WHEN I ASKED LIFELINE ABOUT THEIR GOLF CAR BATTERIES

[MEXICOWANDERER]

In relationship to say their 8-D battery, this is the answer I got...

Justin Godber

12:48 PM (0 minutes ago)

to me

When you talk about 1 battery vs. 2 six volts there is no advantage or disadvantage either way. The only advantage is the 6 volts are much easier to move around by yourself.

When you get into a 6 or 8 battery bank of six volts you can physically get more amp hour into the same space as the 8D’s using 6 volts. Example for the GPL-4CT, you can fit 3 in the place of 1 x 8D. If you had 2 x 8D’s you could fit 6 x GPL-4CT’s. GPL-4CT x 6 is 660 amp hour whereas 2 of the 8D’s would be 510 amp hour within the same footprint.

I knew this twenty years ago. But the superstition about "Golf Car" being a better battery somehow, just will not disappear.

The FOOTPRINT may be the deciding factor for many people. But as far as plates and general construction goes, choosing a 3-cell battery doubles the number of series cables needed

Nuff Said

[MEXICOWANDERER]

As far as Lifeline's go the 31 commonly can replace group 24 or 27 batteries. Without real data it's hard to compare the Lifeline with other brands, other than claims the Lifeline has those .105" plates. And can safely accept C5 charging.

I'd love to figure out a simple rope cradle for these batteries that allows a full on grip to aid handling. Don't know which fibers like aramid kevlar and spectra would be the best.

[Matt_Colie]

Until the depression, I did a lot of work on other people's boats. On more than a single occasion, I had to repair woodwork that had been damaged when an owner tried to swap out 4D(135#) or 8D(168#) batteries and they lost control of the load.

When ever I was asked to do this, powerboats were usually refused and the sailboats had to have a means to use the rig to swing the battery ashore/aboard.

My coach came to me with a single 4D. Fortunately, I was younger then, but it still got changed out to a pair of GC2s at the next replacement. I can still manage a GC2 alone.....

Matt

[jharrell]

Gdetrailer wrote:


Lifeline has basically debunked the constant myth on this forum that a 8D 12V is BETTER than a 6V GC battery according the first bolded text.

In a nutshell BOTH the 6V GC battery AND the 12V 8D cousin IS the SAME as far as construction/quality, ect.

As far as the second bolded text, while the use of 6V GC batts will require an additional external "interconnect" cable, it is no worse than all of the LEAD INTERNAL "interconnects" which are INSIDE the battery.

Not to mention If one does their homework you can come up with very nice heavy interconnects to use between the 6V batteries which will easily be better than the all lead internal interconnects.

Folks SKIMP on the interconnects which leads to the myth that 6V batteries are not as good as the 8D 12V battery.

I made 1/0 interconnects from the leftover wiring I had left from my Inverter connection.. Most folks opt for 2 ga or even 10 gauge and wonder why they encounter a large voltage drop and blame it on the 6V batteries.. USING STOUT INTERCONNECT CABLE takes care of most issues with GC battery resistances.

Not to mention folks whine about having to "maintain" the battery interconnects, IF THEY DID IT CORRECTLY THE FIRST TIME THEY WOULD NOT HAVE TO KEEP REDOING IT!!!

Folks fail to use a bit of GREASE on the battery terminals and then whine about having corrosion at the terminals. I use "NoALOX" which is a electrical grease which was designed to interface electrical connections between copper and aluminum, copper to copper, aluminum to aluminum

NoALOX prevents moisture and even acid from getting between the battery terminal and the interconnect. Do it right the first time and never need to do it again.

Couple of other points..

GC batteries ARE lower cost per lb and per Ahr than the 8D, I see no advantage to paying more for a 8D when it has the same electrical and mechanical characteristics as the 6V GC according to Lifeline.

GC batteries ARE EASY to find and available pretty much everywhere, 8Ds not so much.

GC batteries are half the weigh of 8Ds (70 lbs for GCs vs 140 lbs for 8D), therefore much easier to handle or move, I would rather handle 70 lbs twice before moving 140 lbs ONCE.

GC batteries often can be used in spaces and configurations that 8Ds WON'T FIT without major alterations so therefore GCs are pretty much a "drop in replacement" for a group 24 or group 27 12V two battery configuration..

Would love to have the space for 8D's, but I wanted to upgrade my two group 24 dual purpose marines that came with the coach, so I got two Lifeline 6v's. They fit great in the space. Oh yeah I did 4/0 for the interconnect between them and to the inverter charger because why not :B.

