Costco vs Sams Club 6V Golf Cart Batteries

[crcr]

Hi,

I'm about to buy two new 6V golf cart batteries for my TT. I am choosing between the Costco and the Sams Club 6V batteries. Here is all the stats provided for each battery where I live:

Costco: Interstate battery, Item #517990, size GC2, Reserve Capacity, 100RC, $79.99 ea

Sams Club: Emergizer battery, size CG2, 107 RC minutes @ 75 amps, 220AH, $81.83 ea

Dimensions of the batteries is identical, at 7" W x 10 1/4" L x 11" H. I know weight is important, heavier indicating more lead plates, but I had no scale to measure the weight of each. Both have 12 month free replacement. I realize the AH is probably the most important factor here, since price is pretty close to equal, but the Costco battery did not provide that information. Can anyone tell me what the rated AH are for the Costco Interstate battery?

Any other comments about pros and cons of one of these over the other, would be welcome. Thanks in advance for any information!

[mena661]

Impressive setup! And thanks for the reasoning behind it. Please keep us up to date on your progress. Sir BTW. 🙂

[dlsnow]

mena661 -
Yes sir/maam although in reality it is a converted greyhound bus so we have alot of storage space and fully loaded we are still at least 10,000lbs under GVWR.

We are fulltime boondocker fulltimers and love to run our air conditioner, coffee maker, blender and rice cooker off the sun. The big battery bank helps minimize voltage drop while heavier loads are running.

We removed both the shore power connection and the generator so the storage of energy is important in case there is a string of cloudy days. We were able to weather 14 days of heavily overcast days last year with our two old deka 8a8d (250AH). We should be a little better off with this bank. I have it estimated at 1240 AH but havent run it down much less than 84%. I am letting the batteries sit and cycle for a few weeks then I will check the setup again to see how it has all settled in.

Thanks again to all for all the research and price shopping and such.

[mena661]

dlsnow wrote:

I have 12 of these batteries wired in series/parallel to get 12v

WOW! Do you have these in a RV?

[BFL13]

Yes, you have discovered the same as here:

http://www.wholesalesolar.com/pdf.folder/battery-folder/charging_instruction_2011_2.pdf

I can confirm with my own 6v batteries. They have to go into the 15s to get to full SG.

You still get years out of them if you don't, but at ever lower capacity as they sulfate slowly from incomplete recharging.

Many folks don't push their batts to the limit or don't even measure their capacity, so they have no idea they are losing capacity. But since they aren't pushing them, they aren't in any trouble from that and it works great for them.

It is only those who do push them and don't recharge them right that wonder what is wrong with their batteries that don't last very long.

[dlsnow]

OK - I have read and reread every post on here - I wanted to help anyone here considering these batteries.

I have the Interstate 6v GC2 - 100RC batteries - I weighed mine at 62.8

I have an outback power inverter, charge controller and flexnet shunt monitor

These batteries have some peculiar specifications and it took me about a week but I believe I have them dialed in enough to share. Here is what I have and the information I have gathered.

You all will love me for this sheet
http://www.challengebatteries.com.au/storage/Interstate_Golf%20Car%20Maintenance.pdf

I had these batteries set at the typical Absorb 14.8 and Float 13.2 and they wouldnt fully charge by any measure.

Here are the specs I found to provide a full charge at the end of the day

Absorb = 15.3
Float = 13.4
Return Amps = 16amps (smarter than a fixed absorb time)

All settings based on 80deg F with temperature compensation
I have 12 of these batteries wired in series/parallel to get 12v

I went to the trouble of checking SG and Voltage after two full cycles (two full days of running with the spec above) and they showed 12.96 with SG of 1.285 across all cells! (after 3 hour rest with no load)

You are reading right - these batteries hold 12.96 volts for a full charge

Also they seem to be 208AH batteries

[apr67]

Interstate 6V's were $89 at my (tallahassee) costco.

The same batts were $75 direct from interstate. Just another source for you who can't find them.

[Ron3rd]

mpierce wrote:
Ours do NOT carry any either.

I think they only stock them in areas that have a lot of golf carts around. As I mentioned above, our local Costco does not carry the 6v batteries but they told me they believe the Costco near Palm Springs (CA) does carry them. Lots and lots of golf carts in that neck of the woods, probably thousands of them.

