Best type of house battery

[gmg]

Most RVs seem to have lead acid deep cycle marine batteries. However I’m just thinking that most but not all RVers rarely camp without shore power. The most instantaneous power demand is when running out slides or deploying jacks. So it seems to me that a standard or combination starting battery makes more sense than the deep cycle marine battery. One more question I have: I’m wondering if the higher cost for agm batteries is worth the money. The plus side to me is not having to keep up with the electrolyte levels. I would be interested in what others think about this or have experienced.

[ol_Bombero-JC]

valhalla360 wrote:
Your premise is incorrect. Most use a single starting battery (sometimes relabeled as a combination battery but really just a starting battery if you open it up and look at the construction).

If you don't camp off grid, it's a perfectly good solution. Jacks & slides will generally pull less than 100amps for less than 30seconds and a starting battery does just fine doing that.

Only reason to consider Gel or AMG is if you are going to roll your RV. The big advantage to them is they don't leak out the acid if you put them on their side or upside down (planes, boats, jeeps can gain advantage as they often spend time substantially off level). They offer no real advantage in an RV.

Good advice.

However - 3rd paragraph, "Only reason ...etc."

Anyone who has "rolled their RV" - please post the type of battery you used - and what you did with it (the RV -AND- the battery) after the "roll over". (see next)

**IIRC - didn't you incur a 5th wheel "blowover"?



~

[2oldman]

Another drive-by question.

[94-D2]

Been using Costco interstate gp31 (x2) for 8 years now. Never failed, minimal maintenance and costs like $80 each. 2 100 amp gives me 100 amp hours of usage which is plenty for landing gear, slides and lights for three days. 200 watt portable solar panel re-charges set in about half a day.

Not the best but gets the job done. Don’t want for power and the wallet stays robust.

Success!

[philh]

going to GC2 or Lithium, you better be upgrading the charger too

[noteven]

LiO3N Battery has a lithium line with low tempurature charging capability.

[toedtoes]

I agree that if you are always hooked up then a basic battery is fine. But for me, I rarely have hookups (except at home), so I have a group 31 Optima blue top battery. It has plenty of juice for my needs - I can camp 2 weeks without running it down - and I don't need to fuss with it. Because it's a marine dual purpose, I can use it to jumpstart the engine if needed.

[time2roll]

There is a valid point to just going to a smaller start battery if you are never off grid.
This will be the best (lowest) cost solution.

[Veebyes]

The question is, best for what? Single 4D Lifeline AGM user here. On my second one. First one had a lifespan of nine years. I suspect that we dry camp more than the average weekend warrior RVer. We are multi month trippers seldom making reservations so finding ourselves without power is not unusual.

The longevity, no maintenance, ability to sit in storage for six months without maintenance & the ability to discharge deeper & recover make the additional cost well worthwhile.

[winniman]

opnspaces wrote:

gmg wrote:
Most RVs seem to have lead acid deep cycle marine batteries. However I’m just thinking that most but not all RVers rarely camp without shore power. The most instantaneous power demand is when running out slides or deploying jacks. So it seems to me that a standard or combination starting battery makes more sense than the deep cycle marine battery. One more question I have: I’m wondering if the higher cost for agm batteries is worth the money. The plus side to me is not having to keep up with the electrolyte levels. I would be interested in what others think about this or have experienced.

I disagree with some of the OP's assumptions, but overall I agree with the basic thought.

While I know we talk about switching to deep cycle batteries; I think it's important to keep in mind that the forum crowd is a very small microcosm of the overall RV community. So while it's easy to equate what a small group of people loudly proclaim to be best with what the general population believes, it just isn't really the reality of the beliefs of the general RV owner. If you think about it, of the multi million subscribers here on RV.net, probably no more than 1000 regular posters (I think 1000 is very generous by the way) are singing the virtues of deep cycle batteries.

I would bet that the majority of the multiple millions of RV owners are driving or pulling an RV with a standard marine or automotive starter battery because they are recognizable and readily availibe.

All that being said, I one hundred percent agree with your post that if a RVer typically has electric hookups all they need is a cheap automotive starter or marine battery. In fact I will even go one step further and suggest that for a trailer (5th wheel, travel trailer, popup etc) owner who camps with hookups; All they really need is a cheap thirty dollar 12 volt lawn and garden battery from Walmart that does no more than run the slides and activate the emergency breakaway system if needed.