[wa8yxm]

There are two or 3 things that give the edge to the 6 Volt GC-2 class

1: as noted they are easier to install and remove.. This is major. a 12 volt battery of the same amp hour is 2x as heavy and my Deka GC-20's (230 amp hour GC-2 class) I can not install by myself. I could hte older U-2200's (interstate) but they are slightly smaller. that is my "Limit".

2: The "Golf Car" battery is a TRUE DEEP CYCLE. Most folks when they talk abou 12 volt batteries are not discussing the 8D or 4D they are talking about "Group-XX batteries (24/27/29/31) and though you can get 'em in Deep Cycle. most are MARINE/deep cycle. which is not a deep cycle battery.

And finally
COST.. The GC-2 is the most popular battery of it's type so line re-tooling does not happen as often... if ever.. and that reduces the unit cost of the battery.

BUT: Technically 230 amp hours of DEEP CYCLE battery is 230 amp hours of DEEP CYCLE battery. it does not matter how you get there.

HOWEVER 230 amp hours of DEEP CYCLE battery is better for house battery use than 230 AMP HOURS of MARINE/deep cycle battery.. by about 2x.

[BFL13]

Our MH has an 8D sized battery compartment. Now holds one 8D AGM 250AH. Has held in the past, two 27s (200AH) or two T-1275s (300AH) or two 6s (226AH) Can't quite do three 27s. (I cut the doorway a bit to allow the extra height of the 6s and T-1275s)

I have two 100AH AGM 27s nearby in parallel (under the kitchen counter) and they are in turn as a 200AH 12, in parallel with the 250, so bank is 450AH of AGM

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Comparing Golden Delicious to Fujis.

Group 31's are all I can handle. I used to buck 8-D's around and huge 4-cell flooded batteries 35 years ago. While they are a problem child when in flooded guise the 31's are a handy size.

That's what they make young people for. Hoisting batteries.

The 2-story lifeline 31 is an interesting size if height clearance permits.

Also with lifeline the capacity of the Sediment Chamber is designed around possible max plate shedding. Lifeline also has envelope separators. Reduces mossing shorts by 99.9%

[theoldwizard1]

pauldub wrote:
"easier to move around" is a big benefit to GC-2 and one can often find better pricing on them.

Add a third advantage of GC2. AVAILABILITY !

I have heard that true deep cycle batteries, like GC2 (also called "traction" batteries) have more "space" at the bottom to allow for the accumulation of the "used" plate material. When this material build up high enough it can cause the plates to short.

An 8D is a "starting/lighting/ignition battery". I would not expect it to live as many cycles to the same DoD as a similar sized "traction" battery.

ALL batteries live longer if you discharge them less, both cycle and depth.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Keep in mind that this is a topic started by MexicoWanderer so getting any usable information from this thread is highly unlikely.

See the post above. Give the man a ceegar.

[Bill_Satellite]

On the road you can always find good deep cycle 6V batteries at Costco and Sam's. Finding "deep cycle" 8D batteries would be less available but since they are such good batteries there should be no reason to have to seek them out. You just replace them as necessary in a town where they are available.

[Almot]

time2roll wrote:
Not sure if 8D or Golf Car is more common if needed on the road.

Off the beaten track neither one is common. Mostly group 28-31 in 12V or 6V voltage, and (sometimes) cables to interconnect. When I mentioned AGM starter batts, the response of the village store keeper was (after a few seconds thinking) - Ah, yeah, I heard about them. Deep cycle he knew, however.

[Bill_Satellite]

BFL13 wrote:
If it is fair to say you can get 6 6s in place of 2 8Ds then why isn't it fair to say you can only get 2 6s in place of 1 8D ?

(unless you can find a way to use three 6s :)--yes we had threads about that )

Did you read this post before you hit send? You CAN get 3 6's in place of 1 8D.
Keep in mind that this is a topic started by MexicoWanderer so getting any usable information from this thread is highly unlikely.

[time2roll]

AGM is all about the same. Flooded I understand is somewhat different.

Easier to move around can be a big benefit on the road. Not sure if 8D or Golf Car is more common if needed on the road.

I see little issue with the extra connection, especially with AGM.

[GordonThree]

When is Lifeline going to start selling NMC batteries with servicable BMS?

[BFL13]

If it is fair to say you can get 6 6s in place of 2 8Ds then why isn't it fair to say you can only get 2 6s in place of 1 8D ?

(unless you can find a way to use three 6s :)--yes we had threads about that )

[Bill_Satellite]

However, they are comparing 1 8D battery to 2 6V batteries. The 8D is substantially larger and likely not a fair comparison to a standard 12 V deep cycle RV/Marine battery. He even admits that 3 6V's would fit in the same space so, logically, the 8D should have 1/3 more plates or similar parts a pieces than 2 standard 6V's.