Interstate Golf Cart batteries, which line is best deal?

[JoeChiOhki]

So, I've resumed work on Ms. Merry, and was looking back at one of my battery compartments and thinking "Hmmm..... I think that may be big enough to fit two golf cart batteries in".

So, I did a little digging, first looking back at the Costco Golf Cart batteries, because Interstate makes them, but alot of the reviews were coming back negative with the batteries having failed within the first year or just outside the 12 month warranty period.

So, since there's an actual Interstate Battery store literally across from that costco in the parking lot, I thought I'd take a look at interstate's main golf cart lines, because I've had decent service from their Group 27 Starting and Deep Cycle batteries.

There are, actually four different model lines of Insterstate Golf Cart battery:

Extreme Golf Cart Series
High Cycle Golf Cart Series
PowerFast Golf Cart Series
M Line Golf Cart (These are the ones I suspect are the ones Costco sells with their Kirkland branding on them).

Of the four, which tier is the best middle ground for durability vs cost?

[Kayteg1]

I had my golf cart batteries in dry storage for 10 months and they still show good charge. But I disconnect them at battery terminals as per my experience even short cable with switch on it can leak the current.

[Gjac]

I think the thing to think about is Costco and Sam's Club have bought different batteries over the years. I think the 6 v GC batteries I bought from Sam's Club in 2007 are Duracell's. They are still working fine and I dry camp 95% of the time. I was looking to eventually replace them with Costco batteries because I am a Costco member and have read the same reviews and posts on this forum about the premature failure of these batteries. In addition I have gone through 3 12v starting Costco batteries in 3 years all under warranty. Also replaced 3 in my daughters car. The tech said they were all purchased from China and there were a lot of returns. Sam's Club may have the same issue. I would look at Batteries Plus they sell Duracell's and Crown batteries for not much more than Costco. I am very happy with my the performance of my 14 year old Sam's Club batteries but would be reluctant to buy new ones there or Costco unless I new who made the batteries and to what specs. And no I don't keep my batteries on float charge. When not camping I let them self discharge to 80% SOC then recharge to 100%,off topic but interesting discussion.

[time2roll]

I like the programming on my Morningstar controller. Especially that while in storage the absorption time is very short. During normal use the absorption is extended to a couple hours. If used excessively, absorption voltage goes all day. Fully automatic. All voltage settings are adjustable and temperature compensated with an adjustable cap to prevent over voltage of components.

[wopachop]

Wow geez talk about me being wrong. You totally have prove of their performance. My trailer charger and my solar charger are not all that great. Custom charge profile would be awesome.

[StirCrazy]

wopachop wrote:

StirCrazy wrote:

wopachop wrote:
Most people here drive to campsites and plug into 120v. So the batteries never get cycled. Never see a strong charge. Sits there on solar and ruins the flooded battery.

If that same person did not have solar their batteries would self discharge and then get recharged at a high amp rate. Which i think would improve the life of the battery. Sitting there on float all day is no bueno. From what ive read on the trojan website regarding flooded batteries.

Makes me think some of those bad costco reviews are probably from people with solar hooked up and never give the battery a proper charge.

I dont know I have solar and am pluged in with my fith wheel pretty much 90% of the time. the 14 years I got out of my four 6V GC batteries tend to disagree with you. I think what would be the real cause is people not checking the water enough or draining them down to far causing dammage. shallow discharging is the way to make them last longer.

Steve

Sounds like you have a huge battery bank and rarely used it. If plugged in 90% of the time. Ever take SG readings and compare them over the years? Thats cool your batteries lasted so long. But im not really seeing any info to prove their performance. Run the furnace all night? Power an inverter? Just because the battery holds a voltage doesnt mean its performing well. Leaving them on a constant float charge when you are standing right next to them is a mistake in my mind. Its so easy to just flip a switch and let them rest. Self discharge. Then flip the charger back on as needed. Now if you leave the RV stored somewhere for many months at a time then yeah, keep it plugged in. Dont have any other choice. Ive seen someone on this forum say they would use a cheap little wall timer to turn a charger on. Instead of leaving it plugged in 24/7. That approach might work well for some.