Marine batteries cost as much or more than golf cart batteries. Ask me, I have a boat as well. Using starting batteries for house batteries will work, but they wont last very long. I guess if someone is going to haul their camper to an rv park and never move it, it doesn't really matter what kind of battery they have. I had an electric golf cart that all the batteries died. I had an assortment of starting and marine batteries laying around, so I configured them so they would run the golf cart. They did the job, the golf cart ran, but they would only go so far before they would be depleted, and after a while, they didn't seem to charge as good. Eventually, a new set of golf cart batteries were purchased, and all was good again. I do believe anyone with any knowledge of batteries will confirm the use of golf cart batteries to be the best choice if you ever plan on boondocking, or camping without hookups at all. If you never plan on moving the rv, go with your plan, and get the lawn mower battery.

[2oldman]

The 'best' is what meets your needs and your wallet - but it's hard to argue anything is better than Lithiums, right now.

[allen8106]

Crown batteries are about as good as it gets for lead acid.

[opnspaces]

gmg wrote:
Most RVs seem to have lead acid deep cycle marine batteries. However I’m just thinking that most but not all RVers rarely camp without shore power. The most instantaneous power demand is when running out slides or deploying jacks. So it seems to me that a standard or combination starting battery makes more sense than the deep cycle marine battery. One more question I have: I’m wondering if the higher cost for agm batteries is worth the money. The plus side to me is not having to keep up with the electrolyte levels. I would be interested in what others think about this or have experienced.

I disagree with some of the OP's assumptions, but overall I agree with the basic thought.

While I know we talk about switching to deep cycle batteries; I think it's important to keep in mind that the forum crowd is a very small microcosm of the overall RV community. So while it's easy to equate what a small group of people loudly proclaim to be best with what the general population believes, it just isn't really the reality of the beliefs of the general RV owner. If you think about it, of the multi million subscribers here on RV.net, probably no more than 1000 regular posters (I think 1000 is very generous by the way) are singing the virtues of deep cycle batteries.

I would bet that the majority of the multiple millions of RV owners are driving or pulling an RV with a standard marine or automotive starter battery because they are recognizable and readily availibe.

All that being said, I one hundred percent agree with your post that if a RVer typically has electric hookups all they need is a cheap automotive starter or marine battery. In fact I will even go one step further and suggest that for a trailer (5th wheel, travel trailer, popup etc) owner who camps with hookups; All they really need is a cheap thirty dollar 12 volt lawn and garden battery from Walmart that does no more than run the slides and activate the emergency breakaway system if needed.

[N-Trouble]

gmg wrote:
Most RVs seem to have lead acid deep cycle marine batteries. However I’m just thinking that most but not all RVers rarely camp without shore power. The most instantaneous power demand is when running out slides or deploying jacks. So it seems to me that a standard or combination starting battery makes more sense than the deep cycle marine battery. One more question I have: I’m wondering if the higher cost for agm batteries is worth the money. The plus side to me is not having to keep up with the electrolyte levels. I would be interested in what others think about this or have experienced.

Lots of assumptions here... Until you dry camp you’ve never really “camped”. I dry camp 10x as much as I hookup.

[laknox]

gmg wrote:
Most RVs seem to have lead acid deep cycle marine batteries. However I’m just thinking that most but not all RVers rarely camp without shore power. The most instantaneous power demand is when running out slides or deploying jacks. So it seems to me that a standard or combination starting battery makes more sense than the deep cycle marine battery. One more question I have: I’m wondering if the higher cost for agm batteries is worth the money. The plus side to me is not having to keep up with the electrolyte levels. I would be interested in what others think about this or have experienced.

The so-called "deep cycle" marine batteries aren't true deep cycle, meaning that they can't be drawn down and recover time and time again. They just provide a lot of cranking amps. What a lot of us do is to simply get a couple 6v golf cart batteries and connect them in series to make 12v. Maybe a few less amp hours storage, but the ability to draw them way down in voltage without damage is worth more than having all but the absolute best 12v batteries. For about $200 (2 batteries from Costco or Sam's and a crossover cable) it's way cheaper than 12v batteries, too. Now, if you have deep pockets, go Lithium using Nissan Leaf battery modules. 2 modules at 7.2v each, give you 14.4v in series, with 64 amp hours. Start stacking them together in parallel to get as many amp hours as you need. NOT cheap, but you'd probably go through at least 3 sets of flooded batteries in their lifetime. They're also about half the weight as flooded batteries.

Later: Forgot to mention that, personally, I leave my FW plugged into my truck while setting up or hitching up to leave when we're boondocking. Less stress and strain on the coach batteries. Now, if I'm in a CG, I'll stay plugged in while I unhitch, then plug into shore power before leveling and running out the slides. When leaving, the shore cord is the last thing to be packed before leaving.

Lyle