Replaced my house batteries...

Veebyes wrote:
Enjoy the AGMs. Replaced the 2 useless group 24s wet after only 2 years. In went a single Lifeline AGM 4D. Wish I had room for a 8D. Got 9 seasons out of that battery. Zero tending each year November to April other than complete disconnect.

Preferred the simplicity of only 2 terminals on the 4D rather than tethering 2 smaller batteries together. Maintenance?? What is that?

Difference between a 4D and 8D is not that great as I recall
Alas I'm going to have to import the chart from a shut down windows box back to this chromebook But I do not recall a lot of capacity difference between 4D-8D an a pair of GC-2

That said Good True DEEP CYCLE batteries give you over 2x the usable power of the same size MARINE/deep cycle starting batteries.

wa8yxm wrote:
Advantage AGM less likely to cause corrosion, Less (not zero) maintenance.

What maintenance ??
Unless you count LOOKING at them and maybe being sure the cables are tight.
A properly functioning AGM should cause ZERO corrosion.

I replaced the single 12v Deep Cycle battery that came with my 5'er in August 2010 with two Trojan T-105's. In full time service they lasted 8 years. When I replaced them last year also with T-105's I installed the Trojan watering system. I should have done this initially, but we all learn you know. Watering them was a bit of a pain and one of them was tighter to get to than the other one, but I did it every spring and fall religiously. Now watering them takes seconds.

A few thoughts on the previous posts...and thanks one and all for your input. My old batteries were "True" deep cycles but after 4+ years they were just tired, nothing wrong or unusual there. Stories of batteries lasting a millienium or longer are fequently found on internet forums, file them next to the I got 150,00 miles out of a set of brakes... :R

I sold batteries for years in the Marine industry, we were a Trojan dealer. AGM's charge just fine with a standard {wet cel} charger or converter as the ideal charging voltages {unlike Gel's} are very similar.

I never said I had to add water often... I checked them often and typically added a small amount as needed but checking or adding water was a PITA every time.{ I quickly learned in boating that the two greats lies in the English language are "waterproof and maintenance free".} I will continue to monitor/check my new AGM's but it will not involve disassembling the entire wiring harness to gain access {hooray}.

We use very little DC {most folks use less than they think}. We spend about 13 hours a day outside and at night, after a nice campfire we retreat to the coach for maybe an hour of reading, journaling {whatever} which involves running two incandescent lights that draw about an amp a piece.

The only significant draw is the furnace during the winter as the squirrel cage fan is the largest DC draw in the coach but with a 35K BTU furnace {in a 24' Class C} it just does not run much at all - about 5 minutes two or three times a night. We never watch TV, music comes from our i-Phones and Blue Tooth Speaker

Even with the old batteries at the normal end of their working life we could sit for 3 days without any need to run the genny {we have 84 hours on our genny and the coach is 7+ years old and 70 percent of our trips are off of the grid}. About 30 minutes of generator time brought them back up nicely and we usually move after 3 or 4 days at most. A few hours of driving and we are back to fully charged and the cycle starts anew.

Yep the AGM's cost twice what the old wet's did and I was happy to spend the money.

:C

Enjoy the AGMs. Replaced the 2 useless group 24s wet after only 2 years. In went a single Lifeline AGM 4D. Wish I had room for a 8D. Got 9 seasons out of that battery. Zero tending each year November to April other than complete disconnect.

Preferred the simplicity of only 2 terminals on the 4D rather than tethering 2 smaller batterys together. Maintenance?? What is that?

Advantage AGM less likely to cause corrosion, Less (not zero) maintenance.

Disadvantage COST. but one more thing.. you said the OEM's lasted 4 years.
My OEM flooded wet's lasted 9..

One reason may be mine were TRUE deep cycle GC-2 Yours were Group 27 and most of those are MARINE/deep cycle. note my use of upper case for MARINE. they are really starting batteries.. If your AGM's are True deep cycle. they should last longer as well offsetting the cost.

garym114 wrote:
Charging requirements are not the same for AGM and wet cell batteries.

While that is true, AGMs will perform quite adequately using the settings for a conventional wet cell and most people won't notice the difference.

You mentioned having to top up the batteries often.
If that was indeed true, you really NEED to check the charging voltage coming from your converter/charger, especially after the batteries are fully charged. Your charger might be defective.

Charging requirements are not the same for AGM and wet cell batteries. Don't know how you are charging but many chargers have settings for the battery type you are using.
https://www.knowyourparts.com/technical-resources/blog/three-misconceptions-agm-batteries/
https://discoverbattery.com/EN/battery-101/general-charging-information-for-agm-and-gel-batteries/

Desert Captain,

I made the same decision--and I don't miss laying down in the snow to service the battery bank one little bit!

So far today, I've used the solar charged battery bank and inverter to boil two quarts of water--so the cleaning lady can have warm water for cleaning. I'll be putting it back into storage today--so it was good to give the batteries a nice work out. She'll also do some vacuuming.

Have a wonderful trip!