Im not familiar with the modern solar chargers. They might have some special features that turn a charge off and on. Dont really know. That would be fun to have custom charging parameters you design yourself. Temp compensated.

yes I run the furnace for a week, run the inverter to make coffee, microwave, let the kids watch movies. I do about one or two boondocking trips a year and draw the batteries down pretty hard then. but the rest of the time it is pluged in except when Im pulling it. the battery bank is four 235ah 6V batteries.

the solar system on the 5th wheel is pretty basice, PWM 3 stage charger, three 160 watt pannels gopower special. I am going to upgrade it probably to a good MPPT controler, three 325 watt pannels and so on. the one I just put in to my Camper is a single 325 watt pannel with a renogy 30 amp controler with bluetooth conection. you can design your own custom charge profile with that one.

the biggest thing I have found is you have to keep an eye on the water levels and have a good converter , not the **** that comes with the camper.

Steve

[wopachop]

That seems to be common to several types of battery chemistry. I remember a guy who raced an electric drag car said his fastest runs where never the first of the day. The batteries were stronger after getting cycled a few times. I dont know what type of batteries he has. People that fly racing drones with lipo batteries seem to feel they have more power after a few cycles. Thats pretending temps are consistant. Usually the first cycle of the battery will be in the morning during cooler weather.

I think the trojan site has a graph the shows the flooded battery reaches it max capacity after 100 cycles. Thats quite a lot when its not inside a golf cart getting used each day. 100 cycles for me will take years.

[time2roll]

wopachop wrote:

Lwiddis wrote:
“Sitting there on float all day is no bueno. From what ive read on the trojan website regarding flooded batteries.“

Please post a link to this information on Trojan’s site.

https://www.trojanbattery.com/pdf/TrojanBattery_UsersGuide.pdf

Its some good reading. You have to take everything into account. You wont find my exact quote of course. Ive read the whole thing several times over. My interpretation is that Trojan is saying you can leave the batteries on a constant low amp float charge. But only do this if you leave the batteries unattented for months at a time. If you are able to monitor your batteries then ideally you would let the battery self dischage and charge when needed. Given they are not stored in super cold weather. Again you sorta have to taek everything into account. For many RV people i could see them leaving the batteries on float for years and years. For someone like me who enjoys testing and playing with batteries i try to do the best i can. Which means my (2) GC2 batteries are installed on my trailer right now but not hooked up to solar or the charger. Sometimes i store them in the garage out of the hot sun. Every week or so i flip on my disconnect switch to charge the batteries. Or if im going to be gone i leave the batteries turned on so that my fridge can switch over to propane if the power goes out at the house while im away.

I do find my Costco GC2s seem to have less capacity if they have been stored for an extended period and maintained by solar. By the second day of use they seem normal again.

[pianotuna]

wopachop wrote:

pianotuna wrote:


The colder the better!

Good deal. I have about 50 lipo batteries in a little mini fridge. Been over a year since i used any of them. Went through them all and was happy with the voltage. Hadnt dropped much. Was expecting to find lots of low cells because i made the mistake of waiting so long to go through them all. Only reason i did is because the fridge had a glitch. Freezer section defrosted and left a puddle of water by the fridge. Got lucky and the water didnt short any of the leads. Lipo fires are no joke. People can die from the fumes alone.

Hi,

Li should not be allowed to freeze. I was speaking of lead acid. My apologies and I will remove the post.

[JoeChiOhki]

pianotuna wrote:

JoeChiOhki wrote:


Due to the large amount of bot generated positive reviews you find on market places like amazon anymore, I generally tend to give vastly more weight to negative reviews.

How do you identify bot generated reviews?

Usually most folks who bother to actually fill in the review box usually write something somewhat unique related to their actual purchase. Bot Reviews are generally vague platitudes that can be applied to literally any product without really getting into true specifics of an order.

[wopachop]

pianotuna wrote:


The colder the better!

Good deal. I have about 50 lipo batteries in a little mini fridge. Been over a year since i used any of them. Went through them all and was happy with the voltage. Hadnt dropped much. Was expecting to find lots of low cells because i made the mistake of waiting so long to go through them all. Only reason i did is because the fridge had a glitch. Freezer section defrosted and left a puddle of water by the fridge. Got lucky and the water didnt short any of the leads. Lipo fires are no joke. People can die from the fumes alone.

