I am probably reaching the end of the life of the batteries in my FW and boat. I currently have 2 size 24 dual purpose batteries in my FW and I have noticed the useful charge in them has diminished quite a bit. They are over 7 years old. Boat batteries are over 10 years old. Would love to go with lithium, but way too expensive so I'm looking at AGMs. Have been told by a dealer that my Jayco HT 26.5 RLS's convertor will handle this type of battery and I am looking mostly at full deep cycle ones. I would appreciate comments as I am not experienced with AGMs in the least.As far as the boat, I'm thinking a dual purpose one would work great for the starting battery and perhaps just deep cycle for the electric trolling motor.Again, any comments would be greatly appreciated.

I had real good luck with AGM. No watering, they hold a charge for a very long time when sitting, and can be mounted on their sides if need be. Yes, they will cost you more, but like they say, you get what you pay for.

ISTR something about boat batteries where you need certain amps draw for pounds of thrust for trolling. That determines whether a battery can do the job if it can do the amps for how long at how many amps. The boat starting battery is no good for that apparently. Not sure if it said you can use the trolling batt for starting. Perhaps you can find info in that from Google.EDITHere is that article--scroll down to where he talks about trolling motors and lbs of thrust etc.https://www.deepcyclemarinebattery.com/reviews/upg-ub121000-deep-cycle-agm-battery.html

“Have been told by a dealer that my Jayco HT 26.5 RLS's convertor will handle this type of battery”Verify this by reading the convertor’s manual and the proposed battery’s requirements.

Seven and ten years of service is excellent.

# 1 don,t trust what the dealer says. better check this out. I know two guys who have used duracell agm in there boats and only lived one year. check out a google review on them.

Batteries needed | Good Sam Community

time2roll
Nomad
Apr 11, 2020
Post the model number of the converter right here before you get AGM batteries.
If you have a WFCO you are probably looking at a replacement.
OEM IOTA may not have the IQ controller needed.
PD may need to add the Wizard controller.
theoldwizard1
Explorer II
Apr 11, 2020
duplicate
theoldwizard1
Explorer II
Apr 11, 2020
MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Thick dense plates.

You can't LOOK inside of a battery, so the second best thing that is easy to measure is WEIGHT ! More weight, means more lead !

While you can not always do an "apples to apples" comparison (Ah, based on the 20 hr rate), people will notice that a GC battery weights a lot. A pair of 6V GC batteries weights about 128 lbs and has about 230 Ah.
MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
Apr 10, 2020
East Penn has their own lead refinery. Lead purity is very important and some impurities that alloy are damned near impossible to refine out economically.

The percentage may halve each run.

AGM manufacturing demands pure "virgin" be used.
Vintage465
Nomad
Apr 10, 2020
theoldwizard1 wrote:
KD4UPL wrote:
If you got 7 and 10 years out of your current batteries I wouldn't change a thing. That is incredible service life.

I have to agree !

I am a big fan of 6V golf cart batteries for non-starting applications. A pair of flooded 6V golf cart would cost less than a pair of "dual purpose" batteries and provide much more energy storage.

Unfortunately, the only TRUE deep discharge AGM golf cart batteries I have been able to locates are made by Trojan (T105-AGM). You would have to order then through a golf cart distributor or solar power store and they would cost 200%-300% more than what you would pay for a golf cart battery at Costco or Sams Club.

I believe that the AGMs made by Eastern Penn Mfg. are true deep cycle AGMs. I don't know that much about AGMs, but their 6v flooded GC batteries seem to be right with Trojan. Eastern Penn is the nations largest lead acid battery maker.
https://www.eastpennmanufacturing.com/wp-content/uploads/Intimidator-Deep-Cycle-Flyer-1740.pdf
MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
Apr 09, 2020
Thick dense plates.
And if those real life claims of 7 - 8 years lifespan seem incredible, you should see the Lifespan of a properly taken care of Concorde Lifeline batteries.

If I had to guess I would say 90% of AGM batteries are grossly mistreated.

And a massive array of solar panels OR combination generator solar charging would greatly extend all AGM lifespan.

But then a person can pay 500% premium and get a more forgiving battery.
MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
Apr 08, 2020
What is the first requisite meaning component difference between a standard battery battery and a cyclable battery?

It is the very same thing when dealing with automotive AND absorbed glass mat batteries.

What is this difference?

Again it is not subtle
theoldwizard1
Explorer II
Apr 08, 2020
KD4UPL wrote:
If you got 7 and 10 years out of your current batteries I wouldn't change a thing. That is incredible service life.

I have to agree !

I am a big fan of 6V golf cart batteries for non-starting applications. A pair of flooded 6V golf cart would cost less than a pair of "dual purpose" batteries and provide much more energy storage.

Unfortunately, the only TRUE deep discharge AGM golf cart batteries I have been able to locates are made by Trojan (T105-AGM). You would have to order then through a golf cart distributor or solar power store and they would cost 200%-300% more than what you would pay for a golf cart battery at Costco or Sams Club.
KD4UPL
Explorer
Apr 08, 2020
If you got 7 and 10 years out of your current batteries I wouldn't change a thing. That is incredible service life.
I run dual purpose batteries in my boat. I have 2 with a switch to select between them. They start the 300hp V8 engine just fine so I don't have a need for a true starting battery in the boat. But, I only boat in warm weather. Someone who fishes and needs to start an engine when it's cold might have a different experience.
naturist
Nomad
Apr 08, 2020
wa8yxm wrote:
Flooded wet cells are around a 2 bucks a watt hour
Lithium about kilobuck a watt hour..... So no I'd not go with Litihum (Someone posted a "Sale price" a couple days ago.. After I changed undies from looking at the price I calced the cost of my Deka G-20s)

Now.. there are many considerations.> Weight (Li's are light)is a biggie. Height in what I'm about to say.

your G-24s are about 75 amp hours each and you have about a 20-25% usage limit so 150/4 or 37 amp hours (I truncated) is all you can use

GC-2's run around 220 amp hours give or take a bit (My G-20 Dekas are 230) and you can use HALF.. when you put two 6 Volt in SERIES you add volts. not amp hours so you are left with 110 amp hours or about 3 times the power of your G-24s

The GC-2 class is taller but about the same footprint and pricem, as the Group 24 so if you have the head room Give 'em a try

L-16.. Taller still about 450 amp horus and again a TRUE DEEP CYCLE you can use half..

Now I mentioned weight.. For all of the batteries I mentioned except LI.

Watts/Pounds = Constant

That is when you go from 150 amp hours of G-24 to 220 of GC-2 you gain weight. Go from GC-2 to L-16 it doubles.

Dunno where you are buying Lithium batteries for a thousand dollars per watt hour, but us mere mortals are seeing prices in the $10 per Amp hour, which is to say, $1.20/ watt hour.

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