[michelb]

BBdawg wrote:
I checked again at the Altamonte Springs, Fl Costco and NO 6v Golf Cart batteries and no plans to get more.

Went to the Walmart, down the street and Walmart does not even carry a line of Golf Cart Batteries anymore. Went to the Walmart in Maitland, Fl and same thing - NO More 6 Volt Golf Cart Batteries.

My next stop will be the Sams Club but I am not a member, so I would have to join if they have them, then that cost gets added to the cost of the battery.

Wow, I am either crazy or just having a real bad week.
I have found them at several other places but the cost is much higher and the replacement warranty's are very short.

I think I'll pull two of the batteries out of my golf cart and use them until I find a good price/warranty. Don't drive both the GC and TT at the same time so it should work for a few weeks.

That's a shame. I bought 4 and can't imagine they had that many left put they probably had another 4 or 6. I wonder if it's something they only stock in the winter when all the snowbirds are around.

When we bought them, we called around to see which store had them in stock and they were the closest (We were in Sanford on the way to Lakeland). I think one of the Sam's Club had the 6VAGM in stock but it was farther and double the price so we decided to just get the Costco ones.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Big box stores are NOT a prime GC BCI market for battery manufacturers. They want to, above all, create a "just in time" supply to their major vendors. If there are extras the big box stores get them. When folks are dusting off their golf clubs, then the supply becomes tighter.

[BBdawg]

I checked again at the Altamonte Springs, Fl Costco and NO 6v Golf Cart batteries and no plans to get more.

Went to the Walmart, down the street and Walmart does not even carry a line of Golf Cart Batteries anymore. Went to the Walmart in Maitland, Fl and same thing - NO More 6 Volt Golf Cart Batteries.

My next stop will be the Sams Club but I am not a member, so I would have to join if they have them, then that cost gets added to the cost of the battery.

Wow, I am either crazy or just having a real bad week.
I have found them at several other places but the cost is much higher and the replacement warranty's are very short.

I think I'll pull two of the batteries out of my golf cart and use them until I find a good price/warranty. Don't drive both the GC and TT at the same time so it should work for a few weeks.

[mpierce]

Ours do NOT carry any either.

[Ron3rd]

BBdawg wrote:

michelb wrote:


FWIW, I purchased this model (517990) of battery from Costco in Orlando last week. They were $89.xx (+ $9 core) and had a date of 4/13 but the sign there has them as 208 Ah. They do appear to be idential to the Interstate U2200 (232Ah) that are currently in the mh.

If I can get around to it, I'll try to weigh them before installing them (didn't have a scale when I bought them).

Which Costco did you go to? I went to the Altamonte store and they did not have any 6 volt Golf Cart batteries. -period

Thanks
Randy

Our local Costco does not carry the 6v batteries either. Seems to vary from region to region.

[michelb]

BBdawg wrote:

michelb wrote:


FWIW, I purchased this model (517990) of battery from Costco in Orlando last week. They were $89.xx (+ $9 core) and had a date of 4/13 but the sign there has them as 208 Ah. They do appear to be idential to the Interstate U2200 (232Ah) that are currently in the mh.

If I can get around to it, I'll try to weigh them before installing them (didn't have a scale when I bought them).

Which Costco did you go to? I went to the Altamonte store and they did not have any 6 volt Golf Cart batteries. -period

Thanks
Randy

That's the one I bought them at. It's been a few weeks now (I believe I bought them on May 9th).

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Great info IMHO Falconman515

Salesmen who print signs and literature need to have a keeper.

[BBdawg]

michelb wrote:


FWIW, I purchased this model (517990) of battery from Costco in Orlando last week. They were $89.xx (+ $9 core) and had a date of 4/13 but the sign there has them as 208 Ah. They do appear to be idential to the Interstate U2200 (232Ah) that are currently in the mh.

If I can get around to it, I'll try to weigh them before installing them (didn't have a scale when I bought them).

Which Costco did you go to? I went to the Altamonte store and they did not have any 6 volt Golf Cart batteries. -period

Thanks
Randy