Speaking of batteries...

theoldwizard1 wrote:
IMHO, AGM batteries are not worth the additional cost EXCEPT

• You have an application where the battery may sometime be on a severe angle
• location of the battery is such that regular maintenance can NOT be performed

They are also useful in two other situations: 1) you do not like the outgassing and corrosion that flooded cells produce, 2) they are not charged for some period of time, such as a seasonal layup.

Walmart will have what you need on shelf. 29DC ($99.97), 27DC ($81.67) DC = deep cycle. Best part is if they go bad under warranty, there is always a Walmart near by.

I use these in my 5er and my utility trailer. The 2 current ones are going on 6 years old.
But the pickup camper got AGM's made by Universal Battery. I had cabela bucks available so I spent it on two 27 series 95ah AGM's.

from internet:
Everstart branded batteries sold at Wal-Mart are manufactured by Johnson controls, This is the same company who manufactures batteries for just about all of the "big box" stores as well as most of the discount auto parts stores. Johnson Controls also makes batteries for Interstate battery company, Ford, GM & Chrysler.

Done deal. Two O'Reilly group 27 deep cycles. $200.83 out the door, taxes and core included. Stopped at the hardware store for SS nylon locking nuts and washers.
Sprayed with CRC terminal protector, topped off with water, Bigfoot is in "use" mode and hooked up to household 110 volts.
Thanks for all y'alls help.
Next.....:)
edit add: O'Reilly said batteries on the east coast are EastPenn and west coast is Johnson Controls.

I've had great luck with Costco batteries.

LanceDuyen wrote:
Since Trojan moved smelting operations to Mexico I have been buying all East Penn batteries from Batteries Plus Bulbs.

Not quite as rosy as you may think and definitely not a winner for Mexico:

Most American consumers are accustomed to turning in their spent car batteries when buying new ones, pleased to take part in a successful recycling program but unaware of how it takes place.

“There’s a good chance that your battery will be recycled at a plant with far inferior pollution controls than in the U.S.,” said Perry Gottesfeld, executive director of a San Francisco-based advocacy group Occupational Knowledge International.

Canada’s standards are also lower than in the United States, but not nearly as lax as those of Mexico.

“Raising the bar is what it’s all about,” said Irasema Coronado, the executive director of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, the trilateral NAFTA board, adding that she hopes the three nations “are able to harmonize how they are going to deal with these batteries.”

“I do reiterate that all of us who own a car in North America own this problem,” she said.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/world/article24747133.html#storylink=cpy

Yeah but I don't vote in Mexico. What do you want me to do? I'm here, you're there.

youngm357 wrote:
I've had great luck with Costco batteries.

Interstate are good batteries I reckon. But what happens when I need batteries in Bumfoot Idaho?

HMS Beagle wrote:

theoldwizard1 wrote:
IMHO, AGM batteries are not worth the additional cost EXCEPT

• You have an application where the battery may sometime be on a severe angle
• location of the battery is such that regular maintenance can NOT be performed

AGMs are also useful in two other situations: 1) you do not like the outgassing and corrosion that flooded cells produce, 2) they are not charged for some period of time, such as a seasonal layup.

I'll add another reason, (related to the severe angle mentioned above) - though it won't affect most people here. If you have a very small camper with very limited battery space, the ability of an AGM to be stored on its side might be significant. My battery compartment is small but by fitting an AGM and mounting it on its end (like a tower) I can get a larger capacity battery to fit.

Plus they tend to be tolerant of lower states of discharge. According to the specification sheet for my AGM battery it can accept something like 500 discharges down to a mere 20% state of charge. I rarely boondock, but when I do, having a compressor fridge was really proving too much for the old 80 Ah battery that was the largest I could fit in the battery compartment - that gave me 40 Ah before it was at 50% SoC and that was killing it as it was a cheap battery not designed to be dropped that low. The replacement AGM (mounted in an orientation I couldn't mount a flooded cell battery) is 105 Ah. Combine that with it accepting a lower state of charge and I have doubled my reserve battery capacity for the rare times when I do need a bit more than 40 Ah.

So we tick several of these boxes that justify the expense of AGM batteries (and already had built in chargers that are designed to handle AGMs, so no extra cost upgrading there). But I suspect few people would have the same limitations we have and would therefore find flooded cell batteries much more economical.

Steve.

TxGearhead wrote:
Yeah but I don't vote in Mexico. What do you want me to do? I'm here, you're there.

I guess you missed the point.

qtla9111 wrote:

TxGearhead wrote:
Yeah but I don't vote in Mexico. What do you want me to do? I'm here, you're there.

I guess you missed the point.

Apparently. Help me out, tell me more.