Battery life & hold downs

[garyemunson]

Just had to replace my 2 house batteries. They were the ones that came in our 2015 Winnebago and apparently were installed by the dealer right when we bought it as the date stickers were the same as the month as our purchase. They were NAPA deep cycle 12 volts and only lasted 30 months before giving up the ghost. What has been your experience with 12 volt deep cycles? Anyone else had them fail at that age? I replaced them with 2 golf cart batteries in series as in all my past RV experience I've always gotten at least 6 years service out of them. The pro-rating on the NAPA batteries warranty meant I'd pay the NAPA dealer just as much for 2 replacement 12 volts as I was able to get the 6 volts for. Now I'm having a struggle finding hold downs for the 6 volts. Used to be easy finding the ones made of metal that went around the perimeter of the top and were secured by two long bolts. Having trouble finding ones the size of a GC2 battery. Anyone know a source?

[phil-t]

garyemunson wrote:
Phil...where did you find 6 volt hold downs?

Sorry I missed this. I fabricated hold downs from 2X2 hardwood (routing the 2X2 so I had "angle iron" - just placed the angle on the outside edges of the battery pack and straped the pack to the tray with a 1 1/2" nylon rachet strap. Rachet is on the under side of the tray. My tray is right behind the entry steps. With the 4 GC2s and engine battery, they are all in one "pack" in there.

Did you do anything about your NAPA 12V batteries yet?

[CavemanCharlie]

CA Traveler wrote:
Mine are held down with a strap.

Me too. I couldn't find any boxes to fit my T-105's so I had to use a standard marine box. It is to short. I bolted the box to the hitch of my TT and then use a strap over the box cover which sets snugly on top the batteries and around the frame so that the strap is holding the battery's down in place.

Been that way for 5 years now. They never move.

I have replaced the straps once though. I use standard ratcheting straps (only short ones) and after a few years the mechanistic on the first set of straps got so corroded from the battery gasses and road spray that they would not longer ratchet. I thought is was a good idea to replace them anyway so that I was sure the strap was still in good shape.

If you are worried use 2 sets of straps per battery. As long as you are strapping them to something solid they will stay. Those straps are design d to be strong. Just make sure you check the load strength of the strap before you buy. Some of them are quite cheap. You need the good ones.

[CA_Traveler]

Mine are held down with a strap.

[westend]

At Club Car:Battery bracket Check for fitment. Farmboy may have the easiest solution. Aluminum angle and threaded rod, nuts, and washers are all sold at Home Depot or other big box stores.
The footprint of a GC2 6V is really close to a BCI grp 24 12V. With a bit of tweaking that might be a straight installation. If brackets or clamps are difficult to acquire or difficult to install, there are other ways of securing batteries. A bungy cord has worked for me, many times. It may not hold up to a vertical attitude if the trailer flips but I'll have other considerations if that happens. 🙂

You'll get the best battery longevity, IMO, by being diligent with maintenance and limiting the draw to 50% of the total capacity. Also, periodic or float charging is the best for any FLA battery. When charge power is not present, the battery is sulfating. 6V golf cart batteries are the best for drawing down frequently and have good durability. 6V batteries, if you don't already know, love to get around 14.8 VDC-15 VDC, when charging. Some of the RV converters don't deliver that. An easy work around is to put a small battery charger on the batteries, occasionaly. The most elegant solution is to replace a lesser converter with one of the Progresive Dynamics converters that does offer those higher voltages. A solar charging system with a charge setpoint that is adjustable will do the trick, too.

Good luck with the new batteries.

[Farmboy666]

Get some Aluminum angle, cut to length and drill some holes, add threaded rod and some bolts.

[CloudDriver]

I replaced our original 12 volt house batteries with 2 Trojan T-105's a number of years ago. Turned out that the T-105's were a little bit wider than the 12 volts and I couldn't find a hold down that would fit. The golf cart place that I bought the T-105's from did have some thick plastic hold downs that they used. I had to make some minor modifications but they work fine.

In the picture below you can see the hold down between the two batteries has some notches cut to clear the attachment for the battery lifting strap. I did the same for the hold downs on the ends of the batteries and cut them narrower as well. I drilled new holes in the bottom of the battery box and used threaded rods. The batteries are held down solid.

[garyemunson]

Phil...where did you find 6 volt hold downs?

[theoldwizard1]

phil-t wrote:
Those NAPA 12Vs are not "deep cycle". I think, if you look, they are listed as DP (dual purpose).

Likely correct ! If the battery advertises CCA or MCA it is probably NOT a deep cycle battery

True "deep cycle" 12V batteries are very difficult to find and very $$$ ! The only one I know of the Trojan T1275.

[Cobra21]

Mine for the motorhome and boat generally last 4 or 5 years. I do try to recharge them in the off season.
Brian

[phil-t]

Those NAPA 12Vs are not "deep cycle". I think, if you look, they are listed as DP (dual purpose). In use, 30 months may not be too bad, depending on how they were used.
I just replaced ours, in our 2010 Vista - Replaced them with 4 GC2 6V batteries and cabled them up to provide 12V. Replaced the converter, as well, with a Boondocker 65A 4 stage charger. Way better configuration.
You can get good, true, deep cycle 12V batteries which would be way better than the NAPA stuff.
Really depends on what you want.