Walmart Battery Comparison
Roughly 5 years ago I installed three 12V Marine batteries that I purchased from Walmart. I can fit a maximum of 3 batteries on board, so I decided to go with 3 12V batteries instead of 2 6V batteries...
Forum Discussion
I don't believe any claims about wal mart batteries being true deep cycle. A bathroom scale would show they weigh no more than the marine battery of the same size and only a smidge more than the starting battery of the same size.
Deep cycle internals stuffed into standard car jar sizes is a compromise, and even the few 12v jars available that were designed for deep cycle duty, as deep cycle batteries, are compromised, requiring higher absorption voltages applied for longer to shoehorn the amps to reach full charge.
But as most people know nothing about the states of charge of their batteries, they work 'just fine' until they don't at which point they get all flustered and start looking at somewhere to point their fingers. The battery depleter either seeks out a reason for the early demise, or just replaces the battery(s) to repeat the cycle.
The something for nothing crowd will seek to get an abused battery replaced under warranty, when the warranty should apply only to those batteries with manufacturing defects, not those that fail from overdischarge and insufficient recharge and complete owner ignorance about the proper charging requirements of a battery.
Without the ability of a charging source which can do higher voltages and durations these compromised 'deep cycle' batteries are simply doomed when heavily cycled night after night for weeks on end.
My Screwy 31's requirements are a bit ridiculous. If I could not adjust absorption voltage and durations and perform regular EQ charges, this battery would have been launched through the doors at USbattery with a hate note attached on the second month of cycling.
Only by force feeding it at rather ridiculous voltages has it lasted as long as it has, and I can now hear it ticking as the cycles approach 400, water usage has increased and voltages under load have fallen.
A drycamper's needs are quite different from the pedestal crowd. If heavily cycling a battery then most 12v jars are a serious compromise and require special charging treatment. They are the 'Special' battery, when 'special' is a politically correct term used not to offend.
The person who drives from pedestal to pedestal and only occasionally camps without hookups might be well served by a 12v dual purpose battery, but those cycling their batteries hard and heavy are wasting their time and money on buying a battery that is so compromised for the task for which it is being employed.
And even the true 12v deep cycles need special treatment when employed in a heavy cycling situation, and arguably, even when not.
Deep cycle internals stuffed into standard car jar sizes is a compromise, and even the few 12v jars available that were designed for deep cycle duty, as deep cycle batteries, are compromised, requiring higher absorption voltages applied for longer to shoehorn the amps to reach full charge.
But as most people know nothing about the states of charge of their batteries, they work 'just fine' until they don't at which point they get all flustered and start looking at somewhere to point their fingers. The battery depleter either seeks out a reason for the early demise, or just replaces the battery(s) to repeat the cycle.
The something for nothing crowd will seek to get an abused battery replaced under warranty, when the warranty should apply only to those batteries with manufacturing defects, not those that fail from overdischarge and insufficient recharge and complete owner ignorance about the proper charging requirements of a battery.
Without the ability of a charging source which can do higher voltages and durations these compromised 'deep cycle' batteries are simply doomed when heavily cycled night after night for weeks on end.
My Screwy 31's requirements are a bit ridiculous. If I could not adjust absorption voltage and durations and perform regular EQ charges, this battery would have been launched through the doors at USbattery with a hate note attached on the second month of cycling.
Only by force feeding it at rather ridiculous voltages has it lasted as long as it has, and I can now hear it ticking as the cycles approach 400, water usage has increased and voltages under load have fallen.
A drycamper's needs are quite different from the pedestal crowd. If heavily cycling a battery then most 12v jars are a serious compromise and require special charging treatment. They are the 'Special' battery, when 'special' is a politically correct term used not to offend.
The person who drives from pedestal to pedestal and only occasionally camps without hookups might be well served by a 12v dual purpose battery, but those cycling their batteries hard and heavy are wasting their time and money on buying a battery that is so compromised for the task for which it is being employed.
And even the true 12v deep cycles need special treatment when employed in a heavy cycling situation, and arguably, even when not.
