to power my residential refer (two would be enough as I can go 48+ hours before needing to recharge them... refer draws 96 watts when running less than half the time.

Going residential refer is probably the best thing I've done (after putting way too much money into my NoCold 1200):S but going AGM is a close second.

Not me - My standard issue GP24 12V 85AH Interstates installed in 2008 have just started quitting on me last season. Am thinking replacing the battery group with two groups of 6V golf cart GC2 T105's batteries. This will get me up to around 450AHs from the three GP24's 255AHs battery bank I have been using...

Roy Ken

It's been more like two years for us. Still happy with the Lifelines, and I would do the same again.