[pianotuna]

JoeChiOhki wrote:


Due to the large amount of bot generated positive reviews you find on market places like amazon anymore, I generally tend to give vastly more weight to negative reviews.

How do you identify bot generated reviews?

[wopachop]

StirCrazy wrote:

wopachop wrote:
Most people here drive to campsites and plug into 120v. So the batteries never get cycled. Never see a strong charge. Sits there on solar and ruins the flooded battery.

If that same person did not have solar their batteries would self discharge and then get recharged at a high amp rate. Which i think would improve the life of the battery. Sitting there on float all day is no bueno. From what ive read on the trojan website regarding flooded batteries.

Makes me think some of those bad costco reviews are probably from people with solar hooked up and never give the battery a proper charge.

I dont know I have solar and am pluged in with my fith wheel pretty much 90% of the time. the 14 years I got out of my four 6V GC batteries tend to disagree with you. I think what would be the real cause is people not checking the water enough or draining them down to far causing dammage. shallow discharging is the way to make them last longer.

Steve

Sounds like you have a huge battery bank and rarely used it. If plugged in 90% of the time. Ever take SG readings and compare them over the years? Thats cool your batteries lasted so long. But im not really seeing any info to prove their performance. Run the furnace all night? Power an inverter? Just because the battery holds a voltage doesnt mean its performing well. Leaving them on a constant float charge when you are standing right next to them is a mistake in my mind. Its so easy to just flip a switch and let them rest. Self discharge. Then flip the charger back on as needed. Now if you leave the RV stored somewhere for many months at a time then yeah, keep it plugged in. Dont have any other choice. Ive seen someone on this forum say they would use a cheap little wall timer to turn a charger on. Instead of leaving it plugged in 24/7. That approach might work well for some.

Im not familiar with the modern solar chargers. They might have some special features that turn a charge off and on. Dont really know. That would be fun to have custom charging parameters you design yourself. Temp compensated.

[wopachop]

Lwiddis wrote:
“Sitting there on float all day is no bueno. From what ive read on the trojan website regarding flooded batteries.“

Please post a link to this information on Trojan’s site.

https://www.trojanbattery.com/pdf/TrojanBattery_UsersGuide.pdf

Its some good reading. You have to take everything into account. You wont find my exact quote of course. Ive read the whole thing several times over. My interpretation is that Trojan is saying you can leave the batteries on a constant low amp float charge. But only do this if you leave the batteries unattented for months at a time. If you are able to monitor your batteries then ideally you would let the battery self dischage and charge when needed. Given they are not stored in super cold weather. Again you sorta have to taek everything into account. For many RV people i could see them leaving the batteries on float for years and years. For someone like me who enjoys testing and playing with batteries i try to do the best i can. Which means my (2) GC2 batteries are installed on my trailer right now but not hooked up to solar or the charger. Sometimes i store them in the garage out of the hot sun. Every week or so i flip on my disconnect switch to charge the batteries. Or if im going to be gone i leave the batteries turned on so that my fridge can switch over to propane if the power goes out at the house while im away.

[BFL13]

I am now a fan of Deka GC15s 230AH, which have various brand names. They might be available locally at Costco or Sam's depending where you are. check the casing colour which stays the same whatever brand, and the specs for AH and weight, size, etc with Deka specs and see.

The Interstate 225 and 210AH batts are supplied by Trojan so they ought to be as good but might be a different "run" , don't know. it is possible the Costco Interstates are a different Trojan "run" from "regular" Interstate 6s too, don't know. Hard to tell with all the different case colours. Makes you wonder.

232 and 208AH are from when Interstate 6s came from US Battery, using their U-2xxx versions. EG a U-2200 was/is 232AH A 225AH Interstate is the same as a T-105 supposedly.

check this vs this:

https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/motomaster-nautilus-group-size-gc2-6-volt-deep-cycle-battery-0102...

https://www.eastpennmanufacturing.com/wp-content/uploads/Deka-Pro-Master-Golf-Car-Flyer-0248.pdf