New Battery Question

[Parrothead_Mike]

Today, August 3, Sam's club has a sale on Marine/RV batteries. Since my current Interstate is getting to be 3+ years old I'm considering purchasing one of the Duracell Marine/RV batteries at Sam's & keeping the Interstate currently in the camper as backup.

My Interstate hasn't been holding up well when dry camping at music festivals we attend. I do use my Honda 2000i as a backup charger, but would like a longer lasting battery plus one festival doesn't allow generators. Any background or experience with Duracell Marine/RV batteries would be much appreciated.

Two batteries under consideration:

Duracell 27MAGM Platinum w/ CCA-580 & MCA-900 price: about $160

Duracell SL34MAGM w/ CCA750 & MCA 850 price: about $120

This is for my 2015 Cedar Creek Silverback 29RE

Current Interestate - CCA-550 & MCA-690

[pianotuna]

I'm more of a poorwad than a tightwad.

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Trojan and only Trojan offers a BCI car jar battery with other than pathetic plates. Of course, there is Rolls, but the price scares tightwads back under the bed.

[pianotuna]

Hi

Here is some information that may help:

https://www.driveduracell.com/pub/media/wysiwyg/Duracell_Spec_Sheet.pdf

Parrothead Mike wrote:
Original poster here.

Bought the Duracell 27MAGM Platinum w/ CCA-580 & MCA-900. Was on sale for $138 + tax. Had to get it at Sam's today due to the one day sale. Thanks to everyone for your input.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Trojan and only Trojan offers a BCI car jar battery with other than pathetic plates. Of course, there is Rolls, but the price scares tightwads back under the bed.

There is 50 TIMES the difference between a standard golf car battery and a standard car jar battery. Thirty times the difference between a golf car battery and a Trojan car jar and 500 times the difference between a car jar and a Rolls.

The only difference between car jar batteries is the plate paste. The RV marine has a more porous cured paste. then a golf car the same manufacturer. The really big 2-volt cell batteries offer significantly harder plates. As I pointed out in earlier threads getting a 175 MCA out of a hybrid Car jar with 2-volt cell type plates would be a miracle.

I do love Costco's return refund policy. Best in the buiness.

[Parrothead_Mike]

Original poster here.

Bought the Duracell 27MAGM Platinum w/ CCA-580 & MCA-900. Was on sale for $138 + tax. Had to get it at Sam's today due to the one day sale. Thanks to everyone for your input.

[MDKMDK]

I've had two of the Duracell SL34MAGM and used them as starting batteries in a Cavalier and an F150. Both perform well as starters. The 20 Ah rate for them is 55. Not much if you're off gridding a lot.

[theoldwizard1]

CCA and MCA are not very important for a "house" battery. Reserve capacity (RC) and 20 amp hour rating are a more important numbers.

pianotuna wrote:
Hate to say it but look at golf cart jars. They are true deep cycle batteries.

Yep ! In the long run, you will be happier with a pair of 6V GC-2 golf cart batteries. If AGM is a "MUST HAVE", AGM golf cart batteries do exist, but are difficult to acquire and are much more expense than "flooded" golf cart batteries.

[Lwiddis]

Except for running AC and microwave why aren’t you recharging with solar? That one “generator free” festival must be pleasant.

[Ron3rd]

I would consider those batteries about the same as Interstate, no better or worse

[pianotuna]

Hate to say it but look at golf cart jars. They are true deep cycle batteries.

[Parrothead_Mike]

BFL13 wrote:
In the OP aren't they all "starting" batteries? You want a "deep cycle" battery. At least get one with "DC" in its name even if it is a hybrid starting/deep cycle type. Look for AH rating at the 20 hr rate. Should be 90 or so. More is better.

Yeah, the 20 amp hour rate: 92 according to the website description. I agree, I don't need cold cranking, but deep cycle.

[BFL13]

In the OP aren't they all "starting" batteries? You want a "deep cycle" battery. At least get one with "DC" in its name even if it is a hybrid starting/deep cycle type. Look for AH rating at the 20 hr rate. Should be 90 or so. More is better.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Chances are it's the charging and not the battery. Percentage like 90%.

100% guesswork until you obtain an accurate hydrometer and observe reality vs guesswork.

Some folks go through batteries like a 10-year-old goes through M&M's. They refuse to make an effort to diagnose an obvious argument between reality and what they think 🙂