First, anyone traveling this weekend I wish you a safe and fun trip.My battery is going on 3 years old and doesn't seem to maintain a charge for very long so I'm going to replace it. Any advice on what type of battery to get (deep cycle, big cranking amps, etc) and brands that have worked well for you would be greatly appreciated. I see batteries listed as rv/marine, but some seem to be deep cycle, others with large cranking amps. I would think deep cycle would be better than something with a lot of cranking amps, or something with both. But looking for advice since I don't know. Thanks

My original battery was an Interstate GRP29 which only died at about 5 years old because the GFCI my camper was plugged into tripped and I didn't find it for months. I replaced it with a Walmart Everlast (now called Everstart Maxx) which was the same Interstate battery with different stickers.It's now 5 years old and still doing fine. When it gets tired I'll probably do the same.

My Lifeline AGM batteries are 7 years old with at least a third of that time in full time use. They tested out at near 100 percent capacity. Of course, that is without any sort of maintenance or care except for trying to avoid depleting the charge more than about 50 percent.

Is this in your RV or your tow vehicle? Do you ever camp without electric or are you plugged in all the time? Do you have a huge inverter?Three years is pretty short life in my experience. I get twice that out of Rv/marine batteries. Maybe your charger needs an upgrade.

Thanks for all the input. With respect to battety life, I'm not sure what voltage pull there is without anything on. I have a small roof top solar panel that keeps the battery charged, but when I put the cover on the camper the gas sensor shows low battery after just a few days.

Recommendation for replacement battery | Good Sam Community

wnjj
Explorer II
Jun 30, 2017
My original battery was an Interstate GRP29 which only died at about 5 years old because the GFCI my camper was plugged into tripped and I didn't find it for months. I replaced it with a Walmart Everlast (now called Everstart Maxx) which was the same Interstate battery with different stickers.

It's now 5 years old and still doing fine. When it gets tired I'll probably do the same.
JimK-NY
Explorer II
Jul 01, 2017
My Lifeline AGM batteries are 7 years old with at least a third of that time in full time use. They tested out at near 100 percent capacity. Of course, that is without any sort of maintenance or care except for trying to avoid depleting the charge more than about 50 percent.
KD4UPL
Explorer
Jul 01, 2017
Is this in your RV or your tow vehicle? Do you ever camp without electric or are you plugged in all the time? Do you have a huge inverter?
Three years is pretty short life in my experience. I get twice that out of Rv/marine batteries. Maybe your charger needs an upgrade.
TxTiger
Explorer
Jul 01, 2017
Thanks for all the input. With respect to battety life, I'm not sure what voltage pull there is without anything on. I have a small roof top solar panel that keeps the battery charged, but when I put the cover on the camper the gas sensor shows low battery after just a few days.
GeoBoy
Explorer
Jul 01, 2017
Lifeline AGM's.
Kayteg1
Explorer II
Jul 01, 2017
The cheapest Sam's golf cart batteries gave me 12 years of service.
3 years is short for any but "Marine deep cycle" battery. (don't buy those)
I would double check everything.
Having several cars, when I go camping I pull car batteries and mount them in the camper.
The Bosch car battery come with 96 months warranty.
wnjj
Explorer II
Jul 01, 2017
I forgot to add that my cheapo Interstate/Walmart batteries have never needed a drop of water in 10 years with the camper plugged in 24/7 (PD9245 converter) when not camping.

I don't see the point in buying anything more expensive for at least the type of use my camper sees.
Cobra21
Explorer
Jul 01, 2017
wnjj wrote:
I forgot to add that my cheapo Interstate/Walmart batteries have never needed a drop of water in 10 years with the camper plugged in 24/7 (PD9245 converter) when not camping.

I don't see the point in buying anything more expensive for at least the type of use my camper sees.

I hear you, same here.
Brian
JimK-NY
Explorer II
Jul 01, 2017
TxTiger wrote:
Thanks for all the input. With respect to battety life, I'm not sure what voltage pull there is without anything on. I have a small roof top solar panel that keeps the battery charged, but when I put the cover on the camper the gas sensor shows low battery after just a few days.

This is why your battery did not last. You will kill a new one quickly unless you fix this issue. It seems you have a substantial draw on the battery during storage. You will need to disconnect your battery for storage. You can do that at the terminals but for convenience you might want to install a cut off switch.
covered_wagon
Explorer
Jul 01, 2017
Never buy expensive batteries until you have a good smart charge system.
Never install a battery shut off switch that won't let the frig run on propane.
Having two batteries in parallel significantly increases the longevity of the two batteries verses just having one battery.
If you never need to top off with distilled water in the wet cells it is an indication the battery is not being fully charged.
A full charge that tops off the battery properly in the final stage is very important for battery longevity.

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