Best bang for the buck Golf Cart battery

[mrad]

The dealer we are buying our toy hauler from will be putting two golf cart batteries in it tomorrow. I will have to bring the batteries as their battery guy will not be there in time to deliver golf cart batteries. I am looking at two of these from Costco. Does htis seem to be the most cost GC battery?
I was hoping to put 4 in, but do to space, we are only able to fit 2.


https://www.costco.com/interstate-6-volt-golf-cart-battery.product.100476406.html

[Ron3rd]

Reisender wrote:
Costco or Sams Club. JMHO

X2. Both will work fine.

[agesilaus]

OK that price may be off obviously, I think I checked Battleborn LiB about a year or so ago and they were around $1500. Not sure how many amp hours it was tho.

But supposedly you can discharge Trojan GC2 down to 25% not 50. And we never let the batteries get that low anyway, people with solar will be charging them every day, and those with generators probably run the gen a couple of times a day to use the microwave or TV and that charges the batteries. I just do not see us going thru 500 or 1000 cycles in any reasonable amount of time.

And even at $600/battery you can replace the 6V battery sets several times for that money. The few videos I saw on YT seem to show people installing them is sets of 4 for 400 amp hours, at over $2000, which is basically what I have with my 2 banks of 6V at $400. It just does not make economic sense right now. Maybe the price will come down in a few years.

[BFL13]

pianotuna wrote:
Phemens,

An SiO2 100 amp-hour would have been $600 Cnd and would offer essentially the same performance as Li. On float, lifespan is 18 years.

The Li has the advantage of not being so heavy, which matters in some RVs.
The Si has the below freezing operating range advantage for those that need that. There may be other factors for each type to consider.

600 vs 700 may not be significant. If you can afford the 600, you can probably afford 700. It is more a case of "horses for courses" IMO

[Reisender]

Costco or Sams Club. JMHO

[pianotuna]

Phemens,

An SiO2 100 amp-hour would have been $600 Cnd and would offer essentially the same performance as Li. On float, lifespan is 18 years.

[phemens]

agesilaus wrote:

bobsallyh wrote:
Sams Club or Costco. Although there are some people reporting that are having problems with newer Costco 6 volt batteries.

I have one pair of Trojan GC2 and one set of SamsClub. Both work fine but the Samsclub's were 40% less and about 80 miles driving to the dealer with the Trojans.

These Lithium battery lovers never mention the price which is well over $1000/battery. Maybe they will last a lot longer but they have not been in use long enough in RV's to tell. You can buy a lot of golf cart 6V batteries for the price of one Lithium and as he mentioned their performance drops like a rock in cool weather.

Don't know why you're saying 'well over $1000/battery'. I paid $700 Canadian for 100 AH LifePO4 (which works out to $520 USD). Also, the statement that performance drops like a rock in cold weather is just plain wrong. Lithium actually performs BETTER than wet cells for discharge in cold weather, holding their capacity much better. It's only charging in cold weather that can be an issue. This can be solved in a number of ways, best of which for me was to build an R10 foam box and put a waste tank heater underneath. Keeps batteries warm enough to charge in cold weather.
I get 90 usable AH out of a single 100 AH LifePO4 battery in cold weather. For a typical set of 2x6v gold cart batteries you'd probably get half that (say 215AH, 50% of which is usable, so 100 AH with up to 50% reduced efficiency in cold weather down to 0C), as the performance drop off is much higher.

[wopachop]

mrad wrote:
The dealer we are buying our toy hauler from will be putting two golf cart batteries in it tomorrow.

The costco 6v will work just fine especially if you need something by tomorrow.

If you have old batteries laying around bring them to cover the core charge. Even a 12v battery of a different size will work. Just needs to be a car or motorcycle battery. Maybe a battery from a kids little plastic jeep would work.

I took 2 12v motorcycle batteries about 6" wide and 4" tall and they accepted them for the two 6v batteries i was buying.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Big box store batteries are poor and getting worse. I was forced to pay a hundred dollars for a dinky group 34 at Costco with a car stalled right next to the auto tire service doors. At least they do not argue like Wal Mart when the POS falls on it's face.

Wonderful. It's heavy, and has a 815 CCA rating. Just what a 6 cylinder car needs that has a gear reduction starter and a 95 amp real life cranking load.

Soon Califonia will be burning with 200 fires while neighboring states and Mexico have 6. Power will be shut off and a hundred grand will be sitting useless until wind dies down. 200 fires start naturally in Califonia now. The Mexican army caught people setting fires in northern Mexico. The helicopter swooped in and presto problem solved.

Major golf courses look ar the brand of battery in a rented car. You won't find gyro gizmo batteries. It's no secret why. Weekend warriors don't need top notch anything. But this seems to confuse some folks. For instance BFL13 has to wade through several dozen decisions before he decides on a battery type. An Arizona winter weekend warrior's choice is 1/10th as complicated. A rooftop paved with 315 watt panels makes life easier. Same with a three thousand watt generator. Some folks satisfy 3 days of camping with a single group 24 battery. That same battery falls on it's face in 3 hours with other campers.

Cold does not exist here. I dropped the specific gravity of the new 34 from 1.285 to 1.270 which may extend it's life by a year or two. It may have to suffer 10 hours or so parked behind a gas station feeding an Endless Breeze fan 1.3 amps. Maybe once a year. But the quiescient draw is 4 milliamps for the car.

The "Cheap At Any Cost" fetish that too many people seem to suffer about batteries is a hoot. The payback comes when they end up screwing themselves. They don't want to learn how to save money.

[ktmrfs]

My opinion backed by some experience.

If your use is occasional, maybe 4wks out/year Sams, Costco, interstate, etc. will give lots of bang for the buck and be reasonably price. Age will overcome cycles with lower use.

If you plan on LOTS of dry camping and LOTS of charge discharge cycles (75+/year) then the bucks for Tojans may pay off with longer life.

BTW Trojan (and I suspect most other GC2 FLA batteries) are rated for near 500 charge discharge cycles to 25% SOC (75% DOD) I've done near that and still had good batteries. If you hold discharge to 50% DOD then cycle life is near 1000 cycles. Not many campers will be using batteries that heavily.

The KEY is to make sure they get FULLY charged up when you return. And fully means a while at 14.2+ V, NOT 13.6V

[2oldman]

mrad wrote:

2oldman wrote:
Are you considering an inverter for the refridge?

I believe it has one

I'm curious as to why a toyhauler would have room for just 2 batteries.

[agesilaus]

2oldman wrote:

agesilaus wrote:
l. You can buy a lot of golf cart 6V batteries for the price of one Lithium and as he mentioned their performance drops like a rock in cool weather.

It isn't about performance, it's charging. It's acid batteries that drop performance when cold.

You are correct until the temps get down near 0 deg C (32 F) when charging LiB can cause irreversible damage. High temps are more of a problem for LiB.

[mrad]

2oldman wrote:
Are you considering an inverter for the refridge?

I believe it has one

[2oldman]

agesilaus wrote:
l. You can buy a lot of golf cart 6V batteries for the price of one Lithium and as he mentioned their performance drops like a rock in cool weather.

It isn't about performance, it's charging. It's acid batteries that drop performance when cold.

[2oldman]

Are you considering an inverter for the refridge?

[time2roll]

Costco is fine. Yes this a good value for the money.